After Danny Thompson’s promising first run in his attempt at breaking the wheel-driven land speed record, Challenger II fell victim to engine issues in Sunday’s morning’s second run. While Thompson is okay, the team will return home to prepare for another attempt at the SCTA World Finals in October.

“During [Sunday’s] backup run, the front engine lost a connecting rod,” Thompson’s team said on social media. “When Danny felt it go, he pulled off of the course safely. Beyond that, there does not appear to be any other major damage. That said, we don’t plan on running again.

“We’ll head back to Santa Ana [California] for now, then return for the SCTA World Finals on October 3rd. This will give us time to go through everything carefully, and make sure that nothing gets rushed or overlooked. As always, thanks for your support!”

On Saturday, Thompson’s Challenger II made a 435.735mph run in his first attempt.

“Absolutely thrilling to go that fast,” Thompson said. “Certainly the fastest I’ve ever been, the fastest Challenger II’s ever been. The car came out unscathed.

“The car performed really well. The track is very, very marginal. It’s real rough between two-and-a-quarter and the three-mile mark, then it gets fairly nice, but overall I couldn’t pick up the throttle nearly as much as I would have liked to. You like to try to run full throttle as soon as you can off the truck and I don’t think I got to full throttle until almost third gear. But the thing went fast, so sometimes your theories don’t work out right and you go better!”