Pioneering drag racer, jet car driver, and land-speed record holder Art Arfons died Dec. 3. He was 81. Arfons was a member of the Motor Sports Hall of Fame of America, the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame, the National Tractor Puller Association Hall of Fame, and the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame. He also was voted number 71 on NHRA's list of top drivers of its first 50 years in 2001.

After serving in the Navy in World War II, where he took part in the invasion of Okinawa, Arfons turned loose on the racetrack the mechanical skills he learned as a diesel mechanic in the service.

The Green Monster series of jet-powered cars of Art and his half-brother Walt catapulted them to fame in drag racing's infancy, first with piston-driven war surplus aircraft engines such as the Ranger and Allison V-1710, then jet-aircraft engines. He subsequently fielded a succession of Green Monster turbine-engine pulling tractors before returning to land-speed record racing.

The first Green Monster, campaigned in 1952, was a three-wheel dragster powered by a six-cylinder Oldsmobile engine and painted with leftover green tractor paint. As legend has it, the name was applied on the car's first outing by the track announcer, who laughingly said "Okay, folks, here it comes, the green monster." Green Monster #2, a six-wheel car painted by Arfons' mother to resemble the World War II Curtiss P-40 Flying Tigers fighter airplane with an open mouth showing large teeth and powered by a 2,000-horsepower Allison engine, hit 100 mph on the quarter-mile.


His Monsters just kept getting faster and faster. At the 1956 Nationals in Kansas City, Mo., Arfons' amazing Allison-powered Green Monster #6 ran 150.00 to become the first member of Hot Rod magazine's new 150-mph Club. At the 1958 Nationals in Oklahoma City, Arfons set the A/Dragster mark with his 1,710-cubic-inch Allison V-12-powered Green Monster and top speed of the meet at 156.24 mph. Earlier, during qualifying runs, which did not count toward potential records, Arfons had screamed to a legitimate speed of 161.67 mph. Arfons won the Maremont Performance Trophy.

Arfons was a three-time land-speed record holder and a champion tractor puller. At Bonneville in 1961, Arfons' Allison-powered Anteater reached a top speed of 313.78 mph. In 1962, Arfons began experimenting with jet-powered cars. His first, the 8,000-horsepower Cyclops, ran 330.113 mph in the measured mile in 1962. Arfons returned to Bonneville in 1964 with another Green Monster. He held the world land-speed record three times during the closely fought competition of 1964 and 1965, but after a bad crash in 1966 turned his attention to jet-turbine-powered tractor-pulling competition, in which he was, as usual, successful. In 1989, he attempted to return to land-speed record competition but was never competitive.

Arfons' son, Tim, has continued the tradition by competing in jet-powered dragsters as well as in turbine-powered pulling Funny Cars and has been a stunt and exhibition driver in a series of jet-powered ATVs and a jet-powered personal watercraft. His daughter, Dusty, also competed in tractor pulling with her father.

Arfons is survived by his wife of 60 years, June; son and daughter-in-law, Tim and Shari; daughter and son-in-law, Dusty and Randy Spraggins; daughter-in-law Patty Arfons; brother, Walter (Gertrude) Arfons; sister, Lou Wolfe; grandchildren, Sean, Bryan, TJ, Lane, and Jake; and several great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Dec. 6 in Akron, Ohio.