Born on this day, Craig Breedlove, a five-time world land speed record holder


Tuesday 23rd March 1937

Born on this day, Craig Breedlove, a five-time world land speed record holder. He was the first to reach 400 mph, 500 mph, and 600 mph, using several turbojet-powered vehicles that were all named “Spirit of America”. 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.


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