See Bonneville hero Craig Breedlove miraculously escape disaster and live to joke about it in this awesome film detailing his 1964 crash.

For us gearheads who grew up in the 1960s, Craig Breedlove and his record runs at Bonneville were a very big deal. From our tables at the school libraries, we followed his exploits each month in the pages of Hot Rod magazine and elsewhere, awed by the seemingly supernatural speeds: 400 mph, 500 mph, and ultimately 600 mph. Of course, these tremendous speeds did not come without considerable danger, as we were instantly reminded by Breedlove’s terrifying crash on October 15, 1964, from which he miraculously walked away.

With much gratitude to international historian Samuel Hawley, we have this rare but revealing film recording the events of that day. After a smooth and successful run in which he cleared the kilometer trap at 519 mph, Breedlove racked up his jet-powered Spirit of America for a return run. It was on this second pass that disaster struck as the Spirit, after losing its parachutes and brakes at better than 500 mph, hurtled down course. He was still traveling at more than 400 mph as he ran off the end of the course, shearing off a telephone pole and leaping over an embankment before coming to rest in a salt pond. Thanks to this awesome video, we get to see the entire show, including Breedlove’s priceless and famous reaction: “For my next trick, I’ll set myself afire.” Watch this.