November 7, 1965
Art Arfons, a drag racer from Ohio, USA, sets the land-speed record, of 576.553 miles per hour at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats, driving a jet-powered machine, known as the Green Monster, which he'd built himself out of surplus parts.
(Photo: twm1340 via photopin cc)
Art Arfons "Green Monster" powered by a General Electric J79 jet engine, 1965.
Art Arfons, born in Akron in 1926, had been racing cars since he was 13 years old. In 1952, he and his half-brother Walt built the first of many Green Monsters, a three-wheeled drag racer powered by an Oldsmobile engine that their mother had painted with John Deere's iconic green tractor paint. The next year, the Arfons brothers built a new Green Monster, this one powered by an Army-surplus aircraft engine. That car was so powerful that it was banned from all officially sanctioned drag races.
Between 1964 and 1965, a period referred to by some as "The Bonneville Jet Wars" because so many drivers were competing for the title, Arfons held the land-speed record three different times. He lost it for good on November 15, 1965, when a Californian named Craig Breedlove coaxed his car, the Spirit of America, to an average speed of 600.601 miles per hour.
By the early 1960s, some daredevil racers had begun to build cars powered by Air-Force-surplus jet engines. They took these new super-powered machines to the enormous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, to try and break the land-speed record of 394 miles per hour at the time, set by Briton John Cobb in 1947. In September 1963, Craig Breedlove finally succeeded, beating Cobb's record by 13 miles per hour in his three-wheeled needle-nosed Spirit of America. The next October, a car designed by Walt Arfons called the Wingfoot Express beat Breedlove's record. Two days after that, a jet-propelled Green Monster took the title for the first time.
For the next year, Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove passed the record back and forth. On November 7, 1965, Arfons set the 576 mph record that would be his last. Just a week later, Breedlove broke the record along with the 600-mph mark. In November 1966, Arfons tried to make a comeback in a revamped Green Monster. His first run across the flats reached 610 MPH, but on his return trip one of the car's bearings froze, sending the car flying off the course. Arfons was uninjured, but the Green Monster was totaled.
Art Arfons died in December 2007. He was buried with wrenches in his hands and a jar of salt from the Bonneville Flats.
Art Arfons "Green Monster" powered by a General Electric J79 jet engine, 1965.
Art Arfons, born in Akron in 1926, had been racing cars since he was 13 years old. In 1952, he and his half-brother Walt built the first of many Green Monsters, a three-wheeled drag racer powered by an Oldsmobile engine that their mother had painted with John Deere's iconic green tractor paint. The next year, the Arfons brothers built a new Green Monster, this one powered by an Army-surplus aircraft engine. That car was so powerful that it was banned from all officially sanctioned drag races.
Between 1964 and 1965, a period referred to by some as "The Bonneville Jet Wars" because so many drivers were competing for the title, Arfons held the land-speed record three different times. He lost it for good on November 15, 1965, when a Californian named Craig Breedlove coaxed his car, the Spirit of America, to an average speed of 600.601 miles per hour.
By the early 1960s, some daredevil racers had begun to build cars powered by Air-Force-surplus jet engines. They took these new super-powered machines to the enormous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, to try and break the land-speed record of 394 miles per hour at the time, set by Briton John Cobb in 1947. In September 1963, Craig Breedlove finally succeeded, beating Cobb's record by 13 miles per hour in his three-wheeled needle-nosed Spirit of America. The next October, a car designed by Walt Arfons called the Wingfoot Express beat Breedlove's record. Two days after that, a jet-propelled Green Monster took the title for the first time.
For the next year, Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove passed the record back and forth. On November 7, 1965, Arfons set the 576 mph record that would be his last. Just a week later, Breedlove broke the record along with the 600-mph mark. In November 1966, Arfons tried to make a comeback in a revamped Green Monster. His first run across the flats reached 610 MPH, but on his return trip one of the car's bearings froze, sending the car flying off the course. Arfons was uninjured, but the Green Monster was totaled.
Art Arfons died in December 2007. He was buried with wrenches in his hands and a jar of salt from the Bonneville Flats.
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