2018? Golly Miss Molly! Following The Blue Flame setting the absolute world land speed record at 630.388mph in 1970, I have been virtually the only entity trying to keep our historic achievement alive. Unfortunately, Gary Gabelich never signed a publicity release with Goodyear, so they dropped it shortly after we set the record. The American Gas Association sponsor was happy with the immediate international publicity and saw no value in continuing afterward - also, erroneously publicizing the 622.407mph as the absolute world record. The Reaction Dynamics team never felt the recognition they had earned. My original effort was to get the correct 630.388mph record in the publications, etcetera. The 622.407mph is even still painted on the car in the Sinsheim museum, although the correct 1,014.656kph is on the display and their literature. I produced 2 Youtube videos and wrote my memoir, Speedquest, to keep the real story alive (at our 50th anniversary). Whenever I see stories or articles with the 622mph speed I try to get corrections. The Blue Flame is still the last absolute world land speed record set by an American automobile, and on the Bonneville Salt Flats. While the 622.407mph mile record lasted 13 years (yeah!), the kilometer 630.388mph record lasted 27 years. WOW! Richard Noble's mile record in, 1983, was only 3mph faster than our absolute world landspeed record. Andy Green's first supersonic record in 1997 was fantastic. Come on, Rosco.
Although this thread is supposed to be about the North American Eagle, that car and project are now history -- since 2019.
Certainly, mistakes were made . . . and for what it's worth, I hope some learning did result from the consequences of those
mistakes.
Since we can't change the past, I always give more attention and effort to the present and future.
I do want to (even if briefly) again acknowledge the success of the Blue Flame rocket car and its team of designers, builders,
driver, financiers, support crew, and everyone else involved in making it happen . . . especially in a relatively short period of
time. This is in major contrast to the time spans involved in some of the other more recent ALSR projects, which so far have
not even come close to setting a new absolute land speed record.
I also want to put in my two cents' worth of comment(s) regarding this idea of a "women's land speed record". Why anyone would give much thought to that "record" is beyond me. Anybody with even a tiny amount of knowledge of land speed racing knows that a race car is operated by its driver's hands and feet, and not by their reproductive/sex organs. Got it? In other words, the gender -- or even, if you want to quibble about it, the "gender identity" -- of the driver doesn't mean diddly squat to the vehicle itself or to the equipment measuring the vehicle's speed. Just like the color of their hair or skin or favorite toothbrush doesn't matter to the speed-related data.
Meanwhile, since the Blue Flame was not run at its maximum capability -- based on its design -- , the question remains: Is
the vehicle capable of breaking the existing land speed record (if brought back to perfect operating condition)? If enough people could be convinced that it is, perhaps it could be "brought out of mothballs" and run again. Or, alternately, a replacement could be built, effectively similar to the original. Perhaps with some further improvements, based on what was learned in breaking the land speed record back then. The design work and proof-of-concept demonstration runs are already done.
As we all know, Bonneville is pretty short, and getting shorter. Bolivia (technically, if not financially) seems like a more reasonable place for this kind of thing, particularly using a rocket-powered car that doesn't have to gulp local air from the place. And, of course, air at an elevation of about 12,000 feet is likely to be thinner than air at an elevation of about 4,000 feet. This part is a no-brainer, in my opinion.
I'd be interested in helping a project like this along, although my contribution of time, effort, and money would be quite limited.
I'd also love to see response(s) from anyone who was involved in creating that wonderful car. Even if it was never designed
to go 1000 mph, some runs of 800 mph could break the existing record set by Thrust SSC in 1997. A world record still
captures the imagination/hope of people, even though "records were made to be broken".
Tallguy
