Glenn H. Curtiss

The fastest man in the world ... bullets are his only rival! - 1907

- Paul Garson

“The fastest man in the world ... bullets are the only rivals of Glenn H. Curtiss of Hammondsport.” - 1907 newspaper headline

Wearing a leather cap, a well-manicured moustache and a steely gaze, Glenn Hammond Curtiss stares out of a time-worn black and white postcard-like photo. In the background, frothy waves splash the beach, the very hard packed sands upon which his experimental V-8 powered motorcycle will transport him into the history books as “The Fastest Man in the World.” The day was Thursday, January 24, the year 1907 and the place, Ormond Beach on the east coast of Florida. The record … 136.3 mph, a land speed record that would stand for 11 years and then only surpassed by an automobile— the Blitzen Benz hitting 141 mph. It would not be until 1930 that a motorcycle would best Glenn Curtiss’s feat of daring-do and mechanical design.