Craig Breedlove, who set land-speed data by topping 400, 500 and 600 mph in jet-powered automobiles nicknamed Spirit of America, has died. He was 86.
Breedlove died at his residence in Rio Vista, California, on April 4. His spouse, Yadira Breedlove, mentioned the reason for demise was most cancers.
Breedlove battled Tom Green and Art Arfons on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to set after which break one another’s velocity data in the course of the freewheeling Sixties, a golden period of American motorsports. Breedlove’s remaining velocity document was 600.6 mph (966.5 km/h) in 1965.
The mark has been topped since, with the present document sitting at 760.3 mph (1,223.6 km/h) – quicker than the velocity of sound – however Breedlove helped make the land-speed mark a cultural phenomenon starting in 1963.
He was an American hero to some and was even immortalized within the Beach Boys’ track “Spirit of America,” which refers to him as a “daring young man” taking part in a “dangerous game.”
Born March 23, 1937, Breedlove was a firefighter whose childhood love of automobiles impressed him to race. He additionally labored at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica as a technician in structural engineering, a background that helped gasoline his work with jet-powered automobiles.
His early designs included a missile-shaped automobile with three wheels, a jet engine and a rear fin; it was extra fighter airplane than passenger automotive.
In Spirit of America, Breedlove clocked 407 mph at Bonneville to set a brand new land-speed document on Aug. 5, 1963. The document modified palms eight occasions within the subsequent two-plus years, culminating with Breedlove’s remaining mark set on Nov. 15, 1965.
During one in every of Breedlove’s record-breaking runs, he misplaced his brakes and his parachutes. Unable to cease for greater than a mile, his automotive slammed into phone poles earlier than touchdown in a salt pond. Breedlove escaped unscathed.
Breedlove deliberate to attempt to break the land-speed document of 633 mph in 1996, however he crashed and needed to abandon the endeavor.
Breedlove was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1993, the Dry Lakes Racing corridor of Fame in 1995, International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2000, and the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2009.
He was married six occasions, along with his remaining one lasting 20 years. In addition to his spouse, he’s survived by two kids from his first marriage, a half-sister, 5 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.
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