LAND SPEED: ART ARFONS AT BONNEVILLE, 1966

[samhawley]

Here's a video I put together that land speed aficionados may enjoy. It's Art Arfons and his Green Monster jet car on the Bonneville Salt Flats in November 1966. This is footage from the Monday and Tuesday (Nov. 14 and 15) of Art's week on the Salt. The Monster was not performing as well as hoped, in part due to the double rear wheels Art installed to guard against the rear tire blowouts that had plagued him in '64 (twice) and '65. They were causing more drag than expected. Two days after this footage was shot, Art suffered the mother of all crashes at around 600 mph. I have cool footage of that too and may make a follow-up video later. Anyway, here it is. Enjoy!

Art Arfons and His Green Monster at Bonneville, November 1966
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JU0dCCqzU8

[D-Type]

I always like the story of the original scrap General Electric J79 engine he acquired. It had several compressor blades damaged by someone forcing an iron bar into the intake. Although General Electric refused him a manual, Arfons applied common sense and asked the advice of friends in the Air Force and rebuilt the engine. He removed the damaged blades and spread the intact blades evenly around the intake. The engine was naturally down on power but it had enought to set a new record.
Later GE relented and provided the manual and necessary parts to enable him to get full power.

Does anyone know if this is true and what the full story is?