RIP Craig Breedlove

[DanOregon]

First-ballot all "cool-name" team, but even more than that - all-time "cool car" HOFer.

The guy was "Maverick" way before Tom Cruise - and built The Spirit of America as well. Legend.

Craig Breedlove, First to Drive 500, 600 MPH, Dies at 86

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Not a gig where you expect to find one of its heroes living to old age. RIP.

 

[Azrael]

That time he crashed the first Spirit of America at Bonneville.

Childhood hero and land speed badass.

To his very fast rest.

 

[DanOregon]

Anyone else see "The World's Fastest Indian" - good movie with Anthony Hopkins playing Bert Munro's efforts to set the motorcycle record in the same period as Breedlove.

 

[maumann]

The Beach Boys wrote "Spirit of America" as a tribute to Breedlove. He was the Chuck Yeager of Bonneville, when holding the world's speed record was still a thing.

I've been to the salt flats once, just to watch a meet. Can't imagine keeping the foot in it at over 100, let alone 400. And those guys on the motorcycles are just crazy.

RIP, Craig.

 

[goalmouth]

His records jumped off the page of my first Guiness book. Which raises the question: What's the fastest you've gone in your own car/bike?

137, in a Honda Prelude.

 

[Azrael]

The Beach Boys wrote "Spirit of America" as a tribute to Breedlove. He was the Chuck Yeager of Bonneville, when holding the world's speed record was still a thing.

I've been to the salt flats once, just to watch a meet. Can't imagine keeping the foot in it at over 100, let alone 400. And those guys on the motorcycles are just crazy.

RIP, Craig.

Friend of the household here.

Danny Thompson. Mickey Thompson's son.

 

[Azrael]

Friend of the household here.

Danny Thompson. Mickey Thompson's son.

U.S.A.: BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS: BLUEBIRD'S TRIAL RUNS

 

[Azrael]

U.S.A.: BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS: BLUEBIRD'S TRIAL RUNS

 

[Azrael]

 

[Azrael]

 

[Azrael]

 

[Azrael]

Breedlove was a huge star in the long-running land speed show.

If you ever get the chance to see the Bonneville speed week, go.

 

[dixiehack]

His records jumped off the page of my first Guiness book. Which raises the question: What's the fastest you've gone in your own car/bike?

137, in a Honda Prelude.

Unofficially 120 in a Subaru hatchback. I went by the super scientific method of using my thumb and pointer finger as a caliper, then measuring off from 85 mph to my pegged out speedometer needle at the bottom of the dash. Didn’t get pulled over for that nonsense but did have to talk myself out of a ticket an hour later on that same trip. A 17-year-old brain is a deeply defective organ.

 

[goalmouth]

Unofficially 120 in a Subaru hatchback. I went by the super scientific method of using my thumb and pointer finger as a caliper, then measuring off from 85 mph to my pegged out speedometer needle at the bottom of the dash. Didn’t get pulled over for that nonsense but did have to talk myself out of a ticket an hour later on that same trip. A 17-year-old brain is a deeply defective organ.

I clearly recall vintage speedometers in Seventies Detroit land yachts reaching up to 140, 160...lol

 

[User 149557]

128 in my Ram Air Trans Am (Which Ron DeSantis would ban if still in production)in high school in an Ohio cornfield.

My friend, who was in the car with me and made the mistake of asking me how fast the car went, wrote a YA novel in adulthood that had a story in it based on that day. In the book they roll the car and someone dies.

After reading it, I texted him, unprompted, “If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve picked a road with a curve.”

 

[Junkie]

I got in the 130s in a Mercedes SL 350 (hard top was on) in a tunnel in WVa. I hate those tunnels. Anything to get out of there faster. If I was a Virginia statey, I'd park at the mouth of the second southbound tunnel on I-77. People fly through those things.

 

[User 149557]

I thought I was the only one who hates driving through those tunnels in Virginia. Absolutely hate them. I had 14 hours after a shift on a Honda assembly line to get to a wedding in Hilton Head from Indiana. I was in a red Challenger and somehow avoided a ticket while driving 100 mph through those things. I can only surmise that Virginia State Troopers are much more lax on speeding than some other states.

 

[dixiehack]

I love the drive on I-77 from Wytheville to Princeton. So pretty. And tunnels don’t bother me.

 

[DanOregon]

If you are ever out this way - there is a portion of Highway 97 between Bend and Klamath falls - slight downgrade and straight - got my Honda Civic over 100.