Craig Breedlove, who set land-speed information by topping 400, 500 and 600 mph in jet-powered vehicles nicknamed Spirit of America, has died. He was 86.

Breedlove died at his residence in Rio Vista, California, on April 4. His spouse, Yadira Breedlove, stated the reason for demise was most cancers.

Breedlove battled Tom Inexperienced and Artwork Arfons on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to set after which break one another’s velocity information through the freewheeling Nineteen Sixties, a golden period of American motorsports. Breedlove’s ultimate velocity document was 600.6 mph (966.5 km/h) in 1965.

The mark has been topped since, with the present document sitting at 760.3 mph (1,223.6 km/h) — quicker than the velocity of sound — however Breedlove helped make the land-speed mark a cultural phenomenon starting in 1963.

He was an American hero to some and was even immortalized within the Seaside Boys’ track “Spirit of America,” which refers to him as a “daring younger man” taking part in a “harmful recreation.”

Born March 23, 1937, Breedlove was a firefighter whose childhood love of vehicles impressed him to race. He additionally labored at Douglas Plane in Santa Monica as a technician in structural engineering, a background that helped gasoline his work with jet-powered vehicles.

His early designs included a missile-shaped car with three wheels, a jet engine and a rear fin; it was extra fighter aircraft than passenger automobile.

In Spirit of America, Breedlove clocked 407 mph at Bonneville to set a brand new land-speed document on Aug. 5, 1963. The document modified fingers eight occasions within the subsequent two-plus years, culminating with Breedlove’s ultimate mark set on Nov. 15, 1965.

Throughout certainly one of Breedlove’s record-breaking runs, he misplaced his brakes and his parachutes. Unable to cease for greater than a mile, his automobile slammed into phone poles earlier than touchdown in a salt pond. Breedlove escaped unscathed.

Breedlove deliberate to attempt to break the land-speed document of 633 mph in 1996, however he crashed and needed to abandon the endeavor.

Breedlove was inducted into the Motorsports Corridor of Fame of America in 1993, the Dry Lakes Racing corridor of Fame in 1995, Worldwide Motorsports Corridor of Fame in 2000, and the Automotive Corridor of Fame in 2009.

He was married six occasions, along with his ultimate one lasting 20 years. Along with his spouse, he’s survived by two kids from his first marriage, a half-sister, 5 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.