Looking For a Few Good, But Young, Men

To break the world land speed record, you need a marketable driver
The North American Eagle: Photo by Tim Finley

A racing team led by 66-year-old Ed Shadle is gunning for the world land speed record of 763 miles per hour—their goal is to break the 800 mark. Shadle has spent a decade and $150,000 getting ready, and transforming an old jet into his potentially record-smashing ride, the North American Eagle. The car boasts 42,000 horsepower, and will supposedly do 0 to 800 in just 20 seconds. And it's entirely green, running on solar . . . no, just kidding.

The big news, though, is that Shadle is looking for drivers. He'd do it himself, but apparently he's concerned that his extra years have deterred sponsors, so he's looking for some younger blood to draw in the last dollars that will help his team break the barrier. Any interest? Check out the team's site for more details.

Via Aero-News Network

3 Comments

Comments

Milkweed110
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What kind of jet is that sucker? It looks kinda like an F-104 starfighter from the pic. Anyway, sign up, except that I am not old enough to have a driver's licence.

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neodymium

from duncan, sc

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Good eye, young man. That is an F-104. - I can understand the owner's concerns regarding his age. After a recent drive through Florida I can safely say that most "seasoned citizens" have a very difficult time driving at a rate that equals their age, let alone 800 MPH. Besides, I'm not sure this rocket car has the prerequisite perpetually blinking left turn signal...

...We've had troops in Japan and Germany for over 60 years. Does that mean we LOST WWII ?!?!?...

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jdhiiixc
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I saw a show on the building of this on the discovery channel, I think, it might have been a different channel, but it was pretty cool. I had thought that they had already getten the thing out to test by now.

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