Craig Breedlove

Passed away at 86. RIP

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a43519752/craig-breedlove-dies-world-land-speed-record/

I just came to post that. I honestly didn't know he was alive because most of the LSR guys were nuts and died in crazy crashes. He also set a metric shed load of FIA records in 1968 driving a slew of AMX's.

Breedlove was likely the first driver I'd ever heard of.  Back when I was in Kindergarten or first grade, his exploits at the wheel of "Spirit of America" were in the news.  RIP.

Another icon of our collective youth goes down. RIP.

I can't help but think that instead of burying him or scattering his ashes in the ocean, they should eject them from a jet airplane right as it hits 600.6 mph.

Rest in Peace, Craig. Thanks for all the memories at Bonneville and inspiration when I was a kid. Little me never thought in a million years I'd be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with him and shoot the breeze while chasing records. But yet... there we were, and you always came by the pits.  Thanks for the memories. God Speed, Craig. 

He loaned his car out and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago (great place to visit) messed it up and it was a bad situation when he got it back.  
 

motortrend.com/news/heres-craig-breedlove-suing-chicago-museum-science-industry-400000/amp/

Rip to a legend and  a life well lived. This is a cool picture with art afons in the 60s the 2 of them kept going back and forth with the land speed record.

In reply to MotorsportsGordon :

Highly recommend reading Speed Duel. Covers that era and is a *fantastic* read, if you are into that sort of thing. Of which, I clearly am.

I was curious about the outcome of the lawsuit 

Here

Javelin said:

I just came to post that. I honestly didn't know he was alive because most of the LSR guys were nuts and died in crazy crashes. He also set a metric shed load of FIA records in 1968 driving a slew of AMX's.

He also set a plethora of records driving CSX2287, a Shelby Daytona Coupe, in '65. Kind of a back door effort to keep Art from using the salt. Lots of back and forth like that back then.  The man has held a metric ton of land speed records..and had one heck of an interesting life. 

Back in '97 (I think) he and the British jet team were aiming for the sound barrier at the same time, and both had daily live broadcasts online.  I made sure I watched every day during that period, even if it was just camera shots of a sandstorm.  Breedlove's car eventually had a major moment going up on two wheels at around 600+, which I believe dropped him from contention.  Andy Green got the sonic record at 763, IIRC.  Although the Brits are still trying for 1000, they are once again in financial trouble, even though they have had their current car over 600 in testing in South Africa.

Yeah, his car eventually sold to Steve Fosset, whom unfortunately passed away before he could do anything with it. He (Craig) was in the planning stages and early construction of another car for another record attempt with someone else driving, but that never finalized either. The all out thrust record is an enormous task. 

The Brit team you are talking about is the Bloodhound SSC (now Bloodhound LSR), which will be the 3rd owner for it, if it sells. It's a decade plus venture.  Got sold in like 2017/2018 as it went into administration, and now its for sale / looking for donors again.. unless it's been sold since. Which I don't think it has.   I want to say they were looking for like 10-11 million for the package in 2021. Cars been 628, with a lot of engineering and testing left to go. But, it's a neat project... and my house is full of Bloodhound SSC swag and my name is/was on the car as i donated to the effort a few times. It's a fantastic effort and car, and I wish them well with it. 

In reply to GaryC83 :

Was coming to recommend the same book.  Amazing what these guys did.  Incredible to think he survived that time, unlike many of his fellow LSR racers.  RIP, a life well lived.

And though it's not their best, the Beach Boys did a song about him.

I didn't realize it at the time, but my favorite toys of the 70s, the Kenner SSP cars, were more or less modeled after the Spirit of America.

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

I didn't realize it at the time, but my favorite toys of the 70s, the Kenner SSP cars, were more or less modeled after the Spirit of America.

I was a kid when those came out and they were one of my favorite toys.  We could start a thread....

1988RedT2 said:

Breedlove was likely the first driver I'd ever heard of.  Back when I was in Kindergarten or first grade, his exploits at the wheel of "Spirit of America" were in the news.  RIP.

I wasn't much older when I heard of the LSR guys and was facinated.

In reply to GaryC83 :

Thanks for the book recomendation. Mine arrived today. 

In reply to L5wolvesf :

It's a fantastic read. I hope you enjoy it. There's another couple of LSR books I can recommend as well, if you enjoy that one. 

Bluebird and the Dead Lake is another great one. It covers Donald Campbell's exploits.  I'll have to put together a more encompassing list, later. But off the top of my head that would be another must read for anybody with interest in the overall land speed record thing. 

When I was a kid, my mom told me that there was a famous race car that had gone 600 mph on display in town, did I want to go see it? Sure! She took me to a Goodyear store that had the Spirit of America on display in the parking lot. It was the coolest thing that I had ever seen (not that hard when you are under ten years old), and I couldn't get enough of looking at it. I do remember that it was pretty large, and the tires were also very tall. After probably half an hour of staring at it, my mom had to drag me away. 

My mom was actually pretty cool; the next day she dropped me off at the library and I looked for books about LSR stuff. I checked out a few, some of which talked about Breedlove. The pictures of him with the early Spirit of America, especially the one of the car in the water left a real impression on me. Seeing that car and then reading about it helped set the hook a bit deeper, soon I was totally crazy about cars and car racing. 

Breedlove was one of my early heroes, along with Mickey Thompson (another LSR record holder besides his drag racing success). RIP Craig Breedlove.

BTW, a few years ago I stopped by a car museum in Oregon, and there was the four-engined Challenger LSR car that set the wheel-driven record of 400 mph!  They had a bunch of his cars there, and I stumbled upon that museum by dumb luck. 

RIP.

Dinner With Racers interviewed him for a podcast episode a few years ago. That's definitely worth a listen.