Charlie Nearburg (born September 6, 1950) is a race car driver who broke the wheel-driven land speed record in 2010. Born in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Nearburg founded Nearburg Exploration, an oil and gas exploration firm that became one of the largest independent oil and gas explorers in the country. He used his profits from his successful business to finance his auto racing career, becoming a long time

Toyota Atlantic The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

competitor. In 1997 he drove in the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

in a

Ferrari 333 SP The Ferrari 333 SP is a sports prototype race car that was built by Italian race car manufacturer Dallara and later Michelotto to compete in the World Sports Car championship for Ferrari. Unveiled at the end of 1993, at the behest of amateur rac ...

for Pilot Motorsports and funded three appearances in the CART

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ( ...

series for

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known as Payton-Coyn ...

. Coyne is particularly proud of the progress Nearburg made while with the team, stating in a 2004 interview: “Charlie Nearburg is an example I love – he was a guy that was older, he was married, he had kids and always wanted to do these races. So he came with us, and did three races, and we pushed him a little bit, but by the time he got to his third race, he was very respectable – and he’s got that to carry with him the rest of his life.” Nearburg retired from professional racing after his Champ Car experience. He is listed as a

Ferrari 250 GTO The Ferrari 250 GTO is a GT car produced by Ferrari from 1962 to 1964 for homologation into the FIA's Group 3 Grand Touring Car category. It was powered by Ferrari's ''Tipo 168/62'' Colombo V12 engine. The "250" in its name denotes the disp ...

owner. In September 2010 driving the '' Spirit of Rett'', Nearburg broke

Goldenrod Goldenrod is a common name for many species of flowering plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, commonly in reference to the genus ''Solidago''. Several genera, such as ''Euthamia'', were formerly included in a broader concept of the genus ...

's wheel-driven land speed record at a speed of 414.4 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats using a General Motors racing V-8 engine. Nearburg graduated from

St. Mark's School of Texas The St. Mark's School of Texas is a nonsectarian preparatory day school for boys in grades 1–12 in Dallas, Texas, United States, accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest. History St. Mark's traces its origins to the T ...

in 1968 and later served on its board of trustees for 20 years. He received degrees from Dartmouth in 1972, 1973, and 1974, the latter two being engineering degrees. He later served on the engineering school's board of overseers. He has also been philanthropically involved in pediatric cancer research, environmental protection, and the arts.

Spirit of Rett

On September 21, 2010 the '' Spirit of Rett'' made two phenomenal speed runs. The first run averaged 417 MPH with an exit speed of 422.6. The return run, made under more difficult track conditions, averaged 411.7 MPH with a top speed of 417.65. The average speed of approximately 414.4 MPH exceeded the 45 year old Summers brothers’ Goldenrod record. The “Spirit of Rett” now has one of the fastest single engine car record in history.

Accomplishments

* Fastest single-engine car record in history 414.316 MPH as of September 21, 2010 (and only 3 mph less than the absolute fastest "real car" record of 417.020 MPH held by Tom Burkland) * Fastest normally aspirated car in history (Broke 45-year-old record set by Summer's Bros. "Goldenrod" on Nov 12, 1965) * First and only unblown single-engine car over 400 MPH * First and only car to ever set two over 300 MPH records in one day * First and only car to ever hold all four of the fastest unblown records at Bonneville at the same time A/FS 379.6 MPH, A/GS 353.825 MPH, AA/GS 368.136 MPH, AA/FS 392.503 MPH * First and only car to ever hold the two fastest unblown FIA records at the same time * At the 2011 FIA Landspeed Shootout held in September, the “Spirit of Rett” increased its FIA Category A, Group II, Class 10 record to 366.59 MPH.

Career results

American Open-Wheel racing results

CART

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

The Wall Street Journal: he Inspiration Behind a Land Speed Record

Dallas Morning News:Dallas oilman is powering up to break 409-mph record on Bonneville Salt Flats

Dartmouth Alumni Magazine: In The Blink of an Eye

Land Speed Events: Charles Nearburg, Spirit of Rett, 414.316 MPH

Jalopnik: The Spirit Of Rett: The World's Fastest Single-Engine Tribute

Goodguys: Hot Rod Heroes - Charlie Nearburg

Video: Charles Nearburg Breaks 45 year old Record at Bonneville

Video: Spirit of Rett driver Charles Nearburg at Bonneville 2011

Video: Where They Raced - Charlie Nearburg

Video: Spirit of Rett land speed record (down run)

Video: THIS CAR MATTERS: 1926 Bugatti Miller V8

Video: World's Fastest Car: Spirit of Rett World Record at Bonneville Salt Flats

Video: Spirit of Rett return run push-off

Video: Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth Alumni Spotlight - Charles Nearburg

Video: Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth Alumni Spotlight - Charles Nearburg on Teamwork

Video: Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth - Search for Oil and Gas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nearburg, Charlie 1950 births Champ Car drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Living people 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Trans-Am Series drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Bonneville 300 MPH Club members Racing drivers from Dallas St. Mark's School (Texas) alumni Dartmouth College alumni Dale Coyne Racing drivers