Craig Breedlove may have built a jet-powered car in his garage, but he is now a laid-back grandfather in the Mister Rogers style, easy going speech and all.  You can almost feel your blood pressure wane when he comes out with calm, slowly delivered, statements, such as: "If your mind and body aren't both in good shape, you're not going to be able to do the best you possibly can."

So it takes a sharp leap of the imagination to consider that in a few weeks, this quiet and unassuming man wants to take himself to a dry lake bed in Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats, strap his 5-foot-8, 150-pound frame into the tiny cockpit of the biggest muscle car in America, and launch himself across a sea of caked salt at 700 fucking miles an hour. This 59-year-old man who keeps misplacing his reading glasses and whose wife has taken to feeding him homegrown wheatgrass juice will take a 60-second ride at the front of a jet capable of delivering 48,000 horsepower - twice the horsepower of all the cars in last year's Indy 500. 

Craig Breedlove and Spirit of America 1

That ain't all. If Breedlove reclaims the land speed record - a record he's owned five separate times - he'll turn the monster car around; perhaps toss down another shot of wheat grass juice; reposition his red, white, and blue helmet over his Hollywood hair; and shoot for 765 miles an hour, making him the first car driver to go Mach 1, the speed of sound on land. It'll take him only 5 miles and 30 seconds to travel faster than most bullets.

"This is the most dangerous sport in the world," says crewmember Ed Ballinger. "You take a human being and place him in a thing that was not designed to crash. You're making him go 500, 600, 700 miles an hour - most airplanes can't do that."

So why do it? "Because he can," Ballinger adds. "If all Craig had was a lawn mower to work with, you can be sure it would be the fastest lawn mower in the world."

It's this rarely revealed obsessive side that compels Breedlove to become the fastest man on the planet, a distinction that defines his celebrity and has sometimes overwhelmed his life. The current record of 633.468 mph is held by Richard Noble, a British driver. Noble knows that Breedlove is again jonesing for the record and has readied his own challenger, the Thrust Super-Sonic Car. Breedlove speaks almost bashfully when reminded of Noble's threat, reminding you of his own big stick: a 44-foot vehicle with a J-79 General Electric jet engine (with afterburner) from a Navy F-4 Phantom fighter aircraft. Noble's car - which the record holder won't even drive himself - has two jet engines. Scratch Breedlove's gentle exterior and you expose the competitor. "We can beat him with one," he says, grinning.

But the mood at his shop belies the flyboy confidence. With only a few weeks of prep time left, there's an edginess built on 22-hour days, money troubles, performance anxiety, the Noble challenge. Can Breedlove muster one last record-setting run and reclaim a record he hasn't held in 31 years? There's the sense that it's now or never. 

Craig Breedlove today

The need for speed

We're in Rio Vista, California, a hot and drowsy town in the Sacramento River Delta where Breedlove and his Spirit of America Formula Shell car live in a sprawling, circa 1913 Ford dealership that has been painted pink. The two predecessor vehicles, in which the gentle speed junkie set five land world records from 1963 through 1965 at speeds of 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour, are now housed in museums. The current model, which resembles something being readied for a Cape Canaveral launch, is a Breedlove-designed, handcrafted collection of aluminum, steel, carbon fiber, and Kevlar. It rests partially disassembled on its five wheels (two in the rear, three together on a single axle in the front) in the massive garage.

Craig and his wife, Marilyn, live in the front of the garage in the converted showroom. There's a compact gym in the living quarters, a nearby sauna, and a closet that has been converted into a kitchen where Marilyn cooks vegetarian food for the six-member Spirit of America team.

On a bedroom wall is a painting of horses Craig made when he was 7. In the living room are displayed black-and-white photos of Breedlove in his heyday as a household name. In one 30-year-old picture, a young Breedlove clowns with Muhammad Ali, both frozen in a moment of youthful possibility. In others, Breedlove beams alongside Robert Stack and Robert Mitchum.

Sonic 1   Spirit of America 3.    Date of Birth:  3/23/1937  Find on Amazon:  Craig Breedlove

 The Bluebird-Electric story 1991-2005   Copyright © 2005 Bluebird Electric Racing Limited and Electrick Publications.

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