Cancelled Utah race renews fears of shrinking salt flats

WENDOVER, Utah (AP) — Wet weather has forced the second-straight cancellation of an annual race at Utah's world-famous Bonneville Salt Flats.

It has also renewed a debate about whether nearby mining is depleting the gleaming white flats of their precious resource.

The ground is renowned for the glass-like racing surface the hard and flat salt provides. But racers say the area has been shrinking for decades.

They say it's getting harder to find enough for cars, motorcycles and more to top speeds of 400 mph.

Federal land managers who oversee the flats say they don't have any evidence that the salt is being depleted and point to the anomaly of heavy rains around the time of the event.