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Boeing Employee Seeks Land Speed Record

The North American Eagle is 56 feet long and is powered by a 39,000-horsepower General Electric J-79-15 Turbojet engine from an F-4 Phantom. Skin & Spar Machine Structures Manager Keith Zanghi is building the car and hopes that he and his fellow Boeing workers will one day break the 763 miles per hour world land speed record for automobiles. (Landspeed.com photo)

By Danimal Walling

In an airplane hangar two miles from the Boeing Frederickson plant in the Puget Sound region, Skin & Spar Machine Structures Manager Keith Zanghi is building a car that he and some Boeing coworkers hope will one day break the 763 miles per hour world land speed record for automobiles.

The North American Eagle is a huge car. It is 56 feet long and is powered by a 39,000-horsepower General Electric J-79-15 Turbojet engine from an F-4 Phantom. Built largely from a surplus Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, the Kelly Johnson design aircraft is the perfect platform for this type of endeavor, said Keith.

"This is actually our second car," said Keith."The first car became instantly obsolete when Andy Green went supersonic in 1997."

Lacking the millions required to design and build a car from the ground up capable of breaking Mach 1, the team decided to use a proven design. That is when they started looking for an F-104. It took one year to find a surplus aircraft. It turns out the vehicle was rescued in the nick of time, as it was only six months away from ending up in an aluminum scrap yard. When over 40 years' worth of paint was removed, they found the original serial numbers: 60-763.

Investigation of the serial number showed that the old bird had spent its entire career at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., as a chase plane for the X-15 project. In addition, some famous test pilots such as Scott Crossfield, Joe Engle, Pete Knight and Bill Dana had flown it. One day, the Boeing team hopes to have a reunion when high-speed test runs begin in the Nevada desert.

The North American Eagle team is comprised mostly of Boeing workers. Russ Garlow, an investigator for the Airline Concerns team in Everett, Wash., created the eye-catching graphic design for the "Eagle." Bill Eckberg, a 777 flight line mechanic, is the team's engine expert. Having done his training at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, working on F-4s, Eckberg is in charge of the horsepower department. Cam Shadle, 777 lead mechanic in 41/43 sections, is the son of Keith Zanghi's project partner Ed Shadle, who is chief mechanic on a 240 miles per hour Bonneville Lakester. Cam Shadle lends his skills to the team as structures mechanic.

Zanghi first became interested in land speed racing at age 14, when his father took him to see Craig Breedlove's "Spirit of America" land speed recordholder. Back in 1965, Breedlove set the record at over 600 miles per hour. Zanghi is no newcomer to racing. He has raced motorcycles, and in the mid-1970s, he campaigned a blown alcohol dragster up and down West Coast drag strips.

Zanghi said this project has been quite a journey. "You never know where the path is going to take you," he said.

From the halls of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to the cockpit of the SR-71, the project has afforded the team members many memorable experiences that have expanded their personal and business skills. Zanghi is a public speaker and has delivered his one-hour presentation, "Challenging the World Land Speed Record," many times, including at three American Chemical Society national conventions, The Meadowlands, and the SkyDome in Toronto. In addition, the project has given the team exposure on national television programs and networks including The Discovery Channel, "LIVE! With Regis & Kathie Lee," and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Most recently, it has been featured on the National Geographic Channel.

This winter, the team will be doing system integration of the engine, fuel and hydraulics system with low-speed runs (under 350 miles per hour) to begin summer 2003. Full-speed record runs nearing 800 miles per hour will hopefully take place the following year.

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