Banks Breaks Speed Record an a Driveway

Bethany and Drew host a channel called Oddity Odysseys, where they uncover little-known American history, often hiding in plain sight. Their latest adventure includes a piece of Route 66 that happens to be a 4.1-mile driveway. As the history unfolds about why this stretch of pavement was made for Mrs. Orcutt, the duo touches reveal that a small group of journalists used it to test and prove their high-performance vehicles, running them at incredible speeds. One of those who tested on Mrs. Orcutt’s driveway was Gale Banks. His vehicle made a bit of history on the historic stretch of road.

Banks started the turbo tuner craze by building made-to-order super cars through a subsidiary company called American Turbocar Corporation. The company offered street-legal Camaros, Firebirds and Trans Ams in a variety of powerful builds from mild-builds to the 700-horsepower configuration that graced the cover of the June 1984 issue of Car and Driver. That vehicle was clocked at 204 mph (running with the air conditioning and street tires on of all things) by the magazine, with editor Csaba Csere behind the wheel. 

It was the magazine’s first recorded street car to break the 200-mile-an-hour barrier, and it was Mrs. Orcutt’s driveway where it happened. Mr. Csere wrote in his article: “The world’s fastest street car? At nearly 300 feet per second, the world looks as if it’s being shot at you from a cannon.” Gale and Csada reminisce on that blazing run down the driveway in Gale’s Speed School podcast, which is chalked full automotive nostalgic, including a run-in with Mrs. Orcutt brandishing a shotgun and a highway cop who wanted to go for a ride.