Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

October 22, 1997

Ladies & Gentlemen:

Last week Andy Green set a new world land speed record of 763.035 mph at the Black Rock Desert. This magnificent achievement could not have been done without the cooperation of a lot of people. Not to take the credit away from Andy Green, but Richard Noble deserves a great round of applause for his drive and persistence that paid off. He set his goal to break his 13 year monopoly on the fastest car on earth; and he did. He set his goal to be the first car to officially break the sound barrier; and he did. Richard assembled a group of individuals that came together as one and did something no man has ever done before.

Another big round of applause goes to Jeremy Davey, the Thrust SSC webmaster. On one day alone, the website he had created attracted over 2 million hits! To date his site has been seen by over 40 million visitors.

Three weeks ago North American Eagle™ (NAE) Project manager Ed Shadle and Chief Mechanic Ron Norman took a trip to Black Rock to see the Thrust Team in action. Walking into the Thrust camp unannounced, they were met by Richard and given a firsthand tour of the entire facilities by the gentleman from England himself. He made them feel at home, and shared information that could have been considered proprietary. Ed and Ron were impressed with the operation. First rate as Ed would say. That means alot from a 30 year former IBM project manager.

In spite of the record being elevated to a new standard, the NAE™ Team did have fantastic weekend ourselves. It started on Friday October 10th when the entire team met at the Mojave Airport in southern California. We made four successful test runs.

At 8:30 am on Saturday, a black and white Learjet flew into Mojave carrying the one and only Jay Leno. The sleek Lear pulled along the side of the NAE™, which was now parked at the end of the runway. Jay got out and was met by the Tonight Show writing staff who arrived a couple of hours earlier. Jay talked and joked with everyone in attendance.

Jay spent the morning with the Team, and even took a ride in the car. At 300 mph it must have been one of his fastest rides. The entire event will be shown on an upcoming Tonight Show episode, as the crew from Burbank filmed one of Jay's typical spoofs. The NAE™ Team were happy to oblige and, in return, met some real nice people. Look for a full written account of the adventure in a few days.

Later that day, the NAE™ Team packed up and headed to Edwards AFB, where the team switched to the aluminum wheels and made a test run on Rogers Dry Lake Bed. Steve Green from Canada was on hand to make sure the wheels were installed as designed.

Puget Sound residents set your VCR's for Thursday October 30th at 7:00 pm. On channel 5 (NBC affiliate) the Evening Magazine show will air a segment that was filmed last July down at the Toledo Airport. The Tonight Show will air that same night at 11:35 pm pst. Check your local listings for exact times. The NAE™ Team would like to thank all the writers, cameramen, technicians and the rest of the crew from the Tonight Show for spending the day with us. It was a lot of fun!

Respectfully,

Keith Zanghi, NAE Webmaster

All photos this page copyright 1997 Keith Zanghi, used with permission from the Tonight Show.

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