tbutler | Prepare for Takeoff!

...looks like a plane, doesn't it?

...in fact, a lot like a plane. Ne?

There's a reason for that.

Meet the Spirit of America - Sonic I, driven by Craig Breedlove. Holder of the Land Speed Record from 1965-1970. There's a story behind that...

The original Spirit of America was the first land speed record car to use jet thrust to power the car. (Donald Campbell's Bluebird used a jet turbine to power the wheels through a gearbox, but that was pretty much the last gasp of wheel-driven speed records.) In 1963-64, the record see-sawed back and forth between Breedlove and Art Arfons' Green Monster, a battle that ended with Arfons setting the record in the last run of the season, after the Spirit of America crashed at the end of its last run. (I have to admit a lot of respect for Arfons; the Green Monster was an ugly car, but he put it together in his backyard, out of a military jet engine that had been scrapped after it ingested a bolt. That took a heck of a lot of ability.)

Unfortunately, Breedlove's records in '63-'64 didn't actually count with one of the international record bodies, because that group's rules called for a four-wheeled car and the original Spirit had three. So in '64-'65, Breedlove built a new car, the Sonic I, which had four wheels. :) It used the same model GE J79 turbojet as the Green Monster - this one from an F-4 Phantom - and after another series of close battles, set the record for good at a speed just over 600 mph. This record stood until 1970, when it was beaten by the rocket-powered Blue Flame.