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Speed Duel: The Inside Story of the Land Speed Record in the Sixties
The quest for the land speed record in the 1960s and the epic rivalry between two dynamic American drivers, Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove.
Until the 1950s, the land speed record (LSR) was held by a series of European gentlemen racers such as British driver John Cobb, who hit 394 miles per hour in 1947. That record held for more than a decade, until the car culture swept the U.S.
Hot-rodders and drag racers built and souped up racers using car engines, piston aircraft engines and, eventually, jet engines. For this determined and dedicated group, the LSR was no longer an honor to be held by rich aristocrats with industrial backing -- it was brought stateside.
In the summer of 1960, the contest moved into overdrive, with eight men contending for the record on Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. Some men died in horrific crashes, others prudently retired, and by mid-decade only two men were left driving: Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove. By 1965, Arfons and Breedlove had walked away from some of the most spectacular wipeouts in motor sport history and pushed the record up to 400, then 500, then 600 miles per hour. "Speed Duel" is the fast-paced history of their rivalry.
Despite the abundant heart-stopping action, "Speed Duel" is foremost a human drama. Says author Samuel Hawley, "It is a quintessential American tale in the tradition of The Right Stuff, except that it is not about extraordinary men doing great things in a huge government program. It's about ordinary men doing extraordinary things in their back yards."
Until the 1950s, the land speed record (LSR) was held by a series of European gentlemen racers such as British driver John Cobb, who hit 394 miles per hour in 1947. That record held for more than a decade, until the car culture swept the U.S.
Hot-rodders and drag racers built and souped up racers using car engines, piston aircraft engines and, eventually, jet engines. For this determined and dedicated group, the LSR was no longer an honor to be held by rich aristocrats with industrial backing -- it was brought stateside.
In the summer of 1960, the contest moved into overdrive, with eight men contending for the record on Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. Some men died in horrific crashes, others prudently retired, and by mid-decade only two men were left driving: Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove. By 1965, Arfons and Breedlove had walked away from some of the most spectacular wipeouts in motor sport history and pushed the record up to 400, then 500, then 600 miles per hour. "Speed Duel" is the fast-paced history of their rivalry.
Despite the abundant heart-stopping action, "Speed Duel" is foremost a human drama. Says author Samuel Hawley, "It is a quintessential American tale in the tradition of The Right Stuff, except that it is not about extraordinary men doing great things in a huge government program. It's about ordinary men doing extraordinary things in their back yards."
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
360 pages, Paperback
Published September 16, 2010
13 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Samuel Hawley
12 books165 followersSamuel Hawley has BA and MA degrees in history from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and worked in East Asia as a teacher for two decades before becoming a full-time writer. His nonfiction books include The Imjin War, about Japan's 16th-century invasion of Korea and attempted conquest of China; Speed Duel: The Inside Story of the Land Speed Record in the Sixties; Ultimate Speed, the authorized biography of land speed racing legend Craig Breedlove; and The Fight That Started the Movies, the epic story of how the emerging technology of cinema combined with prizefighting to make the world's first feature-length film. His latest book is a novel about Japan in the closing days of WWII, Daikon, hailed by John Grisham as "a breathtaking story of what might have been. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Daikon is a riveting tale about war, intrigue, love, and perseverance.”
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 19, 2014
This is a very good story of the events and personalities involved in the pursuit of the Land Speed Record for automobiles in the 60's. I found it very interesting because I remember following this competition when it was happening and knew some of the Akron, Ohio contingent at the time (Dragway 42 in West Salem, OH was a frequent hangout).
The difference in the competitors and their approach to the attempt shows the many ways and cost levels used at that time, from the "Hot-Rodders" working in their home garage and getting by "on the cheap" to the British contingent investing millions of dollars is explored in depth and presented in the story. Money was spent, lives were risked (and lost) in an effort that was taken mostly because the challenge was there, not because anyone was really going to get rich (more likely, they would go broke).
A fascinating book for the person that is interested in any type of auto racing competition.
The difference in the competitors and their approach to the attempt shows the many ways and cost levels used at that time, from the "Hot-Rodders" working in their home garage and getting by "on the cheap" to the British contingent investing millions of dollars is explored in depth and presented in the story. Money was spent, lives were risked (and lost) in an effort that was taken mostly because the challenge was there, not because anyone was really going to get rich (more likely, they would go broke).
A fascinating book for the person that is interested in any type of auto racing competition.
January 25, 2024
Though I don't have a lot to add about this book that other people have already talked about, the only reason you might not want to read this story about a great technological adventure is because Hawley has written a more recent biography of Craig Breedlove. Otherwise, this is a fine telling of the story of Breedlove's competition with Art Arfons, and how for a hot minute they became household names in 1960s America.
April 28, 2013
Brave men doing a very dangerous thing, for few rewards and fleeting fame. The LSR battles of the 60's are breathtaking and the risk so high, you have to wonder why, I'm not sure anyone can know that answer, even among the men involved. But it does make for a fascinating read.
March 27, 2016
Fascinating. Informative & Engaging! An Outstanding Read! I Loved It!
May 21, 2022
Speed is the essence of life in the technological world. In the early 20th century, the Futurist art movement published a manifesto in which they declared their love for technology and especially the sleek design and engineering perfection of the automobile, a device which would allow speed itself to be harnessed and utilized for every ordinary citizen. The Futurists’ celebration of speed was more prescient then they realized. By the end of the 20th century, speed had transformed all aspects of human life. With the development of the telegraph, the telephone, satellites, and fiberoptic cables, communication seemed as if it could not get any faster and then the internet came along and now worldwide communication is often instantaneous. The media spreads information with soundbites, Twitter posts, and memes which convey ideas quickly without any thought necessary by the person receiving the information. Advances in transportation have given us speedboats, supersonic jets, and turbo charged sport cars. A high speed and high energy lifestyle has changed the way we eat so that microwave dinners and fast food restaurants provide nourishment, albeit tasteless and unhealthy, for people who don’t have time to cook. Long, drawn out symphonies and operas have been replaced by three minute pop songs and, at the more extreme edge, hardcore punk, thrash, and speedmetal musicians have stripped away melodies in order to make playing with the most beats per minute possible a reality. In the same sense, outlaw bikers chop their Harley-Davidsons, removing all unnecessary accessories to make their bikes light enough to travel at higher speeds. Hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, and short attention spans could are maladaptive psychiatric traits, resulting from people’s natural biological rhythms being unable to evolve with the rapidly changing pace of technologiy. For people living in cities, energy drinks are sold legally in any convenience store and if those do not make users move quickly enough, they can walk to a nearby alley, corner, or drug house to score some cocaine or methamphetamine, drugs invented to make it seem as if there are no limits on just how fast a user can go. Over the counter medicines promise instant relief in their advertising while hook-up apps on your web browser and free pornography make sexual gratification on-demand possible and sometimes even instant. Life goes by in a blurry rush.
It is no wonder that motor sports, particularly auto racing, have become such an emblematic factor in the world of competitive entertainment. But the race to break the Land Speed Record is one facet of motor sports that has gone mostly overlooked with the exception of a few hardcore enthusiasts. The Golden Age of the Land Speed Record competitions came in the 1960s. The story of this sport during that decade is told in Samuel Hawley’s Speed Duel which shows an entirely different side of American culture than what we most often hear of from social and cultural historians.
Hawley effectively juggles three major themes in this historical narrative. One is that it tells the story of the people involved in the LSR. While the sport itself is important, the author puts it in context by showing us who these people were, how they grew up, what their families were like, what they were like as individual people, and what motivated them to pursue such a path in life. The main players in this game were Craig Breedlove and the two brothers, Walt and Art Arfons. They all started out as drag racng hobbyists, but once the LSR bug bit them, there was no turning back. They, and a few others along the way, became single-minded and obsessed with their chosen field, dedicating their entire lives to becoming the fastest car-driving men to ever live. While Breedlove and the Arfons brothers are depicted as caring people, often even at peace with the world and themselves, there is, of course, a darker side to this story. Walt and Art had a disagreement when they were young and spent most of their lives without talking to each other. An even darker aspect of the sociological side of this book is the corporate sponsorship of the Land Speed Record events. Shell, Firestone, and Goodyear all assisted in this race for the sake of publicity and profits, but they treated these men, willing to risk their bodies and lives for their passion, as commodities and play-things. The businessmen of these corporations acted like gangsters who had little regard for human life and no loyalty to the engineers and drivers who made them rich. It is yet another example of big business screwing over the people they make money off of.
Another aspect of this story that stands out is the labor, craftsmanship, and mechanical expertise that made it all possible. What started out as a pastime for some young men who liked tinkering around with race cars in their parents’ garages ended up becoming full-fledged engineers and experts in the field of aerodynamics. Through an interminable, self-correcting scientific process of trial and error, they succeeded in building the fastest cars ever made. They started out with simple, high octane fuel engines, then went on to building cars with multiple engines, and eventually built them with jet engines, afterburners, and rockets. By the end of the 1960s, they were approaching speeds of Mach 1, attempting to break the sound barrier. The competition was not just one of driving faster than somebody else; it also was a competition to see who could build a superior. Competitiveness brought out the best in all of them.
Finally, the third and most important theme of this book is the LSR attempts themselves. During the summer and fall ever year, these men and their pit crews transported their vehicles to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. If you have ever driven from Salt Lake City to Reno, you know what they look like. A perfectly flat snow-white surface meets a turquoise blue sky at the horizon and there is absolutely nothing else to see. Standing at Bonneville makes you feel an isolation that you can not experience anywhere else as you get swallowed up into the stillness and silence. It is like being trapped inside a minimalist landscape painting but the feeling of solitude and loneliness can be liberating. This is where the LSR was attempted.
Driving a car that fast is no easy matter. For one thing, the results are entirely unpredictable. Something always goes wrong. Tires blow out, brakes melt, engine torque forces the car out of line, and sometimes the cars start to fly. You know...just typical automotive problems. Cars doing two laps had to be quickly repaired before making their return trips which meant the pit crew had to be fast thinkers and highly skilled in engineering. A number of the cars went out of control and crashed. Injuries were common but deaths were even more common. Every driver burst into uncharted territory every time the Land Speed Record was attempted.
As a work of non-fiction literature, this book is excellent. In all three of its previously mentioned themes, the author does a great job of explanation. The people seemed authentic and really came to life on the page. The thrill and anxiety of attempting the LSR had an acute impact too. Most importantly, the author did a great job of explaining the scientific process of engineering. He goes into the mechanics, the materials, the streamlining of the designs, and the physics of engineering in ways that are clear and simple for the layman to understand. And we can thank him a thousand times for doing all this without any math. As a reader you are never confused or left in the dark as to what is happening. The only unanswered question is why this became such an obsession for these men. That isn’t the author’s fault. When Craig Breedlove and Art Arfons were asked why they felt such a driving need to break the LSR, they both answered that they don’t know. They just knew they had to do it. So they did.
Speed Duel was likely written for motor sports enthusiasts but it could easily be read with interest by people outside that field. Not only is it accessible without being shallow, but it is also something many people could relate to on an existential level. Many people try to break through barriers be they social, political, economic, athletic, or spiritual; traditionally they turn to things like art, music, drugs, political movements, mysticism, mountain climbing or whatever works for them. The men involved in the Land Speed Record were also trying to break through a barrier; it was a physical barrier and they did it using nothing but technological engineering and their intellects in a way that is characteristic of the 20th century. On the surface it may not seem that they had anything in common with the hippie movement which was growing at the same time, but in their own way both groups of people were pursuing freedom in their own unique way. For the LSR drivers, this moment of freedom was brief, lasting less than a minute every time they broke the record. Maybe they, like the hippies, tapped into something cosmic that was in the air at the time. Astrophysicists say the universe is expanding and that it is also accelerating as it expands. Maybe that speed of acceleration is what the Land Speed Record drivers tapped into.
It is no wonder that motor sports, particularly auto racing, have become such an emblematic factor in the world of competitive entertainment. But the race to break the Land Speed Record is one facet of motor sports that has gone mostly overlooked with the exception of a few hardcore enthusiasts. The Golden Age of the Land Speed Record competitions came in the 1960s. The story of this sport during that decade is told in Samuel Hawley’s Speed Duel which shows an entirely different side of American culture than what we most often hear of from social and cultural historians.
Hawley effectively juggles three major themes in this historical narrative. One is that it tells the story of the people involved in the LSR. While the sport itself is important, the author puts it in context by showing us who these people were, how they grew up, what their families were like, what they were like as individual people, and what motivated them to pursue such a path in life. The main players in this game were Craig Breedlove and the two brothers, Walt and Art Arfons. They all started out as drag racng hobbyists, but once the LSR bug bit them, there was no turning back. They, and a few others along the way, became single-minded and obsessed with their chosen field, dedicating their entire lives to becoming the fastest car-driving men to ever live. While Breedlove and the Arfons brothers are depicted as caring people, often even at peace with the world and themselves, there is, of course, a darker side to this story. Walt and Art had a disagreement when they were young and spent most of their lives without talking to each other. An even darker aspect of the sociological side of this book is the corporate sponsorship of the Land Speed Record events. Shell, Firestone, and Goodyear all assisted in this race for the sake of publicity and profits, but they treated these men, willing to risk their bodies and lives for their passion, as commodities and play-things. The businessmen of these corporations acted like gangsters who had little regard for human life and no loyalty to the engineers and drivers who made them rich. It is yet another example of big business screwing over the people they make money off of.
Another aspect of this story that stands out is the labor, craftsmanship, and mechanical expertise that made it all possible. What started out as a pastime for some young men who liked tinkering around with race cars in their parents’ garages ended up becoming full-fledged engineers and experts in the field of aerodynamics. Through an interminable, self-correcting scientific process of trial and error, they succeeded in building the fastest cars ever made. They started out with simple, high octane fuel engines, then went on to building cars with multiple engines, and eventually built them with jet engines, afterburners, and rockets. By the end of the 1960s, they were approaching speeds of Mach 1, attempting to break the sound barrier. The competition was not just one of driving faster than somebody else; it also was a competition to see who could build a superior. Competitiveness brought out the best in all of them.
Finally, the third and most important theme of this book is the LSR attempts themselves. During the summer and fall ever year, these men and their pit crews transported their vehicles to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. If you have ever driven from Salt Lake City to Reno, you know what they look like. A perfectly flat snow-white surface meets a turquoise blue sky at the horizon and there is absolutely nothing else to see. Standing at Bonneville makes you feel an isolation that you can not experience anywhere else as you get swallowed up into the stillness and silence. It is like being trapped inside a minimalist landscape painting but the feeling of solitude and loneliness can be liberating. This is where the LSR was attempted.
Driving a car that fast is no easy matter. For one thing, the results are entirely unpredictable. Something always goes wrong. Tires blow out, brakes melt, engine torque forces the car out of line, and sometimes the cars start to fly. You know...just typical automotive problems. Cars doing two laps had to be quickly repaired before making their return trips which meant the pit crew had to be fast thinkers and highly skilled in engineering. A number of the cars went out of control and crashed. Injuries were common but deaths were even more common. Every driver burst into uncharted territory every time the Land Speed Record was attempted.
As a work of non-fiction literature, this book is excellent. In all three of its previously mentioned themes, the author does a great job of explanation. The people seemed authentic and really came to life on the page. The thrill and anxiety of attempting the LSR had an acute impact too. Most importantly, the author did a great job of explaining the scientific process of engineering. He goes into the mechanics, the materials, the streamlining of the designs, and the physics of engineering in ways that are clear and simple for the layman to understand. And we can thank him a thousand times for doing all this without any math. As a reader you are never confused or left in the dark as to what is happening. The only unanswered question is why this became such an obsession for these men. That isn’t the author’s fault. When Craig Breedlove and Art Arfons were asked why they felt such a driving need to break the LSR, they both answered that they don’t know. They just knew they had to do it. So they did.
Speed Duel was likely written for motor sports enthusiasts but it could easily be read with interest by people outside that field. Not only is it accessible without being shallow, but it is also something many people could relate to on an existential level. Many people try to break through barriers be they social, political, economic, athletic, or spiritual; traditionally they turn to things like art, music, drugs, political movements, mysticism, mountain climbing or whatever works for them. The men involved in the Land Speed Record were also trying to break through a barrier; it was a physical barrier and they did it using nothing but technological engineering and their intellects in a way that is characteristic of the 20th century. On the surface it may not seem that they had anything in common with the hippie movement which was growing at the same time, but in their own way both groups of people were pursuing freedom in their own unique way. For the LSR drivers, this moment of freedom was brief, lasting less than a minute every time they broke the record. Maybe they, like the hippies, tapped into something cosmic that was in the air at the time. Astrophysicists say the universe is expanding and that it is also accelerating as it expands. Maybe that speed of acceleration is what the Land Speed Record drivers tapped into.
September 14, 2023
Fun story
I just returned from Benneville Speed Week I’m 2023. As a kid I remember news coverage of the Spirit of America and the blue flame. I also remember the jet dragsters of the day. This ties them all together.
I just returned from Benneville Speed Week I’m 2023. As a kid I remember news coverage of the Spirit of America and the blue flame. I also remember the jet dragsters of the day. This ties them all together.
June 22, 2017
A Surprisingly Great Read
The subject matter caught my eye, the depth of the content kept me coming back to this book each day until I finished it.
Well done!
The subject matter caught my eye, the depth of the content kept me coming back to this book each day until I finished it.
Well done!
April 26, 2021
Much better than many in this genre
November 7, 2023
This book rocks. It's super cool to be able to read about the Land Speed Records and how they occurred.
December 1, 2015
A top-notch history of the Land Speed Record in the 1960s. I finished my first read of Speed Duel on the day after starting it. The story telling is that good. Revisiting it a year later was just as enjoyable. Samuel Hawley interviewed many if not most of the surviving subjects and it shows in the depth presented here for each LSR team's story. Donald Campbell is the only one who's story is a bit lacking here. The duel comes down to Arfons and Breedlove, with their terms and sponsors behind them. There's a tremendous amount of original material here, even for people who already know the story well.
October 25, 2014
A bit disjointed in the beginning, but settles into a richly-researched and smooth tale of the land speed record attempts in the 1960s. Congratulations to Samuel Hawley!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews