Rob Freyvogel

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Rain in Utah detoured a Butler Township man’s chance to break the land speed record this past weekend.

But Rob Freyvogel says he, his 22-man crew and his 1,800- horsepower vehicle named “Carbiliner” aren’t giving up. They’ll make a go at the next possible qualified event, likely in October.

Freyvogel, an engineer and the president of Carbinite Metal Coatings in Forward Township, believes Carbiliner will top 500 mph. The current speed record is 439.5 mph.

He designed the vehicle with Brandon Barnhart of Harmony, also an engineer, and Eric Ahlstrom of Sparks, Nev., who is an aerodynamicist.

The team planned to put that theory to the test at the Speedweek competition this past week at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. But then it rained and flash flooded.

“The whole track is under water,” Freyvogel said Monday, while preparing to make the 48-hour drive back to Butler County.

This isn’t the first time the team’s plan was setback. The crew built the $104,000 vehicle to compete for the record in September 2013. But rain then led to the cancellation of the event as well as another in October.

Then shortly after that, the federal government was shut down and the racing site, which is managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management, was shuttered.

Freyvogel said the team likely will make the trek back to Utah in the fall, when an another speed event is scheduled there. There is an earlier Speedweek, but Freyvogel said it’s hard to tell if the water damage will be fixed in time.

Also, the team is committed to be a display at an educational event in Chicago in September that would conflict with the earlier event.