Oaks Resident Poised To Break Long-Standing Record

On This Day In 1937, Howard Hughes set a record by flying his plane from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds. Today, Sherman Oaks resident Jeff Spaletnik will attempt a record of his own by driving a Ford Taurus up the 405 from the Hawthorne exit in Torrance to Sherman Way in “less than 1 hour, 56 minutes and 48 seconds”, beginning at 5pm Pacific Standard Time. The proposed run will take Spaletnik directly past the dreaded Howard Hughes Center (coincidence?) and, if it goes according to plan, should best the previous record (2 hours, 1 minute, 14 seconds) set by Clay Ableton (pictured, Jaguar XK8) in 2004 by some 4 minutes and 26 seconds. Ableton, a file clerk by day and avid NASCAR fan, also left Hawthorne at 5pm on a Friday in mid-January.

“Piece of cake,” says Spaletnik. “Once you hit La Tijera, it’s all downhill.”