Craig Breedlove (born March 23, 1937) is an American professional race car driver and a five-time world land speed record holder. He was the first person in history to reach 400 mph (640 km/h), 500 mph (800 km/h), and 600 mph (970 km/h), using several turbojet-powered vehicles, all named Spirit of America.
And for my next act, I'm going to set myself on fire. (After getting out of the Spirit of America after plowing down phone poles, becoming airborne, and landing in a salt lake at 600 miles an hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah sometime in the 1960s.)
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There's only one thing that can guarantee our failure, and that's if we quit.
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Fact
1
Inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2009.
2
In 1964 while attempting to set a speed record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats, the steering, brakes and parachute on his vehicle failed simultaneously, resulting in the car rocketing into a pond at 200 mph. It also resulted in an entry in the Guinness Book of World Reocrds for the world's longest skid marks--five miles.
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One of the cameramen filming Breedlove's record-setting runs in the mid-1960s was a young George Lucas, who was so impressed by the way Breedlove raced that he paid an homage to it in the pod race sequences in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).
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Former holder of the world land speed record at 600.601 miles per hour set in the "Spirit of America" jet car on 15 November 1965.
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Breaking Barriers: Mankind's Pursuit of Speed
2014
TV Movie
Himself
Donald Campbell: Speed King
2013
TV Movie documentary
Himself - Rival
UFOs: 50 Years of Denial?
1997
Documentary
Himself - Former Land Speed Record Holder
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1972
TV Series
Himself
One Second from Eternity: The History of the Land Speed Record
1971
Video documentary
Himself
Hot Rod Action
1969
Documentary
Himself
The Joey Bishop Show
1968
TV Series
Himself
What's My Line?
1964
TV Series
Himself - Mystery Guest #1
I've Got a Secret
1963
TV Series
Himself - Contestant
The Mike Douglas Show
1963
TV Series
Himself - Land Speed Title Holder
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Mysteries at the Museum
2010
TV Series documentary
Himself
Known for movies
Donald Campbell: Speed King (2013) as Himself - Rival
UFOs: 50 Years of Denial? (1997) as Himself - Former Land Speed Record Holder
Breaking Barriers: Mankind's Pursuit of Speed (2014) as Himself
$13 Million
