Chuck Bigelow lives in the fast lane.
How fast? Is 257 mph fast enough?
Not for Bigelow, the Richland man who, at age 71, may have set more than a production car speed record last summer while driving a Shelby Ultimate Aero car into the Guinness World Book of Records. Bigelow also may be the fastest septuagenarian, or at least the most speed-obsessed septuagenarian, on the planet.
Bigelow is a speed chaser on land and in the air. He still regularly flies a pair of ultralight aircraft he owns, and he hits the throttle every winter on his snowmobile.
In his youth, Bigelow raced on ovals in the Tri-Cities and Umatilla. He was formidable on the Pacific Northwest NASCAR circuit for a dozen years before resigning himself to the responsibilities of being a husband, a father and running a business in Yakima.
“You can’t slow him down,” said his wife, Shirley, who has been married to her “Charlie” for 53 years.
“He does what he wants, and then asks for forgiveness later,” she said.
That’s what happened with the Shelby Ultimate Aero speed tests this summer.
As soon as the record run was over, Bigelow got home as fast as he could, took his wife in his arms and whispered in her ear, “I have a confession to make.”
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