Who as a 13yr Old boy felt “the Need for Speed!”
When making His very first pass in a Dragster…
I initially “Heard” the News via the Car and
Driver Magazine section upon my Newsline for The Blind telephone service on
Wednesday, April 5th. Stating that multiple sources were reporting that Craig Breedlove
had Died at the Age of 86 on April 4th.
Breedlove as many may know, was synonymous wit
His Spirit of America Jet engine “Rocket” Cars. For which Breedlove became the
first to officially break the 400, 500 and lastly 600mph speed barrier. With
Breedlove being locked in a Mano e Mano duel with the Arfon Brothers, i.e.; Walt
and Art, of Akron, Ohio in their quest to be the Fastest Man on Earth!
Initially Breedlove’s record of 407.447mph over
One Flying Mile was Not recognized by the FIA as an official Land Speed Record (LSR)
since it failed to meet their guidelines of having four wheels and two driven
wheels.
As Breedlove had set that speed in His original
Spirit of America, a three wheeled vehicle propelled by a surplus -F-86 Sabre Jet
Fighter J-47 Turbojet engine in the Fall of 1963. For which His accomplishment
was immortalized by the Beach boys Spirit of America song that same year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKJcA2foaH4
Then between October 2, 1964 to November 15,
1965, Walt, His younger Half Brother Art and Breedlove traded the land speed
record a further eight times! Although Walt hired Tom Green to drive His Wingfoot
Express in 1964 after suffering a serious Hand injury when unloading the
vehicle at Bonneville. With Art claiming three land speed records vs. Breedlove
five.
As Breedlove’s Two way average Flying Mile
speed of 600.601mph mark stood for five years until Gary Gabelich aboard His
Blue Flame Natural Gas powered Rocket Car broke the record at 622.407mph over
One mile, which I’ve previously scribbled’ about here upon No Fenders ong ago
in my two part The 700 Club tome.
http://www.nofenders.net/2010/06/700-club.html
Craig recorded a speed of 526.277mph in His
Sonic I in 1964. Yet His parachutes failed to operate and Breedlove went onto
claim another record, albeit surely unwanted. With the Guinness Book of World Records
denoting His five mile Skid as the World’s longest!
Before the out of control Sonic I Hit a
telegraph Pole with legend claiming Breedlove had the presence of mind to
unlock the Sonic I’s canopy before submerging itself in a Brine water lake! And
when rescuers finally arrived. Breedlove calmly pronounced for my next trick I’ll
set Myself on fire!
As I was fortunate enough to see Breedlove’s record
setting Spirit of America Sonic I, a General electric J-79 Phantom Jet Fighter
engine’s four wheel Jet Car on display at then the IMS Hall of Fame Museum Wayback’
in May, 2012. For which I’d have to say it seemed totally out of place amongst
the various classic Indianapolis 500 racing cars…
Yet when I think of Messer Breedlove, my mind invariably
wonders back to the years 1996-97. When over the course of approximately one
year, Breedlove saw the Highs ‘N Lows for the pursuit of becoming the first
person to break the Speed of Sound on land, then the ultimate Land Speed
record!
As I cannot say that I really remember Craig’s
incident in October, 1996, when a garbled radio message left Him misunderstanding
the winds velocity of 15mph Crosswinds, which He heard as 1.5mph! Therefore,
during a High Speed run of some 675mph, Craig Heavily crashed His latest land
speed record Challenger, the Spirit of America Formula Shell LSRV!
As this latest Spirit of America LSR vehicle
also utilized an ubiquitous GE J-79 Turbojet engine for it’s motivating power,
albeit being converted to produce it’s maximum 22,650lbs thrust running on
unleaded Gasoline.
Yet what I still remember most, was working in
what was affectionately Not! Known as the “Plywood Palace,” with a Blimey’
British Engineer John Somebody’ politely throwing Barbs back “n forth with me daily
over Breedlove’s race against Richard Noble’s ThrustSSC at Nevada’s Black Rock
Desert, for ultimate Bragging rights over being the first to break the Sound
barrier on land. For which we All know ThrustSSC did so in October, 1997.
http://www.nofenders.net/2017/10/when-thrustssc-went-supersonic-on-land.html
As I do recall how a loose bolt completely
destroyed Breedlove’s primary J-79 engine during a speed attempt run. And His
underfinance, tiny volunteer crew never recovered from that incident! Even after
installing a backup jet engine, Craig just couldn’t compete against ThrustSSC
and Andy green.
Being a Shelby American and All things Blue
Oval Devotee. I’m aware of the Arse-sumedly obscure fact that Craig would set some
23 Speed records aboard one of ‘Ol Shel’s Cobra Daytona Coupes Wayback in November,
1965 at a Goodyear tyre test. And then later again at Bonneville, along with
His wife Lee, would set multiple records for AMC in both it’s radical AMX and
Javelin “Pony Car” automobiles.
Since I’m guessing most, like myself originally,
aren’t aware that Craig’s wife Lee was also a Speed Junky. Having become the
world’s Fastest Couple in 1965!
Although Breedlove
was married a total of six times, and He and Lee Divorced in 1968…
Having only discovered that Lee had held the
Women’s land Speed record at 308.5mph, also set aboard the Spirit of America’s Sonic
I in 1965. When learning of Jessie Combs Death in 2019.
As Combs had broken Lee Breedlove’s record in
2013 and was then chasing Kitty O’Neil’s record before perishing in the Alvord
Desert in Oregon, before being awarded the current Women’s land speed record
posthumously…
http://www.nofenders.net/2019/09/jessi-combs-womans-land-speed-record.html
