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One of my childhood heroes was Gary Gabelich and I always wanted to know more about him. So, I decided to finally get around to this project and to post the results of my research.
Gary Gabelich was born
on August 29, 1940 in San Pedro, California although he was of Croatian descent. He began drag racing in his father’s Pontiac in 1957 while still in high school, winning the stock eliminator drag racing class
at Santa Ana, California in his first competition. This was shortly followed by winning the world’s first side-by-side jet dragster race, at over 250 mph. Allegedly, at just nineteen he reached a
speed of 356 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah while operating a jet car, probably a record for a teenager.
During this period of his life, Gary was a delivery driver for Vermillion’s Drug Store,
driving a split window 1960s-era VW Kombi delivery van. He lived at that time in the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach, California with his parents. Following the job as a delivery driver, he went to work
for North American Aviation in Downey, California (later to merge with Rockwell-Standard in 1967 and become North American Rockwell), starting out in the mail room. Gary ended up staying with North American
Rockwell for 9 years in various positions from staff assistant to part-time test subject for the Apollo program—not flying the capsules, but testing their long-term liveability in a weightless condition, their
tolerance to and performance under conditions of extreme yaw and, though they seldom spoke of it on televised moon shots, the toilet facilities. Although I have been unable to verify this information, I have
seen several sources mention that Gary started working his way up the ladder at North American Rockwell when he volunteered to perform the free falls from 30,000 feet needed to film some of the early Apollo space
capsule landing trials – makes sense if you consider his personality as a lover of high speeds and dangerous challenges.
During his tenure at North American Rockwell, Gary Gabelich established a name
for himself at drag strips across Southern California (Winning the first United Drag Racing Association in 1963 and being the 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 Beach City Chevrolet Corvette funny car to speeds over 200 mph, a first for a Chevrolet funny car). Many racers and race fans, in fact, worked day
jobs at aerospace companies across Southern California. However, Gary’s employers at North American Rockwell, fearing the investment of too much time and unique training in a research subject who, it seemed to
them, was laying his life and the continuity of their research on the starting line every weekend, gave him the ultimatum: “Cease this foolhardy diversion or forfeit your job.” There was never really any question
about the response. The choice was made for him by his dedication to the world he loved and his desire to prevail in it.
It was a crucial moment in the life of Gary Gabelich as he would move on to greater
glory for which he became a household name – fastest man in the world. A claim he was able to make by setting the land speed record with his rocket-powered vehicle “Blue Flame” on October 23, 1970 , achieving
an average speed of 622.287 mph (1,001.474 km/h). And a peak speed of 650 mph (1,050 km/h) was momentarily attained (record speed was 622.407 mph (1,001.667 km/h) on a dry lake bed at Bonneville Salt Flats in
Wendover, Utah. This record was the first over 1,000 km/h (621 mph) and remained unbeaten until 1983, when Richard Noble broke it driving Thrust 2.
It was a rather lucky turn of events that handed this opportunity to Gary…
Reaction Dynamics, Inc., a company formed by Pete Farnsworth, Ray Dausman and Dick Keller who had developed hydrogen peroxide rocket
dragsters, was looking for a driver about that time for the Blue Flame, a 37-foot-long, 4,950-pound vehicle powered by a liquid natural gas-hydrogen peroxide rocket engine. Constructed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
the Blue Flame was sponsored by the American Gas Association, with technical assistance from the Institute of Gas Technology of Des Plaines, Illinois. Craig Breedlove, holder of the land speed record at the
time, wanted too much money. And a drag racer, named Chuck Suba, came to terms with Reaction Dynamics but was killed in a racing accident shortly thereafter. Gabelich was the third choice, and he jumped at the
chance.
The Blue Flame’s run for the land speed record at Bonneville was originally scheduled for September of 1969, but it was then postponed indefinitely. The first
attempt finally took place a year later, on September 22, 1970. It was a dismal failure, reaching a speed of only 426 mph compared to Craig Breedlove’s
five-year-old record of 600.601 mph. A lot of tinkering and testing was to follow.
Gabelich hit 609 mph on the first of two mandatory runs on October 15, but a
mechanical problem prevented the required return run. The same thing happened on October 23, when the first run reached 621 mph. Finally, on October 28,
Gabelich and the Blue Flame averaged 617.602 mph on the first run and 627.207 on the second for a new land speed record of 622.407.
He said afterward that he thought the Blue Flame might be able to reach 750 mph,
beyond the sound barrier. But Reaction Dynamics had no more plans for the Blue Flame and Gabelich went back to drag racing.
Gary Gabelich’s right hand was severed in a racing accident ( in an experimental
4WD Funny Car) early in 1972, but it was able to be reattached. I have seen it reported that this accident ruined his professional racing prospects, but he still was
able to take 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.
And, although he was best known for his land speed exploits, Gary was also into
going fast on water. Gabelich won both the American Power Boat Association Blown Fuel and Gas National Drag Boat Championship (1968) and was the first
person to win them both in the same year. He was also the first person to surpass 200 mph in a drag boat – a feat accomplished in 1969. In 1975 at Turlock Lake
in California, a drag boat piloted by Gary Gabelich disintegrated at 180 mph.
After twice narrowly escaping death in dragster and boat accidents, Gary Gabelich
tragically died in a motorcycle accident in Long Beach, California on January 26th, 1984. According to the police, Gabelich was riding his motorcycle “at a high rate
of speed” when he ran into the right side of a truck. Gabelich died nearly three hours later at San Pedro Hospital of injuries suffered in the accident, the police said.
Gabelich, who was 43-years-old at the time of his death, had his land speed record mark stand for 13 years before Richard Noble hurtled his Thrust 2 up to 633.407
mph on the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada on October 4, 1983. Just two months later Gary Gabelich was fatally injured in his motorcycle accident and never had the chance to reply to Noble’s heroics.
In 1985 the Long Beach City Council named a park in his memory, Gabelich Park.
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