Craig Breedlove, daring land-speed recordholder, dies aged 86

Breedlove battled Tom Green and Art Arfons on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to set and then break each other’s speed records during the freewheeling 1960s, a golden era of American motorsports

Craig Breedlove drives his jet-powered Spirit of America during its first test run on the Black Rock Desert in Gerlach, Nevada, on September 6 1997 (Eric Risberg/AP)

Craig Breedlove, who set land-speed records by topping 400mph, 500mph and 600mph in jet-powered cars nicknamed Spirit of America, has died aged 86.

Breedlove died at his home in Rio Vista, California, on April 4.