He did point out that his single engine is currently producing more horsepower than all four of Summers' engines. A good Hemi back in 1965 was producing around 600 horsepower. This would make for total of around 2,400 horsepower. Nish's engine is producing close to 3,000 horsepower. His larger engine can produce upward of 4,000 horsepower.

"We won't need the 3,000 horsepower to get where we want to go. Numbers tell us we need something over 1,600. Still, that's a lot of horsepower," he added.

One drawback he faces is that his car is two-wheel drive. All of the other high-speed cars have been four-wheel drive.

"The reason for four-wheel drive is that at 400 mph you're pushing a lot of air. That's where aerodynamics enters in. Traction is a big factor. Getting up to 350 is not a problem, but from there on traction becomes a factor. At 386 and at 360 the car ran beautifully," he explained.

"When you think about it, if we get there with one engine and two-wheel drive, that means we've climbed a pretty big mountain."

Mike Nish said that one thing that will help him and the crew this year is better communications.

"We've been experimenting with cellular communications. In the past we've never been able to communicate past a couple of miles. When we run in September we'll be on a 12-mile track. We tested it here and it worked well up to eight miles, so it's promising. Having good communications is important for a lot of reasons. I can relay information to the crew, and they can let me know what's happening from where they are," he said.

Terry Nish, a longtime circle-track racer who switched to salt-flats racing, recalled that when he first came to the track the record he aimed for was 291 mph.

"I thought we'd never get there. We'd go out and run 240 and 250, and after three years I said there's no way we'd ever run 291. Then the next year we ran 291.4, and from there things went up ... 300, 320, 340, 360 and then 386. I can't really figure out what we did other than put in a lot of hard work."

The streamliner the Nishes are running is the same car they introduced in 2001. It crashed in 2005, was repaired and back on the salt in 2006.

Concerned about the stopping distance on the seven miles of graded track, Terry Nish said his crew went out late Sunday and Monday and "tire packed" another three-quarters of a mile.

The plan was to run hard through the early section of the course and then shut down and test the stopping power.

As the week progresses, as Terry Nish explained, his orders are to go slowly, go as fast as the track and the salt will allow, but to take no chances. The record is, indeed, within reach.

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E-mail: grass@desnews.com