Funding was approved in July 1954 for construction of a U.S. Air Force rocket sled test track on Hurricane Mesa. An initial test run at the code-named Project Smart was completed on July 8, 1955, by Coleman Engineering Co., the Air Force's contract operator. By September 1957, more than 100 tests had been completed, including 15 with human subjects, and Colonel John Paul Stapp held the 630 miles per hour speed record. In April 1959, Project Smart was renamed the Hurricane Supersonic Research Site, and 40 to 60 tests were being run each year. In December 1960, the Air Force announced that the test track would be abandoned effective June 1, 1961. Stanley Aviation Corporation bought the government facilities in 1963 and obtained leases from the BLM and state lands. In 1981, Stencel Aero Engineering of Nashville, N.C., a Talley Industries of Arizona, Inc. company, bought the facilities and later merged to form Universal Propulsion Company. Goodrich Corporation purchased the facilities in 2003 and conducted 160 tests, and UTC Aerospace Systems purchased them in 2012 and operates the site. Across all owners, more than 1,700 tests have been conducted at the nation's only privately owned supersonic test track, a 12,000-foot facility used by worldwide customers.