The 313mph Backyard Hot Rod: The Awesome Story of Art Arfons' 2,500hp Anteater

In 1989 Art came back to the salt with Green Monster #27, it was a "two wheeler" with a central dorsal fin that was supposed to balance it when the landing gear skids were retracted. He found it didn't work so he removed it & decided to run with the landing gear down. We were safety crew at the 2 mile when he came past us at 300+, when it caught one skid & went vertical on full afterburner with a whole lot of daylight under it. We were the first on scene as Art was scrambling out of the wreckage in a growing lake of Jet-A fuel. He was a bit wobbly but ok. Next year he came back with a "three wheel" setup on the same car-ish machine but had trouble with the afterburner flaming out & never got it sorted. That was his last attempt at age 64 & that seemed old to me at the time but here I am now at 72 getting ready to try for 500 in a home built wheel driven bullet. You can't take the boy out of the man.🤓

Art lived down the road from us. You could hear fire up those jet engines to test them. Really cool to have a famous neighbor.

I'm 64 years old and I remember seeing the Green Monster at the drag strip when I was around 9 years old . That next day I was building my version from everything I could scrounge up from wood to trash cans . I made several runs down the sidewalk in front of our house . The Green Monster to me was something from another planet . Nothing but respect it's creators Thank you for taking me back to those days 😎👍

I saw Arfons at Lapeer Int. Dragway ,Michigan in about 1970 with one of his green monsters,,,jet powered,,,he blew the wooden fence down that was between the starting line and the road going by,,I was about fifteen at that time and it was nuts,,,also saw EJ Potter around the same era,,,always thought they both came out of the same mold,,,thanks for conjuring up the old memory bank !

I saw an interview on the today show. They asked,"Why did you use Packard steering on the green monster?" He said, "Cause that's what I had sitting around the shop!"

When I was a kid I got to spend a week in the Summer with Art during his pulling days. He was such a kind and cool guy. Just me and him going down the road eating twinkies and drinking coke!

Thanks again Brian! The father of a former neighbor found out I was a gearhead and told me that he grew up with the Arfons. He said they always had something going on, but unfortunately my neighbor moved and I lost track of them.

Love this video! I am 50 years old and growing up in the 80's I remember the Arfons family from tractor pulling which the family were doing in the 80's. I remember their machines were always great looing and performed very well against the competition.

My grandfather knew Art , and was great friends with Arts painter Bud Groff. We lived 5 miles from Arts shop . Arfons was a pure genius .

Followed his achievements through Hot Rod Magazine back in my 60’s high school days.

Thank you for keeping the history of the Arfons alive! I live in Akron and as a child I sat on top of my dad's car at Akron Municipal Airport and watch the drag races and the Green Monster always had everyone's attention. At an early age I worked in their old building on Pickle road in a machine shop on second shift and watched him work on his projects in their new building next door I learned a lot from him. Do you have enough info to do a story about the tunnel hull boat that had the wheels and tires. I saw it when they did some testing on Portage Lakes. I always wondered why he stopped on that project? He was always my hero. I am 73 years old now and still working making knives in the shop where I built most of my own equipment. He helped spark that in me!

I’m a Breedlove, I love learning and watching anything about Bonnieville!!!

Brian. I love the research that you do that goes into the well written and presented interest stories of automotive history! Keep up your great work!

You should be getting 100 times the views, every video is so professional.

I was a big drag racer in the early 70 Ty’s I first met art at magnolia Ohio drag strip, he was in his green monster jet car I had a 62 wheel standing corvette we would meat several time next few years what a plesent person Some 25year later I stoped at his shop in Akron He was in the back just hanging out His son was running to front with truck pulls I had 3 of my children with me I wanted them to meet this incredible person We talked for a bit Then we stared talking airplane He had a engine and prop set up in the shop We decided to start it up We both set there and just watched and lesstione Was such a great day

This is quality content sir. I wish you millions of views

Timken bearings...have been behind the sines for a long time ...they even built a steam powered locomotive.... a big one to to show how good there bearings where 👍👍👍👍👍👍 great video 👍👍👍👍just a great story teller an historian 👍👍👍

Mickey Thompson was the man! Everyone else was fighting for second place. The only thing that stopped Mickey was his killer. My hat's off to you, Brian. Great video! Thank you.

Wow that's some amazing history! Love hearing these stories! Keep them coming!!!!

😎 I remember the Green Monster tractor pulling days great video thanks