There are some folks on this world who appear impervious to the hazards of this world, who can throw themselves into any state of affairs and seem to return out unscathed. They’re the form of folks I simply assume to be immortal — and for me, Craig Breedlove was a type of folks. His dying earlier this month shouldn’t have been a shock for somebody who has lived such a protracted, full life, and but I used to be stunned. I took it as my signal to lastly sit right down to learn his biography Final Pace: The Quick Life and Excessive Automobiles of Racing Legend Craig Breedlove by Samuel Hawley, and should you haven’t learn it but… whew. Put together to have a a lot larger appreciation for Breedlove’s accomplishments, as a result of there have been numerous instances the place he would have been forgiven for giving up.
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Breedlove is most remembered for being the primary individual to drive to each 500 and 600 miles per hour, hitting all-time excessive speeds or setting new land pace data at the very least 5 instances. Breedlove’s Spirit of America broke boundaries of automotive design and created a complete new style of land pace competitors based mostly on the efficiency of turbojet-powered automobiles. He introduced the land pace report again to America after Britain had staked its declare, and he grew to become a formidable legend within the motorsport world.
In principle, I knew all these issues. Breedlove’s resumé reads like a fantasy, and I’d had an immense quantity of respect for his accomplishments. However I didn’t know he’d completed them within the face of such adversity. Not till I picked up Final Pace within the hope of gaining a larger appreciation for one of many quickest males on this planet.
I feel the one factor that stunned me most about Final Pace was the truth that Breedlove by no means actually received to experience the excessive of any of his accomplishments earlier than he was pressured to return crashing right down to earth. He’d set a report, then have it crushed within the midst of his press tour. He’d set a report, then be denied the prospect to go quicker. He’d construct an exquisite machine, after which it might crash.
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But I was almost stunned by the sheer amount of animosity directed towards him by the companies that sponsored him, particularly Goodyear. No matter what he did right, it was always wrong.
The blows constantly rained down on Breedlove. Depending on whether or not you count his overnight Las Vegas marriage that was annulled almost immediately, Breedlove was married six or seven times. His single-minded focus on his cars pushed some of his wives away. His liaisons with women around the world on press tours hurt still others.
Breedlove regularly lost all the money he earned from his record attempts; he’d buy property and start funding his next design, only to realize his bank accounts had been emptied and he had yet to secure some of the promised funding from his sponsors. He’d invest his money in a business and have it fail. He’d operate on a verbal agreement for assistance only for the other part to renege at the last minute.
Eager to invest his money wisely rather than spend it, Breedlove invested one third of his prize money from Goodyear in a Goodyear tire franchise… but Goodyear didn’t provide him with discounted tires. As a result, he burned through his cash investment and Goodyear seized the franchise.
Or there was the time Breedlove overheard Carroll Shelby complaining about having to sell Goodyear drag racing tires that were, at the time, pretty terrible. According to Hawley, Breedlove offered to take over that drag tire business and provide Shelby with a cut of his earnings. Breedlove and his engineers helped develop the drag tires, transforming them into a frankly impressive and revered component of many competitors. And then Shelby realized he wasn’t getting a significant portion of Breelove’s profits, so he changed their agreement: Breedlove would have to buy tires from Shelby in order to sell and distribute them. Somehow, those tires were always out of stock when Breedlove wanted to place an order.
Every success in Breedlove’s career came despite everything else. He had little support. He struggled in his personal life. He struggled with his finances. He struggled to convince his sponsors that his projects were worthwhile investments. In some ways, it almost seemed like driving up to 600 miles per hour and beyond was the easy part.
If you haven’t read Hawley’s book, this is a good time to pick up a copy. It’s written based on hours of conversation with Breedlove, and it features so much additional commentary by the people in Breedlove’s life that Hawley is able to paint a full picture of the man, inside and out. You might think you appreciate Craig Breedlove’s numerous accomplishments, but to truly contextualize them, you need to truly understand what was going on behind the scenes. You need to read Ultimate Speed.