GABELICH, GARY

born Aug. 29, 1940, Long Beach, Calif., U.S. died Jan. 26, 1984, San Pedro, Calif. American automobile-racing driver who set a world one-mile land-speed record of 622.407 miles per hour (1,001.67 km/h) on Oct. 23, 1970. Gabelich began racing hot-rod cars while he was in high school. In the late 1950s he competed as a drag racer of both automobiles and boats. In 1969 he set a drag-boat record of 200.44 miles per hour (322.38 km/h). He achieved his 1970 one-mile land-speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats (Utah) in the Blue Flame, a rocket-powered, bullet-shaped car. This record was unofficially broken by Stan Barrett in 1979 and was officially surpassed by Richard Noble in 1983.