Waukesha Author and America’s Fastest Rocket Car Designer Appearing at Friday Night Live

The Blue Flame rocket car held the world land speed record from 1970-1983 with an average speed of 622.407 mph.  It was designed to be the first land speed vehicle to achieve 1,000 mph.  Why didn't it?  What went wrong? If The Blue Flame is such an important American car and was built by Reaction Dynamics in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, why is it housed in a German museum?

Ray Dausman, rocket designer for The Blue Flame, shares his experience and perspective in a new memoir The Reluctant Rocketman:  A Curious Journey in World Record Breaking. Waukesha resident Sarah Kasprowicz is Dausman's daughter, and has crafted his memoir to share the untold story of The Blue Flame and explain that while the world may see The Blue Flame as a huge success story, Dausman considers it a failure.

The Reluctant Rocketman is relevant today because the 1,000 mph benchmark has never been attained. There are several land speed record  projects in the works all over the globe.  The most well known is the British Bloodhound SSC team of engineers and land speed experts who are working feverishly to be ready in 2015  to make their attempt at 1,000 mph. Private space travel and space tourism have boosted interest and media coverage of all things rocket-powered.  The Reluctant Rocketman is about a part of American history, but it is also about timeless themes such as innovation and the price of invention.

Kasprowicz and Dausman will be answering questions and signing books this Friday, August 23rd at Martha Merrell’s Bookstore during the Waukesha Freeman Friday Night Live event in downtown Waukesha.