A Land Speed Record Yarn
Written by: Dick Ralstin

None of us realized it as we got in our cars to begin the six or seven mile drive off the Salt Flats that October 23 afternoon in 1970 but we had just seen an era in racing history come to a close.

Blue Flame in preperation for a timed run.

Blue Flame begining a timed run.

An era that had begun on September 3, 1935 when Sir Malcom Campbell drove his Bluebird thru the first measured mile ever laid out on the Salt Flats at the unbelievable speed of 301.129 mph.

Now we had just seen Gary Gabelich push the Blue Flame down the same stretch of Salt at 622.407 mph, and write the final chapter in the history of Land Speed Record runs on the famed Bonneville Salt Flats.

The unlimited LSR had been set, and broken, 17 times during those 35 years. The names of the men who wanted to be the fastest humans on the ground read like a who's who in the annals of speed.

Campbell, Eyston, Cobb and Sir Malcom's son Donald from Great Britain. From good old Uncle Sugar came the two hot rodders from California, Craig Breedlove and Gabelich and Akron, Ohio sent Art Arfons and Tom Green driving Walt Arfon's Wingfoot Express

The battle royal between Breedlove and Art Arfons in the early 60's captured the attention of the World and brought reams of publicity to their "Tire Town" sponsors. Art Arfons was a Firestone man with his Green Monster and Breedlove represented Goodyear with his Spirit of America, and the Sonic 1 for his final run in 1965, along with Walt's Wingfoot Express, also on Goodyear's.

The amazing hot rod and the boys from Akron swapped the record back and forth four times in October of 1964 and then came back and traded punches another four times in November of 1965.

In the melee Breedlove became the first and thru the mile at more than 400, 500 and 600 mph. His final run in '65, 600.601, stood for the next five years.

That was when Gary Gabelich and his Reaction Dynamics built Blue Flame scorched the mile at 622.407 and put the final exclamation mark on the history of the Land Speed Record runs on the Salt Flats.

At the speeds needed to set any new marks a longer course was needed than the ten or eleven miles available at Bonneville.

Gabelich's mark stood for 13 years before English man Richard Nobel hurtled his Thrust 2 thru the mile at 633.407 mph on Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, October 4, 1983. Just two months later Gary Gabelich was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident and never had the chance to reply to Noble's heroics.

Noble returned to Black Rock and, after another fight with a very determined Breedlove, on October 15, 1997 Andy Green rammed Nobel's Thrust SSC thru the mile at 763.035 --- the first to break the sound barrier and stay on the ground.

So the sands of Daytona Beach had a fling with the elusive Land Speed record that lasted, off and on, for 31 years and 14 record runs. Then it was Bonneville's turn and now the Black Rock desert.

Somewhere there is an English nobleman, or a California hot rodder, or maybe a "Tire Town" dreamer, who is thinking maybe, just maybe, he can be the first to go 800 mph.