Landracing Forum
Bonneville Salt Flats Discussion => Bonneville General Chat => Topic started by: Sam Hawley on December 27, 2019, 09:22:48 AM
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Here's a video I made about the controversial Budweiser Rocket, built by Bill Fredrick, driven by Stan Barrett, owned by Hollywood stuntman and film director Hal Needham. Back in Dec. 1979, the Bud Rocket team claimed that Stan Barrett broke the speed of sound in the car, hitting a top speed of 739 mph. It wasn't an official land speed record attempt. The team simply claimed the car briefly hit Mach One--18 years before Andy Green indisputably accomplished the feat in ThrustSSC.
In this video I examine the claim. Did the Budweiser Rocket reach the speed of sound, even for a moment? Special thanks to Dick Kellar of the Blue Flame team, who gave me valuable documents and information.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wSpIWeA0QA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wSpIWeA0QA)
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Granted the speed claims are questionable, but the cameraman who tracked the car so perfectly with the long zoom lens at the 4.5 mile in that final shot of the run deserves a medal.
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Finally a video that tells the truth about the bud rocket car. Hal and Stan lied to everyone.
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Well, considering that it was a Hollywood project how much credibility could they have?
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As we all learned later.... breaking the sound barrier on the ground produces a sonic boom... something the ex-sperts at the time claimed only happened in the air...
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Did Stan Barrett not wear a helmet of any kind?
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a note to Sam's video....
he shows the B R at Bonneville and at Edwards....
maybe it had confused the different appearance of the B R....
the fact is - at Edwards and Bonneville there were used different rocket cars and configuration.
at Bonneville the very first B R was more or less a clone of the damaged Motivator which was used by Kitty O'Neil and damaged by Hal Needham....
and it has the same engine version as the Motivator...this version was never shown on the video....just before they showed up at Bonneville they add the sidwinder solid rocket....
The Bonneville rocket car was damaged when he went off course....
They went to Edwards with the B R 2 car....still having the same engine configuration.....for the final tries they modified B R 2A to B R 2B with a different kind of rocket engine rear end, also they covered the parachute tubes with an aerodynamic cover around the sidewinder rocket...
The Bonneville BR 1 was modified in his appearance to the final Edwards B R 2B version and end up in the Talladega Museum, the real B R 2B was for a longer time in the Smithsonian before it was kicked out when the people of the Smithsonian Museum figured out that there was no sound barrier broken.....the car is now in barn in Indianapolis
(to the last information I got)....
after this advertisment runs for Budweiser mock ups was built for the shows around the states....one of them end up in Richard Childress Nascar museum....they saying that there were two other mock ups....but I couldn't find out if they real exist and if they, where they are.....
the Motivator (originally the Aquaslide) is owned by Nina Rindt....he was twice on a car show in Germany and then disappeared....after the Budweiser campaign....his stay went lost after he was the last time seen in Belgian barn.....Nina don't like to tell where the racer is.....
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Sorry about the quality it's a poloroid.
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What happened with William Fredrick after the Budweiser Rocket adventure ? Can't find anything about him on the Internet.
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the fact is - at Edwards and Bonneville there were used different rocket cars and configuration.
at Bonneville the very first B R was more or less a clone of the damaged Motivator which was used by Kitty O'Neil and damaged by Hal Needham....
and it has the same engine version as the Motivator...this version was never shown on the video....just before they showed up at Bonneville they add the sidwinder solid rocket....
The Bonneville rocket car was damaged when he went off course....
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Thomas: did Hal Needham do all the driving at Bonneville?
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There was an article in 1988 about the termination of the Needham-Fredrick professional relationship.
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First time I ever saw that video posted above. Sweet vindication, Dick.
John
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The January 2020 issue of Motor Sport magazine features an article on the Budweiser Rocket which is similar in content to Mr. Hawley's video. Interesting read with some cool photos, and a sidebar on Bloodhound.
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after Hal Needham crashed the Motivator by his own stupidness he never drove again....all runs with the B R 1B was done at Bonneville by Stan Barrett, so as the runs with B R 2A and 2B at Edwards
Francis, your question about Fredrick....about the former butcher from Woodlands Hill (LA area)...he was always something strange and not very legal conform....
after several things not by law he end up in jail....after he was released from jail some years ago he directly desappeared from the public....nobody knows where he went and where he is now, if still alive....
thanks to Dick for the article about the Needham Fredrick final....
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the fact is - at Edwards and Bonneville there were used different rocket cars and configuration.
at Bonneville the very first B R was more or less a clone of the damaged Motivator which was used by Kitty O'Neil and damaged by Hal Needham....
and it has the same engine version as the Motivator...this version was never shown on the video....just before they showed up at Bonneville they add the sidwinder solid rocket....
The Bonneville rocket car was damaged when he went off course....
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Thomas: did Hal Needham do all the driving at Bonneville?
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Thanks to all for the video and the infos about the SMI and Budweiser rocket cars, all build by William Fredrick. Thanks PorkPie.
Just found this interesting photo with Fredrick (standing in the middle) outside his "Butcher Shoppe".
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Thanks for posting that picture. This knife was passed down to us from our family and we never knew what it was used for. It is a butcher's knife.
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Thanks for posting that picture. This knife was passed down to us from our family and we never knew what it was used for. It is a butcher's knife.
Amazing what the Internet can do, isn't it ?
We visited many nice places in Oregon in August. World of Speed Museum, Evergreen Museum, Erickson Aircraft, and WAAAM in Hood River. This last museum is just amazing.
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TrickeyDicky asked if Barrett wore a helmet, from looking at the video it certainly does not appear that he did. That is crazy!
Big balls small brain.
Rex
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Well they have an open face Bell @ 6:49
My guess is the helmet went on after he was in, and came off before he came out... the hatch is overhead so that would be possible. That part is probably laying on the cutting room floor... all the Bud video was edited to show what they wanted back in the day.
You don't see them latching or unlatching belts either... :?
:dhorse: :cheers:
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Big balls small brain.
Rex
A different world back then. Dan Gurney, among others, didn't wear seat-belts in F1?too many fires during crashes, they preferred to get thrown from the car to being burned. Remember the Halibrand Shrike Indy car, it had a cast magnisium chassis?have you ever seen magnisium burn?
Lets look at early hotrodding. No rollbars, no helmets, drivers driving fuel class cars, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and greasy Levis for protection (that's what I wore at Bonneville 1959). Ever see an early Bell helmet lined with foam rubber? I've worn them at SCTA evens. The later non-Snell Styrofoam were better.
Glenn Leasher was wearing a helmet when he died at Bonnville in Sept 1962. So was Bob Funk when he died at El Mirage in July 1962. I wasn't at the scene when Leasher died, but I was talking to Funk and Jeff Shipley twenty minuets before the crash.
Racing has always been dangerous, so has doing stunts for movies. Stuff happens?I've known many people who have met violent death in both motor-sports and in movies production. And a few that didn't die, through sheer dumb luck.
BTW Happy New Year!