Eleanor Roosevelt and the Very Fast Car

First Lady, mother, tireless advocate for the poor and downtrodden, race car driver?

Eleanor Roosevelt had many interests in her life – but even someone who gives so much of herself helping others needs a little “me” time once in a while. For Eleanor Roosevelt, that “me” time was spent trying to break the land speed record.

Mrs. Roosevelt’s lifelong passion for speed started while she was at Allenswood Finishing School in London in 1902. While there she had a brief affair with Henri Fournier, the Frenchman who had recently set the land speed record of 76.5 mph at Dourdan. Over the years she made a total of 15 attempts to break the land speed record, ultimately succeeding on May 7th, 1923 at Arpajon, France with a speed of 140.62 miles per hour over 1 kilometer in a modified Rolls-Royce Railton. Satisfied with her accomplishment she devoted less time to pursuing her hobby – by that time she spent most of her time assisting her husband in his political aspirations. Her record was broken less than a year later, and she was never able to reclaim it. She was the only First Lady to hold any sort of record until 1963 when Lyndon Johnson became president. In 1933 Lady Bird Johnson had set the NCAA Women’s Basketball free throw record of 25 free throws in one game, a record that held until 1972.