Tailpipe Dream

And when it comes to the ultimate land-speed conquest, McGlashan says, "There is only one team out there delivering the goods: Ed Shadle. We wish him all the very best of luck and take our hat off to a man who is truly following his passion."

If Shadle is successful in his pursuit, what will it feel like to drive a car faster than the speed of sound? There's only one person in the world who knows: Andy Green.

Kevin P. Casey

The 67-year-old Shadle became infatuated with speed as a Puyallup teenager.

Related Content

• Rick Larsen, Denny Heck Targeted in Serial Opposition Ads by Secretive Iowa Group
  October 5, 2010
• Green Housing, Once the Preserve of Millionaires, Goes the Way of Double-Wides
  December 6, 2010
• Special Virgin of Guadalupe Edition
  December 9, 2009
• Life’s Just a Möbius Strip
  November 19, 2008
• These Books Don't Cost a Thing
  October 15, 2008

More About

• Ed Shadle
• Andy Green
• Craig Breedlove
• Richard Noble
• Keith Zanghi

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

"The noise is both massive and unique," says Green. "You can't hear the distinctive sonic boom from inside the car, but you can hear the howling of the standing shock waves on the canopy, and around the bodywork, as the air is literally battered out of the way as you travel 350 feet per second. And then, of course, there's the realization that this is a unique experience. I'm looking forward to Ed getting there so I finally have someone with whom to compare notes."

So in the fall, after Shadle's spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, after all the searches for parts and experts and sponsors, after all the testing, after the car is loaded and driven to Black Rock, after camp is set up, after the inspectors arrive and the wind's right and the temperature's right and the car's firing, after he's sat in the cockpit in four layers of clothing and flight suits, after the car's accelerated and he's pinned to the seat and flames shoot 70 feet out of the tailpipe and he's covering a mile in 4.3 seconds (a speed fast enough to keep his eyes from focusing on the scenery around him), after the sound wave howls on the canopy and then dissipates as the car goes even faster, after the magnetic brakes kick in and the parachutes deploy and he finally rolls to a stop, after he turns around and does it all again, and after Ed Shadle has driven the North American Eagle to the fastest land speed ever recorded on the face of the earth...

What then?

jfroehling@seattleweekly.com