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Craig Breedlove's "Spirt of America - Sonic I" land speed car which had recently gone 600.601 mph. I was lucky enough to catch this at a traveling exhibit held at a Goodyear Tire store in Wichita Falls, Texas. It was quite a treat to see it sitting there and I sure wish I'd taken more photos. This was powered by a General Electric J-79 jet engine from an F-4 Phantom fighter.
Craig Breedlove's "Spirit of America - Sonic I" after his 2-way average of 600.601 mph on 14 Nov 1965.
As raced by Craig Breedlove, one-time World Land Speed Record holder. Note the George Barris signature, a legendary car “kustomizer” and designer of the Batmobile.
PHOTO: Craig Breedlove's Spirit of America on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
(History.com) March 23 - On this day in 1937, Craig Breedlove, the first person to reach land speeds of 400mph, 500 mph and 600 mph in a jet-powered vehicle, is born.
Breedlove was raised in Southern California, where as a teenager he built cars and was a drag racer. As a young man, he designed a three-wheeled, rocket-shaped vehicle powered by a surplus military J-47 plane engine and dubbed it the Spirit of America. On October 5, 1963, Breedlove became the fastest man on wheels when he recorded an average speed of more than 407 mph in the Spirit of America at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. Located approximately 100 miles west of Salt Lake City, the Bonneville Salt Flats are a hard, flat 30,000-acre expanse formed from an ancient evaporated lake. In 1914, Teddy Tezlaff set an auto speed record at Bonneville, driving 141.73 mph in a Blitzen Benz. By the late 1940s, Bonneville had become the standard place for setting and breaking world land-speed records and has since attracted drivers from around the globe who compete in a number of automotive and motorcycle divisions.
On November 2, 1965, Breedlove set a new record at Bonneville, driving 555.485 mph in the four-wheeled, jet-powered Spirit of America Sonic 1. Shortly after that, on November 15 of the same year, he set another new record with an average speed of 600.601 mph at Bonneville. According to Salon.com: "At a time when drag racing was the fastest-growing sport in the United States, Craig Breedlove was a hero. While his speed records won him the kudos of his racing brethren, his matinee-idol good looks assured him photo spreads in national magazines." The Beach Boys even wrote a song about Breedlove's daring, called "Spirit of America."
In October 1970, Gary Gabelich broke Breedlove's record with a speed of 622.4 mph. In the mid-1970s, Breedlove took a break from racing and embarked on a career in real-estate, but he eventually returned to racing. In 1997, Breedlove tried unsuccessfully to top the 700 mph mark. Instead, that year Britain's Andy Green broke the sound barrier and set a record of 763 mph. In 2006, Breedlove sold the Spirit of America to Steve Fossett, a wealthy adventurer. Before Fossett could set a new land-speed record, however, he died in a plane crash in 2007.
The 1965 Spirit of America that was driven by Craig Breedlove set a number of Land Speed Records at hte Bonneville Salt Flats.
This was taken at a Goodyear Tire store in Wichita Falls, Texas around 1970 when they were displaying famous race cars. Note Denny Hulme's McLaren Can-Am car beside it and also at this show was Craig Breedlove's Spirt of America - Sonic I jet land speed car that ran 600.601 mph.
Dr. Fred simeone presents the Spirit of competition Award to Craig Breedlove. Craig Breedlove – the first person to exceed 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour on land – was the recipient of the fourth annual Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum “Spirit of Competition” Award at a dinner at the Museum on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011. Breedlove joins drivers Mario Andretti, Janet Guthrie, and John Fitch as an Award recipient.
Photo by Andrew Taylor
Located along Interstate 80 about 100 miles west of Salt Lake City, Utah is the Bonneville Salt Flats, the remnants of the ancient Lake Bonneville. These series of images were taken from a rest stop. The flats were covered with about 6 inches of water (not a permanent condition) at the time I visited. Beneath the water was, as I found out when I walked barefoot on it, compacted, sharp crystallized salt. It was surreal...
I drove to this vast salt flat located about 80 miles west of SLC to see where many land speed records were set/broken by various vehicles. Anyhow, its surreal. At the time, there was a 4-6 inch deep water cover. I walked out into the water for about 100 feet or so. I was barefoot when I did it; the salt crystals beneath my feet felt like broken glass...ouch!
I drove to this vast salt flat located about 80 miles west of SLC to see where many land speed records were set/broken by various vehicles. Anyhow, its surreal. At the time, there was a 4-6 inch deep water cover. I walked out into the water for about 100 feet or so. I was barefoot when I did it; the salt crystals beneath my feet felt like broken glass...ouch!
Spirit of America
Every engineer knows that it's a mistake to anthropomorphise a machine, yet with Spirit of America the temptation is irresistible. Pure white, 44 feet from tapered nose to her stainless steel afterburner, she resembles a rocket ship that addresses the earth rather than the havens. Air intakes that feed her 43,000 horsepower General Electric J79 jet engine protrude from each flank and rise gracefully, like a Vulcan's ear, to a point. A dorsal fin arcs serenely aft, then spirals home like the knurl of an upturned Stradivarius - a steering vane. Two rear wheels of very large diameter are encased in pods which are cantilevered for stability and raked back for aerodynamic efficiency. The pods terminate in a scimitar's curve. This new Spirit of America was fashioned by Craig Breedlove with a vision that proportioned equal weight to speed and beauty.
Riding in Spirit's sloping nose, Breedlove intends not to just beat Noble, but to be the first to exceed 700 miles an hour. Then, in what many regard as a fool-hardy extreme, he will accelerate fast enough to penetrate the sound barrier. It is a challenge that Richard Noble has accepted. He, too, has built a car capable of supersonic speed which he calls "Thrust SSC (supersonic car)" after the original machine, Thrust II, which propelled him to the world record. Should either of these men realize their intent, they will be exploring what scientists call a technological and scientific frontier.
Craig Breedlove stands next to the Cobra Daytona Coupe he drove to 23 international records in 1965. The car is in the Simeone Museum in Philadelphia.
Craig Breedlove – the first person to exceed 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour on land – was the recipient of the fourth annual Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum “Spirit of Competition” Award at a dinner at the Museum on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011. Breedlove joins drivers Mario Andretti, Janet Guthrie, and John Fitch as an Award recipient.
Photo by Andrew Taylor
The Bugatti Tank which set records broken 30 years later by the Cobra Daytona Coupe in the background, co-driven by Craig Breedlove. Breedlove and Dr. Fred Simeone are on the stage.
Craig Breedlove – the first person to exceed 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour on land – was the recipient of the fourth annual Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum “Spirit of Competition” Award at a dinner at the Museum on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011. Breedlove joins drivers Mario Andretti, Janet Guthrie, and John Fitch as an Award recipient.
Photo by Andrew Taylor
The World Land Speed Record
The date is October 15, 1964. Craig Breedlove pilots Spirit of America I through the flying mile at Bonneville's land speed record course. As he exists the speed traps at over 550 miles an hour, flame extends twelve feet beyond the car's jet exhaust. A white plume of salt rises from her wheels. In the cockpit, Breedlove presses a button to ignite a powder charge in a parachute canister at the car's tail. He feels a slight tug as his braking chute opens. Then nothing. The chute has failed. Streaking past a marker indicating three miles of track remaining, the speedometer indicates 460 miles an hour. Craig deploys his emergency chute. Nothing. At the end of the track, he tries his disc brakes. His foot goes to the floor. Shaped to slip easily through the air, Spirit of America continues off course with great velocity, glances off a telephone pole, climbs an earthen dike that constrains a pool of water, and flies. The vehicle skips across the pool in a series of ever tightening arcs and comes to rest, nose down, with her cockpit in six feet of water. Breedlove emerges unscathed and with a new world record of 526.277 miles an hour. A few months earlier, Glenn Leasher had perished in the wreckage of his jet powered car. In 1963, Athol Graham died when his City of Salt Lake crashed on the same course.
Time warp forward thirty-one years to October 21st, 1996. Breedlove, now 59 years old, still looks the youthful "Captain America" who captured the land speed record five times and set a record of 600.61 MPH in 1965. He is a PR man's dream - handsome, articulate impassioned. Craig first traveled to the Salt Flats on the window ledge of a '46 Ford hot rod driven by a neighborhood teenager. He was then fifteen. From that moment he has focused his life on the land speed record - often at the expense of family and personal fortune. Now, after a thirty year enforced leave of absence when public interest shifted away from speed, Craig has created a new Spirit of America to break the record which, in the interim, has been set by Englishman Richard Noble at 633 miles an hour.
Art Arfons jet powered racer named the Green Monster. It is being prepared for a day of racing for the World Land Speed Record. The date is Sept 11th, 1965. He set his third world record at a speed of 576mph.
Craig Breedlove – the first person to exceed 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour on land – was the recipient of the fourth annual Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum “Spirit of Competition” Award at a dinner at the Museum on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011. Breedlove joins drivers Mario Andretti, Janet Guthrie, and John Fitch as an Award recipient.
Photo by Andrew Taylor
Craig Breedlove – the first person to exceed 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour on land – was the recipient of the fourth annual Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum “Spirit of Competition” Award at a dinner at the Museum on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011. Breedlove joins drivers Mario Andretti, Janet Guthrie, and John Fitch as an Award recipient.
Photo by Andrew Taylor
The Cobra Daytona Coupe Craig Breedlove used to set 23 international records is in the background as Dr. Fred Simeone and Craig Breedlove talk at their table at the Spirit of Competition Award dinner at the Simeone Museum in Philadelphia.
Craig Breedlove – the first person to exceed 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour on land – was the recipient of the fourth annual Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum “Spirit of Competition” Award at a dinner at the Museum on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011. Breedlove joins drivers Mario Andretti, Janet Guthrie, and John Fitch as an Award recipient.
Photo by Andrew Taylor
Craig Breedlove – the first person to exceed 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour on land – was the recipient of the fourth annual Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum “Spirit of Competition” Award at a dinner at the Museum on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011. Breedlove joins drivers Mario Andretti, Janet Guthrie, and John Fitch as an Award recipient.
Photo by Andrew Taylor
(L to R) Mark Donohue, his father, racer David Donohue, Dr. Fred Simeone and Craig Breedlove at the Spirit of Competition Award dinner at the Simeone Museum in Philadelphia.
Craig Breedlove – the first person to exceed 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour on land – was the recipient of the fourth annual Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum “Spirit of Competition” Award at a dinner at the Museum on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011. Breedlove joins drivers Mario Andretti, Janet Guthrie, and John Fitch as an Award recipient.
Photo by Andrew Taylor
Craig Breedlove (l) and Dr. Fred Simeone (r). Craig Breedlove – the first person to exceed 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour on land – was the recipient of the fourth annual Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum “Spirit of Competition” Award at a dinner at the Museum on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011. Breedlove joins drivers Mario Andretti, Janet Guthrie, and John Fitch as an Award recipient.
Photo by Andrew Taylor
I drove to this vast salt flat located about 80 miles west of SLC to see where many land speed records were set/broken by various vehicles. Anyhow, its surreal. At the time, there was a 4-6 inch deep water cover. I walked out into the water for about 100 feet or so. I was barefoot when I did it; the salt crystals beneath my feet felt like broken glass...ouch!
Craig Breedlove – the first person to exceed 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour on land – was the recipient of the fourth annual Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum “Spirit of Competition” Award at a dinner at the Museum on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011. Breedlove joins drivers Mario Andretti, Janet Guthrie, and John Fitch as an Award recipient.
Photo by Andrew Taylor
I drove to this vast salt flat located about 80 miles west of SLC to see where many land speed records were set/broken by various vehicles. Anyhow, its surreal. At the time, there was a 4-6 inch deep water cover. I walked out into the water for about 100 feet or so. I was barefoot when I did it; the salt crystals beneath my feet felt like broken glass...ouch!
I drove to this vast salt flat located about 80 miles west of SLC to see where many land speed records were set/broken by various vehicles. Anyhow, its surreal. At the time, there was a 4-6 inch deep water cover. I walked out into the water for about 100 feet or so. I was barefoot when I did it; the salt crystals beneath my feet felt like broken glass...ouch!
The 1965 Spirit of America that was driven by Craig Breedlove set a number of Land Speed Records at hte Bonneville Salt Flats.
The sign reads as follows:
Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway
The salt flats were formed as an ancient Lake Bonneville slowly evaporated and deposited concentrations of salt onto this playa. Shorelines carved into the mountain sides are visible to the north along the Silver Island range and extend to the Salt Lake Valley.
Named after Captain B. L. Bonneville, an early military explorer of the West, the salt flats measure 44,000 acres and our primarily Public Land.
Historically the flats have impeded man’s movement Westward. Early traders like Jebediah Smith and John Fremont crossed the vast saline plain only to return with awesome stories of the salt’s harshness.
In 1846, the Donner Reed party lost animals, wages, and valuable time on the salt. These losses contributed to their late arrival and subsequent disaster in the snowy Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The flats’ potential for racing was recognized in 1896 by W. D. Rishel, who attempted to organize a carriage and bike race. He convinced Ferg Johnson to test drive his Packard here in 1911. In 1914, Teddy Tetzlaff reached 141 mph in his Blitzen Benz. Succeeding years saw many attempts to set faster records. In 1940 Ab Jenkins said 81 new speed records in his Mormon Meteor III, including a 24-hour endurance record of 161 mph. Jet and rocket cars appeared in the 1960’s and exceeded the 500 and 600 mph marks.
The speedway 80 feet wide and 10 miles long is prepared by the borough of land management in the early summer. Speed trials are scheduled throughout the summer and fall. They end when rains cover the area with water.
Caution salt crust may appear firm, but is often moist and unstable. Enjoy the area please keep it clean.
The Spirit of America is a jet-powered racecar. Craig Breedlove built and drove it at speeds over 500 mph, setting multiple speed records. His top average speed was 526.28 mph at the Bonneville, Utah Salt Flats on October 15, 1964.
The sign reads as follows:
WELCOME TO THE BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS
AND UTAH’S FAMED MEASURED MILE – SITE OF WORLD LAND-SPEED RECORD RUNS
Utah’s famed measured mile is located approximately seven miles beyond this marker, well in front of the mountains you see on the horizon. The elevation along the course is approximately 4,218 feet above sea level.
The total length of the course that includes the measured mile varies from year to year, but for recent runs it has been laid out in a path 80 feet wide and approximately ten miles long, with a black reference stripe down the middle. Due to the curvature of the earth, is impossible to see from one end of the course to the other.
Timing of the world land-speed record runs is under the jurisdiction of the United States Automobile Club. World land-speed record times represent an electronically-timed average of two runs over the measured mile, within a one hour time period – one run in each direction.
The first world land-speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats was set on September 3, 1935, by Sir Malcolm Campbell. His speed was 301.13 miles per hour.
Craig Breedlove hold the honor of being the first man to go faster than 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour. His record of 600.601 miles per hour, set on November 15, 1965, was finally broken on October 23, 1970, by Gary Gabelich.
Gabelich’s new record is 622.407 miles per hour.
Both Gabelich’s rocket engine ‘Blue Flame’ and Breedlove’s jet-powered ‘Spirit of America’ were equipped with specially designed inflatable tires, pre-tested to speeds in excess of 800 miles per hour.
Erected by THE GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY June 1972
01 Aug 1963, Tooele County, Utah, USA --- Craig Breedlove, 26, of Los Angeles, driver and owner of "The Spirit Of America" walks away from his racer 7/31, after a successful trial run of 349.5 mph. --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS
The sign reads as follows:
WELCOME TO THE BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS
AND UTAH’S FAMED MEASURED MILE – SITE OF WORLD LAND-SPEED RECORD RUNS
Utah’s famed measured mile is located approximately seven miles beyond this marker, well in front of the mountains you see on the horizon. The elevation along the course is approximately 4,218 feet above sea level.
The total length of the course that includes the measured mile varies from year to year, but for recent runs it has been laid out in a path 80 feet wide and approximately ten miles long, with a black reference stripe down the middle. Due to the curvature of the earth, is impossible to see from one end of the course to the other.
Timing of the world land-speed record runs is under the jurisdiction of the United States Automobile Club. World land-speed record times represent an electronically-timed average of two runs over the measured mile, within a one hour time period – one run in each direction.
The first world land-speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats was set on September 3, 1935, by Sir Malcolm Campbell. His speed was 301.13 miles per hour.
Craig Breedlove hold the honor of being the first man to go faster than 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour. His record of 600.601 miles per hour, set on November 15, 1965, was finally broken on October 23, 1970, by Gary Gabelich.
Gabelich’s new record is 622.407 miles per hour.
Both Gabelich’s rocket engine ‘Blue Flame’ and Breedlove’s jet-powered ‘Spirit of America’ were equipped with specially designed inflatable tires, pre-tested to speeds in excess of 800 miles per hour.
Erected by THE GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY June 1972