Gary Gabelich

Gary Gabelich ( born August 29, 1940 in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, † January 27, 1984 in Long Beach ) was an American race car driver.

His parents are from Split ( Vrboska on the Croatian island of Hvar ). He grew up in Long Beach, where he visited the Hughes Middle School and Poly High School. During high school he participated in Hot Rod Racing part. At the age of 19 he was traveling in a rocket car on the Bonneville Salt Flats 356 mph (573 km / h).

He then went to North American Rockwell ( Rockwell International ), possibly to become an astronaut or test offered himself to film the fall of the Apollo capsule with parachute jumps from altitude of 10 km. When he was offered there office work, they decided to bring for the race.

In 1968 he won the American Power Boat Association fuel hydro championship. In the following year he exhibited at the National Drag Boat Association a record of 200.44 mph ( 322.7 km / h ).

When a driver has been sought for the Rocket Car Blue Flame, he was initially the third choice. On 23 October 1970 he passed into the Blue Flame with 622.407 mph ( 1001.67 km / h ) the 1000-km/h-Grenze, a record which was broken only in 1983.

Later, he claimed that the Blue Flame could reach 750 mph ( 1207 km / h ), but Reaction Dynamics had no further plans with the vehicle.

Gabelich drove then again Boat and drag races. Twice he narrowly escaped death in accidents. In 1972, he lost while the right hand, although one could be sewn back on, but his career thus came to an end. He died in January 1984 in a motorcycle accident in Long Beach. He left behind his wife, Rae Marie and his son Guy (c. 1984).