Budweiser Rocket

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The Budweiser Rocket is an American 3-wheeled land vehicle, generally resembling the 1970-era Blue Flame land speed record holding vehicle in appearance, powered by a hybrid liquid and solid-fuel rocket engine with an extra booster from a Sidewinder missile,^[1] that has been claimed as being the first vehicle to have broken the sound barrier on land. The original forerunner to the vehicle was the "SMI Motivator" which was damaged badly enough to require a replacement, which in time was called the "Budweiser Rocket".^[2][3]

The vehicle, like its predecessor, was owned by film director Hal Needham,^[4] driven by Stan Barrett and designed and built by William Fredrick (Died in 2020).^[5] Neither the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme nor the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the official speed record certifying bodies, recognise the record attempt, the speed purported to have been reached or that the vehicle ever attained supersonic speeds.^[6] The original Budweiser Rocket was donated to the Smithsonian Institution and a modified version with a narrower track, is in the Talladega Superspeedway Museum, Alabama.^[7] The original is no longer on display and is now in storage at the Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 360, National Museum of American History, Office of Public Affairs and Records.^[8]