- Born
- Died
- Birth nameCraig Norman Breedlove
- Nickname
- King of Speed
- Craig Breedlove was born on March 23, 1937 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for White Salt and Sunshine (1973), One Second from Eternity: The History of the Land Speed Record (1973) and The Superstars (1973). He was married to Yadira Figueroa Gracian, Lee Roberts, Marge Toombs and Marilyn. He died on April 4, 2023 in Rio Vista, California, USA.
- SpousesYadira Figueroa Gracian(2002 - April 4, 2023) (his death)Lee Roberts(1962 - 1968) (divorced)Marge Toombs(1955 - ?) (divorced, 3 children)Marilyn (divorced)
- Former holder of the world land speed record at 600.601 miles per hour set in the "Spirit of America" jet car on 15 November 1965.
- One of the cameramen filming Breedlove's record-setting runs in the mid-1960s was a young George Lucas, who was so impressed by the way Breedlove raced that he paid an homage to it in the pod race sequences in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).
- In 1964 while attempting to set a speed record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats, the steering, brakes and parachute on his vehicle failed simultaneously, resulting in the car rocketing into a pond at 200 mph. It also resulted in an entry in the Guinness Book of World Reocrds for the world's longest skid marks--five miles.
- Inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2009.
- Son of Norman Breedlove.
- There's only one thing that can guarantee our failure, and that's if we quit.
- And for my next act, I'm going to set myself on fire. (After getting out of the Spirit of America after plowing down phone poles, becoming airborne, and landing in a salt lake at 600 miles an hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah sometime in the 1960s.)
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