I met Breedlove at a semiconductor equipment conference in 1998 when he had sponsorship from Cannon (lithography equipment). He had the Sonic 2 on display and the video of Sonic Arrow in the background. I was the only one to ask him why he had an LR-11 powered vehicle on display and a J-79 powered vehicle in the video.
He was (and still is) an interesting guy. Absolutely calm to the point of being dead. You get the impression talking to him that he wakes up around 500 mph and not before.
I grew up knowing about the Blue Flame, but everything else before that was too early for me. Thrust 2 never made my radar screen, but Thrust SSC and Sonic Arrow did. I never thought I'd be lucky enough to head up one of those programs. Lost our owner, c'est la vie.
Steve was an incredible individual. Arguably the most focused person I have ever met. Heck of a nice guy too. Some on these boards didn't like him, but they never met him. They should have. The world is poorer for his loss.
I don't know what I'll do in LSR at this point. I have a design that will easily be stable and safe beyond the current absolute record, but need to do other things to pay the bills. I've talked to several wheel-driven people (300mph+) and it seems like fun looking at the wheel-driven record. Lots of good people have asked my advice on their efforts, and I'm happy to help when I have the time (not much of that!).
