His attempt was scheduled for early September 1937, but he encountered a couple of setbacks. First the clutch broke on the Thunderbolt, his seven-ton behemoth, and it had to be sent back to England for repair. Then unseasonable rainstorms soaked the Salt Flats, and he had to wait for them to dry out before making his run at the record.

Finally, on Nov. 19, Captain Eyston took the Thunderbolt up to nearly 312 mph, breaking Campbell's record by 10 mph. When Eyston returned to London, among those waiting on the platform of Paddington Station to congratulate him was Sir Malcolm Campbell.

For the next two years, Eyston and John Cobb took turns setting speed records on the Salt Flats. Eyston upped his own mark from 312 mph to 347 mph, but just a month later, Cobb's aluminum "turtle" roared through the measured mile at 350 mph.

He hardly had time to bask in any acclaim because the next day Eyston drove the Thunderbolt 357 mph. Cobb came back with a record run of nearly 369 mph. Then World War II put a halt to racing and records.

After the war, Cobb went after the 400 mph mark. In 1947, his redesigned aluminum racer hit 405 mph on the first leg of the run, but a slower return run gave him an average time of 394 mph, a record that will last through eternity.

The era of piston-driven racers was over. Jet-powered racers eventually took over, with speed records being set by a new generation of racers — such as Art Arfons, Andy Green and Craig Breedlove.

Cobb turned to speedboat racing in hopes of joining Campbell as the holder of land and water records at the same time. In September 1952, he took his aluminum Crusader to Loch Ness, and on his first official run reached 200 mph, a good 20 mph faster than the existing record.

But as the Crusader passed through the measured mile, it exploded, killing Cobb and scattering debris everywhere.

Cobb, 52, was buried in his hometown of Esher, near the Brooklands racetrack. A memorial to him was built near Loch Ness.

George Eyston gave up racing after the war and was active as a director for several companies. He died at age 82 of a heart attack he suffered on a train en route to visit a client.

Sir Malcolm maintained his popularity as an author, speaker and consultant — and even ran for Parliament but lost in a close election. He died at 63 after a long illness.

His son Donald tried to follow in his father's footsteps but was nearly killed when he crashed on the Salt Flats during a record attempt. He died in 1967 during a water-speed-record attempt on Coniston Water in Northern England, the same lake where his father had set his final record 28 years earlier.