History Craig Breedlove and the Spirit of America...

Hopefully, this is the correct area for this, it is historical and it is about a "hot rod".

I went to work for Craig in 1964, shortly after he had set the Land Speed Record at the Salt Flats in his 3-wheeled weenie roaster. His first LSR with that car was set in 1963 at 407.45 mph, the first official two-way record over 400 mph.

In 1964, that record was broken first by Tom Green at 413.2 mph in Walt Arfons car (Wingfoot Express) and then reset a few days later by Art Arfons in the Green Monster at 434.03 mph. Craig came back a few days later and pushed the record up to 468.72 mph and then to 526.28 mph. That run, however, had some negative consequences as both 'chutes and the brakes failed on the return run and the car was basically wiped out after hitting two telephone poles and winding up in a saltwater ditch. Twelve days later, Art Arfons came back and pushed the record to 536.71, where it stood for the year 1964.

Technically, the 3-wheeled Spirit of America jet car was not a "car". The FIA (Federation International Automobile) did not recognize a car unless it had 4 (or more) wheels. Fortunately, Breedlove's records all counted because the FIM (Federation International Motorcycles) stepped in and classified the three wheeler as "a motorcycle with a side car". Ahh, the French.

With the 3-wheel jet car repaired (superficially) and on it's way to a museum in Chicago, Breedlove decided to build a 4-wheel jet car to get the record back, and it's this car that I'm going to talk about.

The new car was going to be powered by a much bigger engine, a GE J-79 (the 3-wheel car was powered by a GE J-47). The new car would be called the Spirit of America Sonic 1.


The thing to remember about these cars is that Craig Breedlove was a hot rodder, and like all hot rodders, almost the only people Craig hired to work on it and build it were also a bunch of hot rodders.

Here are a few photos taken while it was under construction, in Compton, CA. A side note. We started the build in December 1964 and made it up to the salt in October 1965. We worked night and day and pretty much every weekend, including during the Watts Riots in July which went on all around our little shop with buildings burning all around us. The only reason that our shop didn't "burn baby burn" was that during the height of the riots, we had shifts of guys on the roof with shot guns at all times.

Some photos:


The general layout. The fuel tanks, one saddle tank on each side, held 55-gallons of JP4 (110 gallons total) and were positioned in the center of the car so as to not change the fore-aft weight distribution as the fuel was depleted on a run. A typical run was a 5-mile run-up under acceleration, the flying mile to be timed in, and 5-miles to stop. The 6-miles under power used about 100 gallons of fuel.

Building a 34-foot long car in a 40-foot building.


Building the driver's compartment. Craig kneeling and crew chief Nye Frank looking on. At the time, Nye was partners with John Peters, the Peters and Frank "Freight Train" dual engine dragster.




Nye and Paul Nicolini discussing the "4-link/4-link" independent rear suspension. The "weldment" that will eventually have a spindle attached, is held in place by the two front-to-rear 4-link which attached to the frame right where Nye is looking, and in turn is suspended by the other 4-link (only the top two links are seen in this photo). The "ears" on the weldment are where the dual brake calipers will attach. A very trick piece.


The multi layered fiberglass air duct. We built it like a surfboard. First a foam buck was built to the shape we wanted, and then many layers of fiberglass was laid over the foam. And then when all that hardened, we chopped out all the foam so all that was left was this air duct.


This photo shows the layout of the independent rear suspension and upper and lower 4-link. The trick was to ensure that the huge 36-inch in diameter rear wheels went straight up and down. We used torsion bars all around, front and rear. You can see them quite clearly in this photo, one torsion bar on each side. The bottom part of the frame is actually separate from the sides and top. It bolts on. To get the J-79 engine into the car, it is rolled into the car from the back, engine mounts bolted in place, and then the floor of the frame is bolted on to the rest of the frame. Trickeeee.
By the way, the guy in the center of this photo is Paul Nicolini. You old drag racers will recognize Paul and he is the builder of the "Sidewinder" dragster that Christman drove. I told you that a bunch of hot rodders built the S.O.A.


Fuel tanks going in. Built out of aluminum and then covered with fiberglass. Now you can see how the independent rear suspension looks.


We finally made it to the salt. The tall lanky guy in the center is tin beater extraordinare Tom Hanna. Tom was just one of the tin beaters that worked on this car. Here's a list of the body men besides Tom:

Don Borth
George Boskoff (from Shelby Automotive)
Quinn Epperly
Wayne Ewing
Bob Sorrell

Frame fabricators included:

Jim Jefferies
Connie Swingle (my roommate, on loan from Garlits)
Paul Nicolini

The rest of the team:

Nye Frank (crew chief and everything else)
Stan Goldstein (general team manager and accountant)
Gordon Barber (did all the electrical work)
Dick Compton (jet engine specialist)
Bob Davids (did the fiberglass work and painted the car)
Bob Koken (jet engine guru, on loan from GE)
Bill Moore (all the art design for sponsorships)
Art Russell (built the wind tunnel models)
Walt Sheehan (helped with engineering, aerodynamics and the air duct, on loan from Lockheed).
and me (logistics, laison, and good with a shot gun).

 

I'll never forget getting my copy of R&C in the mail detailing the epic battle between Breedlove and the Arfons. Like you said, these were a bunch of hot rodders, driving what were essentially home-built cars. The days of big-bucks corporate sponsors, multi-million dollar budgets, and super high tech were still in the future. Don't get me wrong, these efforts were the big leagues for the day but this level of competition hasn't been seen since...

Probably one of two of hot roddings finest hours.... with the other being when the 'peasant' from Detroit (with the help of Shelby and Holman-Moody) took on the aristocrats of Europe at LeMans and thumped 'em....

 

Thanks George!! Great pics too. Great stuff!! Lippy

 

Thanks for sharing. how long did you work with Breedlove? are you still involved with race vehicles?

 

very enjoyable. Thanks.

 

Some more photos from up on the salt in 1965:


Afterburner in view.


Craig talking to Walt Sheehan. Walt worked for Lockheed, had a lot to do with the design of the inlet air ducts on the F-104, a single engine super-sonic fighter.


Craig's wife, Lee. Craig is pointing out the pedals, "That one is go and the other one is stop." We were on the salt in 1965 for over four weeks, and made 36 runs. At one point, Craig turned the car over to Lee to get a Woman's Land Speed Record, which she did, at 308.56 mph. Lee had never driven any car faster than 75 mph before. In fact, Lee was at the laundramat in Wendover, UT that day, doing the laundry for the crew. Craig whipped over there and told her that he needed her for an hour or two.


Let's fire it up and see if it starts. We used an old military APU to start the engine.


All the comforts of home on the salt.




Looks kinda sleek in this photo, not at all how it looked at the time we pushed it to 600 mph plus.


Patched up, beat up, patched up again. The body panels took a hell of a beating plus we had the air duct blow up once when the engine decided to go into a compressor stall. This was the final run the car ever made, at 608 mph on the return run. The prior run was 594 mph, which gave us a 2-way average of 600.601 mph. We busted the 600 mph barrier with a 1/2 mile per hour to spare. Craig became the first person to hold the world LSR at 400, 500 and 600 mph.

 

What a great story with the photos to let us see the construction !

 

I worked for Craig from late 1964 to 1967, at which time I went to work for Mickey Thompson. I work for Accufab, Inc., we manufacture EFI throttle bodies, and we do have a Mustang Pro Street car, sponsored by Lucas Oil.



Nye Frank and I and Bob Muravez (allias Floyd Lippencotte, Jr.) built this twin engine nitromethane digger in 1966.



And if you like old drag cars, you might want to browse through this:

http://georgeklass.net/

 

Love it! where is the car now? still around? Museum?

 

A couple of years ago, I saw the S.O.A. Sonic 1 at the Peterson Museum in L.A.. I have no idea if it's still there or where it might be, or even who owns it.

 

I believe the Sonic 1 is still currently on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum.




George Klass, Thanks for posting the story and build pics!

 

Incredible! Thanks for sharing!!

 

great story with the pictures to back it up

 

Thanks for the great story and pictures. Just imagine folks, no CAD and no CNC mills/lathes, just good old American ingenuity, and large brass balls.

 

I remember reading an early Hot Rod magazine that showed Craig building a LSR car in his backyard! Can you imagine firing up a J-47 jet in your garage! Hope he got along with his neighbors!

 

the first SOA is at the museum of science and industry in Chicago, it used to be on the main floor by the train set , but they moved it when thy remodeled a while back , do not know where they have it at now . for a long time it was tucked in a corner of the mueseum and was not really seen . I remember it very well for the skidmark reccord it held .

and now I will set myself on fire quote ..

 

Actually, this is not Craig's back yard. It's his dad's back yard. Craig first started the build of the 3-wheeler in his dad's (Norm Breedlove) back yard, and the hedge on the right of the driveway (Norm's neighbor's property) is about to be torn up. This is the first time this car was moved, and it's going to Quincy Epperly's shop to have a nice aluminum body built around it.

 

Great thread. Please tell me more about the large diameter wheels and Goodyear tires. They are awesome.

 

Thanks so much for these pictures George. A real insight into what it takes to build an LSR contender. I have always thought Nye Frank is a genius in a class of his own.

 

Thanks, George, appreciate the photos and stories...Breedlove was an innovator, a craftsman, and seemed to know no fear.....interesting to note how many hot rod craftsmen were involved in his jet car, how do you round up that much talent?

 

Very cool thread . I love the old pics

 

This is beyond awesome. Please keep the stories and photos coming

 

Awesome, completely and totally AWESOME!!

 

Starting in 1961, I worked at Palos Verdes Bowl on Crenshaw in Torrance. I think Breedlove had a shop behind the bowling alley for a couple of years. Maybe that was before 1964. They were often in the coffee shop early in the morning for breakfast.

 

Very cool, I grew up Following LSR cars and dreaming about going out on the Salt

 

The street you are talking about is Amsler St. And yes, that was Breedlove's shop after we set the record at 600 mph (1965). I can't tell you how many times I had breakfast at that bowling alley, too.

For breakfast, it was either that bowling alley or the coffee shop on the corner of PCH and Crenshaw Blvd. It's a funny world, isn't it? Our paths have most likely crossed many times, and we finally meet on the H.A.M.B.

 

Thanks for sharing...Has there been another shop In Rio Vista, Ca. ?

 

I don't know what it's like at the salt flats now, but in the 1960's, if you didn't run for a LSR during Speed Week, you had to rent the salt from the state, Bureau of Land Management of Utah. When you rented it, you paid by the day, minimum of five days. First Firestone rented it (for Art Arfons) and then the next week, Goodyear rented it (for Breedlove and also for Walt Arfons). This went on pretty much all the time we were up there, toggling back and forth. If Goodyear had that week, Art could not run and vice versa. But there was a catch. If you did not actually run for a record, the other team could take your place. You couldn't just rent the salt for the week and sit around doing nothing, you had to run for a record of some sort.

That's how Lee Breedlove wound up setting a record for women drivers. We broke the record early in the week, set a LSR (555 mph I think) and we needed to do more runs or we would have to turn the salt over to Art.

It was late in October, we wanted it to start to rain. Once it starts to rain up there in late October or early November, it usually doesn't stop. The salt gets water sitting on it and it becomes saturated and un-raceable. (Everyone knows, do they not, that the salt flats is actually floating on a lake. The salt is only a few inches thick).

We were stalling, wanted it to rain before Art came back and took our record. Putting Lee in the car bought us time. But not enough time, as it turned out, we still had a couple of days left on our week.

Goodyear called up Shelby, asked him to send up a Cobra for us to run in a 5-mile circle. It was all part of "the big stall". The next day, on the back of an open trailer, one of Shelby's guys unloaded a Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe. Powered by a 289-inch SB Ford engine. The idea was for Breedlove and Bobby Tatroe (Walt Arfon's driver) to share driving duties and drive the car for 12 hours in a big circle, setting as many speed-duration records as possible.


This is the car that they brought, fresh off of some road race in Florida.


Up on the salt. The BLM laid out a five mile circle. Flat out and always turning left for 12 hours. If you think that was easy, you should try it sometime. Naturally, since everything was last minute, we were not prepared for fuel stops. We hand pumped the fuel from the 55-gallon drums into the fuel tank of the Cobra, during which time, Bobby and Craig switched off behind the wheel.


Here we are, pumping away, while Bobby is just coming in and Craig is getting ready to do the driver swap.


All that salt was not too kind to the little Cobra, which ran like a top all day, never even burned a quart of oil in all that thrashing.



All we wanted was the rain to begin, but it just kept holding off. Finally, we set a bunch of records (that nobody really cared about) and our time was up. The very next day, Art took to the salt and broke our LSR record (he went 576 mph). But on his return run for the record, he blew his right rear tire (or tires, I think he had tandem tires on the rear) and severely damaged his Green Monster. He was basically done for the 1965 season, too much damage to repair. Now it was up to Breedlove to re-set the record, which he did two days later. The first one-way run was 594 mph and then we turned the car around (it took about 40 minutes to turn it around and refuel both tanks) and started the return run. The rain had just started at that moment. We had the car backed up about as far back as we could go, to get the most run before going into the measured mile. By this time, the rain was really starting to come down. We fired up the engine and Breedlove was bringing up the rpm's, brakes locked on. As soon as the car started to move (sliding on the salt, not rolling, the brakes were on, remember), he released the brakes and activated the afterburner and he was off. 608 mph on the return run, and we had the record (601+ average) and even more important, because of the rain, that was the last run across the salt for 1965 and the salt flats were closed until the spring of 1966.

There is a funny ending to the story. The Cobra Daytona Coupe, what happened to it? It went through several hands and finally would up owned by (and there is some contention about this) Phil Spector.




Still had that same 289 Ford mill in it, too.

 

Before I turn in, I guess I had better post some photos of Walt Arfons "rocket car". Goodyear was hedging their bets, they had us competing against another Goodyear sponsored car, and not just Art's Firestone sponsored car.


Walt's car was a very interesting design.


It was powered entirely by JATO bottles. Originally, they had 15 bottles in the back and then when the car didn't go fast enough, they mounted 10 more bottles, 5 on each side pointing out at an angle.

I'm not going to go into much about this car, the end was not very pretty. But fortunately, Bobby came out okay. And everyone liked Bobby.

 

awesome pics thanks