If you are new to Bonneville and Land Speed Racing, you may not have heard of Craig Breedlove, but he was an American Icon in his Spirit Of America Land Speed Cars. He was the first man to average over 400 mph at Bonneville when he ran a 407 mph average in 1963. He subsequently built newer and newer versions of the Spirit of America and went as fast as 600 mph in 1965. That is hauling ass. He also has the distinction of crashing during a 526 mph record return run, where the car went through telephone poles and crashed into a brine pond at over 200mph. According to witnesses he climbed out unhurt and claimed “And now for my next act I’m going to set myself on fire.”. Wow.
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The tune is standard issue Beach Boys (that’s a good thing). But that footage is killer! Craig Breedlove was one of my biggest heroes growing up. That Spirit Of America land plane is still one of the coolest looking things I’ve ever seen. Craig and Lee (his wife) also did a 24 hour endurance run in an AMC AMX back in 1968. The Beach Boys and Breedlove, a perfect match.