Speed Duel chronicles the dangerous world of land speed racing in the 1960s.Two stark yet commanding personalities emerged in Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove. They cheated death and pushed every limit possible as they battled for the top records.Our Book Garage series showcases what every enthusiast should add to their library. 

Images taken from Speed Duel: The Inside Story of the Land Speed Record in the Sixties by Samuel Hawley, with permission from Firefly Books Ltd.

authorSamuel HawleyPublisher Firefly Books isbn 978-1554076338 where to get itAmazon

Samuel Hawley has written a book that belongs in any gearhead’s collection. Speed Duel: The Inside Story of the Land Speed Record in the Sixties is about land speed racing at a time when things became faster and faster, and deadlier and deadlier, by the week. Speed Duel also follows the two out-sized personalities that navigated this world in a most tumultuous time.
The 1983 movie, The Right Stuff opened with this narration: “There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. And men came to the High Desert in California to ride it. They were called test pilots. And no one knew their names.”

They might as well have been talking about land speed record (LSR) attempts in the 1960s. LSR racing has always been exceedingly perilous work, but in the 60s it went from perilous to nearly suicidal...