On a late August evening in 1935, Campbell flew into Salt Lake City with Eyston, who planned to join Jenkins and Cobb in the 24-hourlong distance races, while Campbell went after the 300 mph mark.

Sir Malcolm wasted no time in going after the record. He spent the first day getting acquainted with the Salt Flats: the 13-mile south-to-north course had been freshly scraped, numbered signs marked each mile leading up to the electronic wires of the measured mile, and a stripe of black diesel oil painted down the middle of the 13-mile stretch kept the driver on track.

Early the next morning, Sir Malcolm took a few test runs, planning to take his car, Bluebird, up to an easy 180 mph to get warmed up for the record run. But everything went so well he found himself doing 240 mph on the final practice run.

He moved up his official run for the record to Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1935. A few bleary-eyed spectators followed the Bluebird as it was towed from Wendover, where it had been guarded around the clock for the previous week. I was covering the event for the Deseret News and joined a hundred or so other observers near the starting point.

At precisely 6:30 a.m., Campbell started from the south end of the course. The Bluebird gathered speed through the first six miles and then flashed through the measured mile at 304 mph. When the time was announced, everyone cheered.

Bob Underwood of the United Press invited me to ride down to the turnaround point at the north end of the course, where Sir Malcolm would start his second run. As we approached the one-mile marker of the course, an official flagged us down and yelled at us to get to the turnaround point and tell Sir Malcolm not to take off.

There was some sort of glitch with one of the timing wires at the measured mile. Not only that, the official's walkie-talkie was on the fritz, and he couldn't reach the officials at the turnaround point.

Underwood and I took off in his Ford coupe, setting our own one-mile record on the Salt Flats. When we skidded to a stop at the north end of the course, the Bluebird's engine was roaring and ready to take off. We waved and shouted enough to get Campbell to shut off the engine. As he took off his helmet, he uttered a few colorful Anglo-Saxon phrases about the delay.

The rules specified that the two runs had to be made within an hour, and as the minutes ticked by we waited for the word to go. When the all-clear signal finally came, there were just five minutes to spare.

Campbell's second run was slower than the first. The average time came to 299.8 mph, just an eye-blink short of the coveted 300 mph. Sir Malcolm announced he would make another try the next morning.