Gerlach, Nev. -- After several
days of delays, hitches and weather watching, Craig
Breedlove was poised Tueday to take his jet-powered
"Spirit of America" across an 11-mile stretch
of the Black Rock Desert in pursuit of the land speed
record. Breedlove
arrived here Sunday night and the transporter carrying
his vehicle followed early Monday. Assembling and testing
followed, along with the clearing of the track. "As the rules state, we have to
qualify with two successive runs of more than 400 miles
an hour," said Bill Breedlove, Craig's cousin and
the operations manager at Black Rock. An attempt at the record of 633.468
miles an hour could come as soon as this afternoon.
Breedlove would have Wednesday and Thursday morning, if
necessary, to shoot for the mark, held by Richard Noble
of Great Britain. He is due in Las Vegas Thursday
afternoon for a marketing meeting with his chief sponsor,
Shell Oil. He could return to try again Nov. 1
if this attempt fails. The recreational permit is valid
through Nov. 15. Breedlove, 59, of Rio Vista, Calif.
was the first to exceed 400, 500 and 600 miles an hour.
He says his goals over the next two years are to break
700 and then to eclipse the sound barrier, which would be
more than 750 mph. An attempt by environmental groups
to block the land speed chase was denied by a deputy
chief administrative judge pending an appeal. That appeal
would not be heard for at least six months, according to
Lynn Clemons of the Bureau of Land Management district
office in Winnemucca. To officially capture the record,
Breedlove 
would have to clock 640 mph, or 1 percent
better than the current mark.
"The record would be a
significant achievement to get the first year, " he
said. "Unfortunately, it's an easy thing to talk
about and a hard thing to do.
"Then we could go for 700 next
year. From there we'd have enough of a base line to make
some decisions about going super sonic. We might decide
to go through the sound barrier unmanned. That makes good
sense."
He tested his new Spirit of America
Oct. 12 at 375 mph at the site of many previous record
runs by himself and Art Arfons in the 1960s. Those runs
were held at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
But bearing damage caused by wet
conditions after three practice runs needed repairing,
and Breedlove was ecstatic over the court decision to
allow him to run at the Black Rock.
Also granted permits this fall were
Noble and Gary Swenson of Puyallup, Wash. Neither was
able to meet the time frame.
Noble is the project manager for
Thrust SSC. He would turn the driving of the
rear-steering 14,500-pound vehicle powered by two Rolls
Royce Spey jet engines, over to Air Force Pilot Andy
Green.
Swenson's American Eagle One, is
similar to Breedlove's Spirit of America, a General
Electric J-79 turbojet-powered vehicle weighing 8,500
pounds. He has had trouble getting financing.