Gary Gabelich-Auto Racing-1963
Gary Gamelich, born in San Pedro, California, set a world land speed record
of 622.287 mph in the rocket-powered Blue Flame. The record was set over a
measured mile at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, on October 23, 1970 and stood
for thirteen years. The record was also listed in the Guiness Book of Records.
In his initial competition at age sixteen, Gabelich won first place in the stock
eliminator drag racing class at Santa Ana, California. In 1959, when he was only
seventeen, Gabelich won world’s first side-by-side jet dragster race, topping
250 mph. Other accomplishments included his winning the first United Drag Racing
Association in 1963 and being first man to break into drag racing’s seven
second bracket, driving a Double A Fuel dragster at 7.05 seconds, in 1967. In
1969, he drove the Beac City Chevrolet Corvette funny car to speeds over 200
mph, a first for a Chevrolet funny car. Gabelich also took second place in
Mickey Thompson’s off-road race at Riverside, California in 1975; first place
in the Toyota Charity Slalom at the Rose Bowl in 1979 and second place in the
Toyota Pro Challenge Race at the Michigan International Speedway in July, 1980.
Twice narrowly escaping death in dragster and boat accidents, Gabelich
ironically died in an automobile accident in Long Beach, California in January,
1984. In 1985 the Long Beach City Council named a park in his memory, Gabelich
Park. In 1975 at Turlock Lake in California, the drag boat piloted by Gary
Gabelich disintegrated at 180 mph. Although he was best known for his land speed
exploits, Gabelich won both the American Power Boat Association Blown Fuel and
Gas National Drag Boat championship. He was also the first person to win them
both in the same eyar. In 1969 Gabelich was the first man to surpass 200 mph in
a quarter mile drag boat. A lover of high speeds and dangerous challenges,
Gabelich was working for North American Aviation in the early 1960s when he
volunteered to do some sky diving from a 30,000 foot altitude to film some of
the early Apollo space capsule drops.