Louise,
I don’t understand why you suddenly, out of the blue, decided to attack me here. First, you were never involved in the WLSR project. You really knew nothing about the WLSR until I contacted you in 2008 about partnering my book project. Second, I don’t recall ever claiming to be THE designer of The Blue Flame World Land Speed Record (WLSR) vehicle.
Reaction Dynamics, Inc was the designer and builder of the car. It says so right on the side of the car. Have you ever even seen the car? Ray, Pete, and I were Reaction Dynamics, Inc. What does that make me?
Rae Gabelich was never involved in the WLSR project and only met Gary several years after the WLSR, so she knows nothing, and has nothing to contribute to the conversation. Even so, Gary was the hired driver (actually our third choice) and had little knowledge himself of the total project beyond his brave and skillful driving on the salt flats.
Ray Dausman worked with me at the very beginning of the WLSR journey, but he bailed out of the project a year before we set the WLSR, and before we were done building the car. So, he never even saw the car completed, tested, or raced on the salt flats.
Pete Farnsworth joined our project at phase two, building the dragster prototype. So he wasn’t there at the beginning conceptual stage and rocket design and testing, but he did fantastic work on managing the WLSR fabrication and construction. He also was a key member of the Reaction Dynamics WLSR team on the salt flats.
PR guy and sponsor guy? Maybe, but certainly much more.
Researched rocket design options and worked out the 25 pound thrust hydrogen peroxide rocket design and performance calculations with Ray.
Drew the working drawings for building the 25 pound thrust rocket.
Machined the stainless steel parts for the 25 pound thrust rocket.
Ray and I developed the Samarium Oxide coating process for the silver catalyst and assembled the 25 pound thrust rocket motor.
Ray and I built the rocket motor test stand.
We tested it behind my friend’s home in Blue Island, Ray Muller.
Ray Muller was part of the (former Tucson) Speed Sport drag race group (with Joe Bush and Don Maynard), building several dragsters. He originally was to be our prototype rocket dragster builder, before I later asked Pete to join us.
My bathroom scale and my 16mm camera provided the test instrumentation and recording.
I brought Pete on board later, showing my rocket test films and ideas for the rocket dragster.
Ray and I designed the 2500 pound thrust dragster rocket together.
I drew the working drawings for building the 2500 pound thrust dragster rocket.
I machined some of the stainless steel parts for the rocket and arranged for machining and welding the larger parts at IIT Research Institute – as well as the spun stainless nozzle.
Ray and I applied the Samarium Oxide coating on the silver catalyst and assembled the rocket.
I designed the rocket dragster chassis which Pete built. We collaborated on the design details, Pete doing almost all the fabrication.
I test drove the rocket dragster (without parachutes) and then got Chuck Suba on board as our race driver. I was the sole (slow) test driver – static and dynamic, for the rocket dragster over the three years. Chuck drove it fast.
I traveled with Chuck to every dragstrip appearance, filmed the car running, packed parachutes, refueled, etc.
Using my films of the test motor and the dragster, I promoted the sponsorship of the WLSR.
A researcher at the Institute of Gas Technology, I wrote the WLSR proposals and convinced the natural gas industry to get on board, appearing at several AGA and gas company meetings around the country. $ponsor$hip is money. That’s where I got it.
I convinced Drs. Andrew Fejer and Paul Torda at IIT’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department to support our WLSR design program – also recruiting Dr. Uzgiris and his several engineering master’s degree candidates to assist in the WLSR design.
Reaction Dynamics and IIT worked as a team, collaborating on the design throughout the construction of the vehicle. I also have a list of at least 50 persons who assisted or worked on the car with us in various roles. It was a big, complicated project – scratch-built in our shop.
I also convinced associate sponsors to provide their products, essential in building the car.
After Ray left Reaction Dynamics in 1969, I finished the rocket system construction, testing, and operation on the salt flats.
I also designed and built the vehicle trailer and the rocket system support trailers to refuel and pressurize the car on the salt flats, in parallel with The Blue Flame’s construction.
So, let’s recap – without Dick Keller there would be:
no 25 pound thrust hydrogen peroxide rocket motor,
no hydrogen peroxide rocket dragster,
no natural gas industry $ponsor$hip,
no IIT Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering support,
no WLSR!
Before Reaction Dynamics, I was an Experimental Engineer at IIT Research Institute, working on projects including a propellant monitoring system for fuelling the NASA Saturn I and Saturn V boosters for the Apollo program, and a military space satellite defense system for the DOD. Later, I was Chief Technologist at the Institute of Gas Technology researching the gas reaction kinetics of methane (natural gas combustion).
Following the WLSR, I was the Engineering Manager, Director, and Vice President at four multi-national companies. Oh yes, and I was a “talented draftsman” as well. Doing business as Keller Design Corporation, I designed and built numerous rocket powered dragsters and funny cars for Lew Arrington, Sammy Miller, and others.
It’s obvious we have a different perspective on the truth here. I suggest, if you want, to continue the discussion off-line and not further bore these folks on the Landracing Forum.