GABELICH, GARY Auto Racing-Boat
Racing-Sky Diving
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.