.....He drove 600 Miles Per Hour—Legally!
“Unable to stop for more than a mile, his car slammed into telephone poles before landing in a salt pond. BREEDLOVE escaped unscathed.”
This quote caught my attention, and immediately I knew about whom the writer was writing. Craig Breedlove came into this world in March of ’37 and a few years down the road became a fireman…..also working for Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica, which also later helped him with the real focus of this article—Craig Breedlove drove “speed” cars with the nickname of “Spirit of America.” They were turbo-jet powered.
His attempts for ultimate speed began in 1962 and first was in a “three-wheeler,” not the “four” as actually required by many speed organizations. He quite easily did find an accepting organization.
Breedlove cars were all “jet-powered” and went faster and faster and later had four wheels…..400 miles per hour, 500 miles per hour, and finally 600.6 miles per—all records at the time they sped by. 600.6 was the final record for this man with a quest for ultimate power and speed in 1965.
Later, his records were broken, with an ultimate at this time of 760.3 miles per hour, which I believe is faster than the speed of sound!
Two men by the names of Art Arfons and Tom Green, all during the “speedy” days of the ‘60s, and all on the Bonneville Salt Flats, battled Breedlove for the title of “fastest racer” in the world, and they each broke the records of the other two until the 600.6 miles per hour was achieved.
They all three were “heroes” of sorts in America and part of the “speed” culture that captivated many, many young and not-so-young boys/men. “Spirit of America” (Beach Boys) called Craig “a daring young man playing a dangerous game.” He has been inducted into three different auto/motorsport halls of fame and has one or more vehicles on display.
Interesting to me is the fact that Mr. Breedlove was hired by the American Motors Corporation (AMC) to prepare the automaker’s high-performance vehicles, the Javelin and the AMX; speed and endurance were their highlights. I rode in both, since acquaintances of mine owned these models, and they were quite impressive, even though we did not approach land speed records! I did fasten my seatbelt securely, though!
CRAIG BREEDLOVE, 1937—2023, five-time world land speed record holder, is now gone from the salt flats, but I doubt that his name and achievements will ever be forgotten!
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