Dogged by financial woes, Breedlove cancels ‘98 speed record attempt

Sandra Chereb

Thursday, June 18, 1998 | 9:18 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Craig Breedlove, still trying to recover financially from a desert crash two years ago, will not attempt a land speed record attempt this fall in Nevada's Black Rock Desert.

"The decision basically was made for us," Breedlove said Wednesday from his home in Rio Vista, Calif. "We just weren't able to get enough funding to come up and run."

Breedlove, 61, who over the decades has held five land speed records, has made it his quest to return the record to the United States from Britain.

The standard has been in British hands since October 1983, when Richard Noble streaked across the Black Rock Desert 100 miles north of Reno at 633.47 mph.

Last year, Noble, 51, handed over the keys to Andy Green, his 35-year-old protDegDe from the Royal Air Force. Green topped 700 mph and then, at 763.035 mph, exceeded Mach 1 on Oct. 15, becoming the first person to officially break the sound barrier on land.

Meanwhile, Breedlove struggled to reach a peak speed of 636 mph, barely exceeding Noble's mark of 13 years earlier.

In 1996, Breedlove had a series of runs in his Spirit of America that peaked at 677 mph before the desert wind sent his car careening on its side.

The cost of repairing the damage, combined with other mechanical problems last year, left the team in a financial vise.

"I left the desert last year about $200,000 in the hole," Breedlove said. "We're still down about $20,000."

Breedlove said it would take about $250,000 just to reassemble his crew and get the car up to snuff, and an equal amount once they arrive at the playa.

He said while sponsors have pledged money once the jet-engined car reaches the desert, the problem is getting there. And time has run out.

"We had a cutoff date of June 15," he said, adding that it would take a minimum of 90 days to get the car ready to run.

"We've been just hoping that something would come through and finally the reality is just there and you have to say, "Look, it's not going to happen,' " Breedlove said.

"If next month someone backed in with a dump truck and dumped a half million dollars in the driveway, it still wouldn't do any good for this year."

Though disappointed, Breedlove is not giving up and is setting his sights on 1999.

In the meantime, he said he will continue discussions with sponsors and is working on a marketing and merchandising plan to raise money.

"As far as the speed of the car, it's absolutely blindingly fast," Breedlove said. "The car will easily do 800, but we have to get it there.

"I've got my whole life's work in the thing," he said. "That's the disappointing thing. I'm not getting any younger."