Blue Flame rocket car 50th anniversary special--Part 1

[Sam Hawley]

It's coming up to 50 years since The Blue Flame rocket car broke the land speed record--the last American car to hold the unlimited speed crown. To commemorate this achievement, I've made a three-part 50th anniversary special. Here's Part One, on the Blue Flame's predecessor, the X-1, the world's first liquid fuel rocket dragster. Part Two will focus on the design and fabrication of the Flame, and Part Three on events at Bonneville in 1970.

Special thanks to Dick Keller for the great film and images and documentation he sent me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci4B87b81Dc

[MAYOMAN]

Part 2 is on YouTube already.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSDGkzkxiOo

[Stan Back]

I remember seeing Gabelich in a Top Fuel Dragster (what was the name?  Purple Hill Gang?  Or was that a movie?).  He was wearing the purple-plumed helmet ? it was a real spectacle as he revved the engine on the line.  Quite a show.

[MAYOMAN]

Gary loved the thrill of racing, dragsters and drag boats, the most dangerous racing sport of all.
Gabelich?s 200.4 mph NDBA drag boat run came in September 1969 aboard a boat named ?Climax?, a member of NDBA?s sexiest, swiftest, most expensive, and most-publicized class ? the blown fuel hydros.
This was a month before our original scheduled LSR attempt at Bonneville. Since we had already lost our original driver and friend, Chuck Suba, in an unrelated top fuel dragster accident, we had an alternate driver, Gerard Brennan, standing by. He did some of the static testing in The Blue Flame but never ran the car at Bonneville.

[MAYOMAN]

Here is a shot of Gary in one of the drag boats he drove - plumed helmet as always.

[MAYOMAN]

That last photo of Gary in the drag boat was CRISIS, I believe. Here is a better action photo in TWISTER.

[John Burk]

Knew a guy named Mike Hiss who was expecting to drive a month later in the 1972 Indy 500 when he broke his tibia riding his motorcycle in the desert . The hospital put him in the bed next to Gary Gabelich who I think had gotten hurt driving a funny car . Mike asked Gary if their orthopedic surgeon was good . Gary said he had called Evil Knevel with that question and he said their Doc was one of the best . The surgeon screwed plates on Mike's shin bone and he finished 7th .

[N72727]

Gary Gabelich (found on Ebay).

[MAYOMAN]

No ostrich plume. I wore his ostrich plume on my hat during his record runs for luck. It worked.

[Stan Back]

That was a hunderd years ago for me ? I thought it was kool as hell!

(What was the name of the dragster ? it was a strong runner.)

[MAYOMAN]

Pick one.
Gary?s racing resume reads like an entry list of prominent 1960s southern California dragsters and drag boats as he became the ?hired gun from Long Beach?:
1959 ? on April 5, at the San Gabriel drag strip, the still-teenage Gary Gabelich drove Steve Pick?s DeSoto hemi-powered dragster
1961 ? ?Gary Giblet? ? Oldsmobile-powered gas dragster
1961 ? Hirshfield and Beaver twin Chevrolet-powered gas dragster
1962 ? Hartzler and Steiner twin Chevrolet-powered gas dragster
1962 ? ?Howard Cams Special? twin Chrysler gas dragster owned by Howard Johansen
1963 ? ?Valkyrie? jet dragster owned by Bill Fredrick
1963 ? ?Ansen Special?/400 Junior Chevrolet-powered Top Fuel Dragster owned by Bill Martin,
1965-1966 ? ?Scoundrel? Chrysler-powered Top Fuel Dragster owned by Sandoval brothers
1965-1967 ? ?Purple Gang? Chrysler-powered Top Fuel Dragster owned by Rapp, Rossi, and Maldonado
1966 ? Thweatt?s Automotive Service Fuel Funny Car ?Tweatty Pie?
1967 ? Terry Gall Chrysler-powered Top Fuel Dragster
1969 ? Beach City Corvette FC ? burned to the ground during 175 mph run

In the deadly drag boats, Gary?s resume was equally impressive and diverse.
1965- ?The Ultimate?
1965 ? National Drag Boat Association Top Fuel Hydro Championship
1968 ? ?Climax? B Fuel Hydro, ?Citation II? (owned by Rene Andre), ?Twister?
1968 ? Gary won the national championships in both American Power Boat Association Fuel Hydroplane class and National Drag Boat Association Gas Hydroplane class ? the first person to win both drag boat titles in the same year
1969 ? NDBA 200.44 mph record in ?Crisis? Blown Fuel Hydro

[Stan Back]

I was thinking Rapp, Rossi, and Maldonado.