Gary Gabelich

Gary Gabelich (Croatian Gabelić; August 29, 1940 – January 26, 1984) was an American motorsport driver who set the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Land Speed Record (LSR) with the rocket car Blue Flame on October 23, 1970, on a dry lake bed at Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah.

Gary Gabelich was born 29 August 1940 and was raised in southern California and attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School. He grew up during the height of the Southern California race scene and became friends with many famous racers of the era like drag racer Tom McEwen. The nearby Lions Drag Strip was adjacent to Long Beach and he was influenced by the NHRA drag racing legend Big Joe Reath of the Reath Automotive Speed Shop in Long Beach. Gary married Rae Marie Ramsey (born 1946). She graduated Palo Alto High School Palo Alto, CA in 1964 and moved to Long Beach in 1968. Guy Michael Gabelich was born in the early 1980s. She was a flight attendant and later a member of the Long Beach city council.

Gary drove a split window 1960 era VW kombi delivery van for Vermillion's Drug store in his younger days. He lived with his parents in the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach, CA during this time. He later went to work for North American Aviation which became North American Rockwell after a 1967 merger with Rockwell-Standard. Gary started in the mail room and stayed for 9 years in various positions from staff assistant before becoming a part-time test subject for Project Apollo in the years 1968 & 1969. Gary served as an Apollo test astronaut in 1968-1969 as stated on the plaque his family dedicated to him in 2001.

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