On September 21, 2010 Dallas based racer and businessman Charles Nearburg broke the 45-year old land-speed record with his Red Line Oil-equipped "Spirit of Rett" streamliner. The fast and sleek car averaged a speed of 414. 5 mph, beating the previous record set in 1965 by the Summers Brothers "Goldenrod," by a little over six mph. In addition, Nearburg also set the fastest single-engine car record.

Nearburg's son Rett passed away on January 14, 2005 at the age of 22 from a long battle of a rare cancer known as Ewing's Sarcoma. A year after his death, Nearburg bought the now famous streamliner, and named it in Rett's honor. "He lived joyously and passionately, full of humor, wisdom and grace," said Nearburg. In addition to racing and his side job as a businessman, Nearburg also donates a significant amount of time and money to fight the battle against cancer. After breaking the long undefeated record in late September, Nearburg said "this effort is dedicated to Rett and all the children fighting cancer."   

Not even a year after his triumphant accomplishment, a determined Nearburg beat two of his own records on August 25, 2011 on the notorious salt flats in Western Utah during the Bonneville SpeedWeek. The first of his victories was A/GS for gasoline-fueled, naturally-aspirated streamliners with less than 500 cubic-inches, and was set at 352.8mph. The second record was A/FS with the same engine running with nitrous (putting it in the "fuel" class), set at 379.6mph.

"Spirit of Rett" now has the following accomplishments:

1. Fastest single engine car record in history 414.316 MPH (and only 3mph less than the absolute fastest "real car" record of 417.020 MPH held by Tom Burkland)
2. Fastest normally aspirated car in history (Broke 45 year old record set by Summer's Bros. "Goldenrod" on Nov 12, 1965)
3. First and only un-blown single engine car over 400 MPH
4. First and only car to ever set two over 300 MPH records in one day
5. First and only car to ever hold all four of the fastest un-blown records at Bonneville at the same time!  A/FS 348.524 MPH, A/GS 350.728 MPH, AA/GS 368.136 MPH, AA/FS 392.503 MPH
6. First and only car to ever hold the two fastest un-blown FIA records at the same time

The "Spirit of Rett" will be on display at the Grand National Roadster Show January 27-29, 2012.

If you would like to know more about Rett's story and the "Spirit of Rett" click on the following link:

 http://www.rett.org/remembrance/index.html 

YouTube Video

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8kvCyTJbm4