The ''Green Monster'' was the name of several vehicles built by

Art Arfons Arthur Eugene Arfons (February 3, 1926 – December 3, 2007) was the world land speed record holder three times from 1964 to 1965 with his ''Green Monster'' series of jet-powered cars, after a series of ''Green Monster'' piston-engine and je ...

and his half brother

Walt Arfons Walter Charles Arfons (December 10, 1916 – June 4, 2013) was the half brother of Art Arfons, his former partner in drag racing, and his competitor in jet-powered land speed record racing. Along with Art, he was a pioneer in the use of aircr ...

. These ranged from dragsters to a turbojet-powered car which briefly held the

land speed record The land speed record (or absolute land speed record) is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C ("Special Vehicles") flying start regula ...

three times during 1964 and 1965. The

''Green Monster'' set the absolute record three times during the close competition of 1964 and 1965. It was powered by a

General Electric J79 The General Electric J79 is an axial-flow turbojet engine built for use in a variety of fighter and bomber aircraft and a supersonic cruise missile. The J79 was produced by General Electric Aircraft Engines in the United States, and under lice ...

taken from an

F-104 Starfighter The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic air superiority fighter which was extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed as one of the "Century Series" of fi ...

. The

jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...

had a four-stage

afterburner An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and comba ...

Early dragsters

The first ''Green Monster'' appeared in 1952. It was a three-wheeled dragster powered by an

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produ ...

six cylinder engine The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...

, and painted with left-over green tractor paint. The name was applied on the car's first outing by the track announcer, Ed Piasczik (Paskey), who laughingly said "Okay folks here it comes; The Green Monster", and it stuck to all Arfons' creations. The car only reached , short of the fastest car, but by 1953, ''Green Monster 2'', a long six wheeled car powered by an Allison V12 aircraft engine, was hitting in the quarter mile. ''Green Monster 2'' was painted by Arfons' mother to resemble the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Curtiss P-40 The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Ar ...

fighter airplane, with an open mouth showing large teeth. The top speed of the car was estimated at , and it could reach in nine to ten seconds from a standing start. Running on passenger car tires, the car required four wheels on the rear drive axle to withstand the power. At the first World Series of Drag Racing at

Lawrenceville, Illinois Lawrenceville is a city in and the county seat of Lawrence County, Illinois, United States, located along the Embarras River. The population was 4,348 at the 2010 census. Lawrenceville is located in southeast Illinois, northwest of Vincennes, In ...

, it clocked the highest top speed at , and eventually a world record of . The later cars had various paint schemes where green was not necessarily the dominant color. The six-wheeled ''Green Monster 6'' became the first dragster to break in the quarter mile. ''Green Monster 11'', Art Arfons' favorite, hit to beat

Don Garlits Donald Glenn Garlits (born January 14, 1932, Tampa, Florida) is an American race car driver and automotive engineer. Considered the father of drag racing, he is known as "Big Daddy" to drag racing fans around the world. A pioneer in the field o ...

. Arfons used an Allison V1710 in several ''Green Monster''s. Currently, ''Green Monster 5'' is touring in the Midwest and California, and will be at the Bakersfield Hot Rod Reunion in October 2011.

Land speed racing

The Arfons brothers then split up, and each became interested in

land speed racing Land speed racing is a form of motorsport. Land speed racing is best known for the efforts to break the absolute land speed record, but it is not limited to specialist vehicles. A record is defined as the speed over a course of fixed length, avera ...

. The most famous ''Green Monster'' was powered by a surplus

, producing static thrust with four-stage

, which Arfons purchased from a scrap dealer for $600 and rebuilt himself, over the objections of

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

and the government, and despite all manuals for the engine being classified

top secret Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know, ...

. The engine had been scrapped because of damage caused by

ingesting Ingestion is the consumption of a substance by an organism. In animals, it normally is accomplished by taking in a substance through the mouth into the gastrointestinal tract, such as through eating or drinking. In single-celled organisms ingesti ...

a bolt. Arfons removed 60 blades out of approximately 1000 in the engine, removing broken blades and their counterparts at 180 degrees, or the pair at +/-120 degrees to maintain balance. He tested it by tying it to trees in his garden, a procedure which drew complaints from his neighbors. This car, painted in red and blue, set the land speed record three times during the close competition of 1964 and 1965 with averages of in the

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(despite blowing a tire on the last record run). It competed against ''

Wingfoot Express The Wingfoot Express was Walt Arfons and Tom Green's jet-powered land speed record car, driven by Green to a record on October 2, 1964, after Walt suffered a heart attack just prior. The Express was powered by a Westinghouse J46 engine and hit th ...

'' (built by his brother Walt, who could not pilot the car himself, having suffered a stroke) and

Craig Breedlove Craig Breedlove (born March 23, 1937) is an American professional race car driver and a five-time world land speed record holder. He was the first person in history to reach , and , using several turbojet-powered vehicles, all named '' Spirit o ...

's '' Spirit of America – Sonic 1'', which eventually set the record at . In 1966, Arfons returned once again to Bonneville, but reached an average speed of only . On run number seven at 8:03 a.m. on November 17, Arfons crashed his vehicle travelling when a wheel bearing seized. He subsequently built another ''Green Monster'' land speed record car, but sold it to California rancher

Slick Gardner Slick may refer to: People * Slick (wrestling) (born 1957), American former professional wrestling manager * Slick (nickname) * Slick (surname) Musicians * Slick Aguilar (born 1954), American guitarist * Ricky Bell (singer) (born 1967), a.k.a. S ...

without ever driving it.

Later vehicles

In view of his wife's concern over the risk involved in land speed record racing, Arfons instead turned his talents to turbine powered

tractor pulling Truck and tractor pulling, also known as power pulling, is a form of a motorsport competition in which antique or modified tractors pull a heavy drag or sled along an , track, with the winner being the tractor that pulls the drag the farthe ...

with great success, fielding a series of ''Green Monster'' tractor pullers, along with his son and daughter. However, in 1989, Arfons returned to Bonneville with ''Green Monster 27'', an , long two-wheeler. The car left the ground at , and Arfons rebuilt it into a less radical four-wheeled vehicle for 1990, but could manage only . In 1991 he tried again, but once again had to give up with handling problems.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Green Monster'' (automobile) Jet land speed record cars