Ultimate Speed

September 1, 2018
This is a surprisingly engaging biography of a man with an obsession. Craig Breedlove was the first person to drive 400, 500, and then 600 miles per hour. As Hawley recounts, Breedlove started pursuing speed as a teenage drag racer in Venice, California, but soon that passion morphed into a different, more focused goal: pure speed. He wanted to go faster that anyone ever had on land. He set his first land-speed record in 1963, going just over 400 miles per hour. He was 27. In 1965, he moved over 500 miles per hour. At about 80 years of age, Breedlove is still at it with the goal of 1,000 miles per hour. His remarkable story will find eager readers wherever interest in auto sports is high (there's plenty of detail for gearheads about the innovations Breedlove has made to squeeze more speed out of his machines). Above all, though, the great appeal here comes from looking closely at an individual with the singular drive to do something no one else has ever done.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)