Malcolm Campbell was frequently portrayed in photographs with his aviator hat and goggles, or sitting in the cockpit, ready for takeoff. But planes were not Campbell’s vehicle of choice. He preferred cars. Fast ones: Campbell drove several Bugattis and a G.P. Delage that averaged almost 79 mph in the French Grand Prix events. But 79 was nothing for Campbell: he set a land speed record in 1924 with a top speed of 146.16 mph. That was about the limit for regular cars, so Campbell went about making his own, called “Bluebirds.”

On this day, September 3, in 1935, Malcolm Campbell broke the 300 mph barrier in Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats. Campbell’s extremely streamlined Bluebird cars, resembling airplane fuselages with oversized wheels, reached in the preceding months as much as 200 – 275 mph. Further refinements allowed for faster speed.

Campbell’s exploits took place during the Great Depression, a bleak period for American motor racing. As he went into the records books in race after race, he gave the beleaguered population a common hope: something to cheer for during a shattered economy with war looming on the horizon.