Speediest Man on Earth

Just before sunset one day last week, cool John Cobb of London squeezed his 200 lbs. into the cockpit of his two-engined, ice-cooled racing car. It was his last chance of the year: the rainy season was at hand on Utah's Bonneville salt flats. The cowling was bolted into place on top of him; a truck gave the car a push. At 20 m.p.h., the engine coughed and then settled into a steady roar. At 140 m.p.h., Cobb shifted into second gear, into high at 240 m.p.h. About halfway down the 14 mile course he entered the measured mile. Cobb, a London fur-broker, had spent over $30,000 to try to break his own 1939 land-speed record (369.7 m.p.h.).

After his big car (the same old one, remodeled) pushed over 350 miles an hour, it began shimmying and weaving; his head battered back & forth in the bubble cover. At the end of the measured mile, the electric timing eye clocked him at a record-breaking 385.6 m.p.h. He had to slow down to 250 before applying the brakes. Half an hour later, going northward with a light tail wind, he reached 403 m.p.h. After officials juggled the figures around for a few minutes, Cobb's record went on the books as 394.196 m.p.h. A reporter asked him whether he had found the high speed frightening. "It's not a matter of fear," said girt John Cobb. "It's a matter of hanging on."

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