Walter Charles Arfons (December 10, 1916 – June 4, 2013) was the half brother of

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 ...

, his former partner in

drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most c ...

, and his competitor in jet-powered

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 ...

racing. Along with Art, he was a pioneer in the use of aircraft

jet engines 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, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term typicall ...

for these types of competition. Walt was born Walter Stroud, on 10 December 1916 in

Muncie, IN Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the seat of Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs/lenape-villages.pdf It is located i ...

. His mother, Bessie, was half

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

, and died in 1983 at age 84. Walt had one brother, Dale, two years younger, as well as his ten years younger half-brother

Art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and an eight and a half years younger half-sister "Lou", both from his mother's marriage to Tom Arfons. Arfons' family operated a

feed mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

in rural Springfield Township,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, where the Arfons brothers exercised their mechanical skills and ingenuity. Walt began building dragsters with Art in 1952; their first car was a three-wheeler with 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, and an Oliver farm tractor green paint finish. The announcer at the drag strip laughingly announced the car as the

Green Monster The Green Monster is a popular nickname for the left field wall at Fenway Park, home to the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. The wall is from home plate and is a popular target for right-handed hitters. Overview The wall was part ...

, and the name was to stick to his joint projects with Art. Along with many other racers, the duo switched to using surplus aircraft piston engines, particularly the

Allison V-1710 The Allison V-1710 aircraft engine designed and produced by the Allison Engine Company was the only US-developed V-12 liquid-cooled engine to see service during World War II. Versions with a turbocharger gave excellent performance at high a ...

engines, due to their abundance, cheapness, and great reliability. They were the first drag racers to reach 150 miles per hour in the quarter mile. In the late 1950s, however, the brothers amicably split up. On August 6, 1960, Walt introduced the first jet-engine dragster. He used a

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

to stop the car since, unlike the piston engines, the jet engine did not provide braking when shut off. Arfons is also credited with being the first to incinerate a junked car with the exhaust from his jet dragster, in order to provide entertainment for the crowd at

Indianapolis Raceway Park Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park, O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, and Lucas Oil Raceway) is an auto racing facility in Brownsburg, Indiana, United States, about northwest of Downtown Indianapolis, do ...

one year when the race had been rained out. In the midst of the

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

automakers' performance competition in 1967,

Chrysler Corporation Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

gave Arfons a

Dodge Dart Dodge Dart is a line of automobiles marketed by Dodge from the 1959 to 1976 model years in North America, with production extended to later years in various other markets. The Dart name originally appeared on a 1956 Chrysler show car featuring ...

Plymouth Barracuda The Plymouth Barracuda is a two-door pony car that was manufactured by Plymouth (automobile), Plymouth from 1964 to 1974. The first-generation Barracuda was based on the Chrysler A platform, Chrysler A-body and was offered from 1964 to 1966. A ...

and

Dodge Charger The Dodge Charger is a model of automobile marketed by Dodge in various forms over seven generations since 1966. The first Charger was a show car in 1964. A 1965 Charger II concept car resembled the 1966 production version. The Charger has ...

to convert into dragsters. He simply fastened jet engines into the stock cars, with most of the accessories still installed and working. These were such crowd pleasers that he later built fiberglass-bodied jet

funny car Funny Car is a type of drag racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized drag racing. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bodies over a custom-fabricated chassis, giving them an appea ...

s, a

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...

, a

Mercury Comet The Mercury Comet is an automobile that was produced by Mercury from 1960–1969 and 1971–1977 — variously as either a compact or an intermediate car. In its first two years, it was marketed as the "Comet" and from 1962 as the "Mercury Comet ...

, and

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...

s. Arfons also commissioned

Tom Green Michael Thomas Green (born July 30, 1971) is a Canadian-American comedian, show host, actor, filmmaker, podcaster, and rapper. After pursuing stand-up comedy and music as a young adult, Green created and hosted ''The Tom Green Show'', which a ...

to drive the jet-powered

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 ...

, as a result of a severe hand injury sustained when unloading the Wingfoot upon arrival at the

Bonneville Salt Flats The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land managed by the Bur ...

in Utah. The car held the

World 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 ...

for three days during the battle between

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 ...

. In 1965, Walt Arfons built Wingfoot Express 2, which reached , but it did not qualify for an official record. It was powered by

JATO JATO (acronym for jet-assisted take-off) is a type of assisted take-off for helping overloaded aircraft into the air by providing additional thrust in the form of small rockets. The term ''JATO'' is used interchangeably with the (more specific ...

rocket bottles."Jet Assisted Chevy" in ''Mythbusters'' television program aired on 22 February 2009 Walt died on 4 June 2013, of heart failure, in

Akron, OH Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

; he was 96. He's buried at the East Liberty Cemetery, Green, OH.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arfons, Walter Charles 1916 births 2013 deaths Racing drivers from Ohio Land speed record people American people of Cherokee descent