Craig Breedlove and Art Arfons - The Jet Car Battle Of Bonneville
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- Between 1963 and 1965, the World Land Speed Record was broken nine times on Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. This is the story of the extraordinary men and machines behind the Battle Of Bonneville.
NOTE: Craig Breedlove's August 1963 record was initially not recognised since Spirit Of America, with three wheels and a jet engine, did not conform to current FIA rules. The FIM recognised SOA as a three-wheeled motorcycle, but FIM was not the sanctioning body for the World Land Speed Record. Subsequent records by Art and Walt Arfons and Breedlove were not ratified as World Land Speed records until December 1964, when the FIA and FIM agreed to jointly recognise their accomplishments as outright World Land Speed, and furthermore that thrust-powered records would be allowed within the rules. During the intervening period, Donald Campbell set a wheel-driven record of 403 mph at Lake Eyre, Australia in Bluebird CN7, but his record was eclipsed when Breedlove's 1963 was ratified. My video telling the story of Campbell's CN7 is here:
• Video
FURTHER READING
I buy a lot of books! Here are a selection of books that have inspired me or have been useful in my research.
Disclaimer: I get a commission every time you purchase a product through my affiliate links below.
Thrust: The Remarkable Story of One Man's Quest for Speed by Richard Noble
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Railton: Man Of Speed by Karl Ludvigsen
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Goldenrod: The Resurrection of America's Speed King by John Baechtel
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Speed Duel by Samuel Hawley
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The History Of Speed by Martin Roach
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Donald Campbell: The Man Behind The Mask by David Tremayne
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Bluebird and the Dead Lake: The Classic Account of how Donald Campbell broke the World Land Speed Record by John Pearson
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Leap into Legend: Donald Campbell and the Complete Story of the World Speed Records by Steve Holter
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Bluebird CN7: The Inside Story of Donald Campbell's Last Land Speed Record Car by Donald Stevens
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Parry Thomas: The First Driver to be Killed in Pursuit of the Land Speed Record by Hugh Tours
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Quest For Speed: The Epic Saga of Record-Breaking On Land by Barry John
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The Fast Set: Three Extraordinary Men and Their Race for the Land Speed Record by Charles Jennings
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Man Against the Salt by Harvey Shapiro
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Ultimate Speed: The Fast Life and Extreme Cars of Racing Legend Craig Breedlove by Samuel Hawley
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Infinity Over Zero: Meditations on Maximum Velocity by Cole Coonce
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Speedquest: Inside the Blue Flame by Richard Keller
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Crusader: John Cobb's ill-fated quest for speed on water by Steve Holter
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Footage and stills from Castrol, Firestone, Goodyear, Getty and unknown sources, used under Fair Deal / Fair Use.
Oxygen Garden by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (creativecommon...)
Source: chriszabriskie....
Artist: chriszabriskie....
Beautifully researched, written and narrated. Top stuff.
Why a movie of this epic tale has not been made is beyond me.
Ask the Kardashians.
The amazing thing about Art Arfons' J79 jet engine was that the Air Force had written it off as unrepairable and sold it to Art for a song. And when Arfons tried to get the manuals they a) asked him why, because they couldn't believe he'd got the thing running and b) told him that they were still classified.
But Arfons did get the beast running, and he got his manuals.
Then they showed up to take it away from him and he told them to get off his land. They did and never bothered him again. lol.
I was also told he tied it it to a tree and an tractor and when he test ran it nearly removed the tree from the ground. It was to bad both brothers could not get alone so I was told.
@@Bearthedancingman is that so? Wow! What a fascinating little tale.
@@californiadreaming9216 I learned about that in a documentary called "In search of speed: the battle of Bonneville" it's a BBC documentary that they've removed from the internet. I don't know why they removed it. But every source that had it two years ago has taken it down. Even pirate Bay. I have a low quality copy for myself but I keep trying to find a good copy of the documentary.
@@Bearthedancingman we live in a strange and rapidly evolving world my friend. I have experienced similar bizarre things. Films or information and even sometimes music which surely is completely innocuous somehow disappears... I will say this: we are living in a world which is evolving very very rapidly and in many ways not for the better. The oligarchs have become completely obsessed with their globalist agenda and are doing strange weird things including hyper censorship, complete lies offered by the MSM, trying to rewrite history and often completely twisting facts around to suit their agenda. Buyer beware.
I was a teenager then and can remember this playing out.
Thank you for this wonderful production.
You're welcome - glad you enjoyed it!
Yep me too those names bring back memories of my youth dreaming of fast bikes and cars of the 60s. Wow just amazing - we never realised at the time just how incredibly brave and driven these guys were pushing the boundaries of technology and human endurance.😲😲In those heady, post war years records were there to be broken 😀😀
Beyond fascinating. Downright riveting. Part of me has intense respect for these giants, another part of me says one must be completely insane to climb into and drive a car with 10000 lbs of thrust. One thing's for sure...we owe much to these pioneers. Not for entertainment but for developing and improving technologies which made these achievements possible.
A round of applause for these magnificent men and their support teams.
What a crazy competitive time for the land speed record !
Breedlove had solid brass balls !
Walt Arfons JATO car was a mobile bomb !
I can't believe Art Arfons survived that crash !!
Another excellent presentation! Loved it!
Criminally undersubscribed channel. So glad to see you're still making content, albeit infrequently.
lazaglider agreed. Editing, scripting and use of music is pro quality.
Well done!! These guys were amazing. Designed, built, and drove their own cars. The first SoA is still my favorite LSR racer.
It was fast and quite handsome, indeed.
It literally looked like a fighter jet minus the wings
Art atfons was a true garden shed genius,bought a classified,knackered starfighter engine and put it in the best looking lsr ever made(green monster,looked like something out of a 60s tv series like batman,and actually looked LIKE a car),took aeroplane engines apart for fun,built a centrifuge in his backyard,oh,balls of steel...
They say he would have gone faster, but his balls were too heavy.
Yes, but his chickens weren't too happy about him burning up their shed!
No
Superb vid, I love these chaps, my favourite words though were “he got the jet engine running in his back garden” I think men in sheds RULE 😊
Having lived this wonderful time in history, I fondly remember these daring men and their machines. It was exciting for a young teen to hear of their exploits and the rivalry. Living closer to Akron than California, I had to root for the Afrons, but secretly, I always cheered more for Craig Breedlove. I am thoroughly enjoying your channel. Keep up the great work.
What an amazing story. Thank you for your work and keeping these stories alive!
Great account of the most exciting time in Land Speed Record history. After this, new records didn't capture the public's imagination. Gary Gabelich and The Blue Flame went fairly unnoticed in 1970, and that was a record that stood for 27 years.
It only stood 13 years (1970-1983), until Richard Noble broke the record with Thrust2
Richard Noble spear-headed the Thrust SSC project, which set the current record in 1997
There are some epics stories on this channel and they are beautifully told and researched!!!
Delivered freight to arts shop out by Akron Ohio. Always tried to make it my last stop because they would always let me go in and see what was going on.he was a real nice guy and so was his crew. Good memories.
I worked with one of his crew members at the Post Office his name was Bob Frock. Bob took me over there once it was something I'll never forget
Excellent documentary on these self-made record breakers.
Thank you for reminding me just how crazy the 60's were at Bonneville. Remembering that time takes me back. Speed records were broken regularly, as you point out. Now? Once in a "blue moon" you hear about someone building something. That's about it. Excellent video.👍
Right, it’s mainly because the cost is so astronomical and the “gee-whiz” factor isn’t there anymore. I think the last few LSR attempts weren’t even done at Bonneville but on a dry lake bed in Australia
brings back some cloudy childhood memories - very well done!
Wonderful story. Reality is sometimes stranger than fiction.
Your research and content is first class, thanks for another piece of history.
wonderful video, these men are heros of mine, thank you
“Run what ya brung... “ True Legends, All 3 men !!!
Fascinating documentary-I have a book on the history of the land speed record which mentions Art's purchase and DIY rebuild of an officially "written off" jet engine-incredible showing what can be done with talent and perseverance, wonderful doc keep up the good work
Doug Rose ended up with green monster, then called green mamba. No one could beat him in a jet car. Saw him many times at O .C . Excellent video, thanks much
Art Arfons, truly a man with 9 lives.
Describing these as cars is pushing the boundaries they are aircraft without wings
Excellent video! This is the kind of content that I subscribed for!
Excellent as always... thank you for sharing this crazy time in land speed record history
In the novelization of the script/screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), author William Goldman references Craig Breedlove in the context of how fast a camera zooms-in on the train carrying the Super Posse. This is my best recollection as I haven't read the book in decades.
Years ago as a teen I stopped at Arfons' place in Akron were I lived. They were really nice and let my cousin look around.
I cant say enough good things about your channel and content! Very well reserarched, edited and narrated.
Your channel is one of the best I have seen on CZcams, very professional and well researched. An added benefit for me is I have always been interested in the world speed record attempts and you have excellent videos that have filled in many gaps on that subject. Thanks so much for your efforts.
Wow, thank you!
@@ScarfAndGoggles 12:37
Haven't you ever considered to make a video dedicated entirely to the Wingfoot Express? I mean, besides having archived only one record with two cars, Walt Arfons' Winfoots has been really amazinf feats of aerodynamic and engeneering of speed. And even if it is the one that has not brought back home a single record, my opinion is that the WF.EX. II has been perhaps the most revolutionary Land Speed Record EVER. There would be a lot of talking about it, especially the fact that - even through failing - rocket propulsion was the future of Land Speed motorsport. And in what fashion... a stricking bodywork, and these countless JATO candles that once ignited you could not even shut down, or regulated in power (the main problem for WF.EX. II). I think therefore that it would be an hell of a video about this amazing car, especially when you understand that it was, even unofficially, the first car to reach subsonic speeds, at more than 650 mph, but failing because of the extreme acceleration that created a huge difference between the entry and off speed in the kilo and mile, with the sad result of a medium speed very different from the actual peak... if you put too close to the mesurated mile, it entred it too slowly but was able to get out of it with the JATOs still firing, and if started far away, you entred very fast but the rockets would shut down in the middle of the mile, resulting in a fast entry but slow exit. Even by swiching on a certain number of JATO to create more firing time, it failed because it wasn't able to go too fast. At the end, the project was abandoned but Walt wanted it to fire it vertically, make it fly like a very rocket several thousend feets into the air and under it's weight in freefall, make the pointy nose to impale the Express into the salt, creating a sort of ethernal monument to speed - a crazy project that for clear reasons the FIA rejected... - So, what do you think? Is it worthy for you or not? 😁👍
Great video. I really enjoyed the story (History). 3 wild and crazy drivers (pilots). Who lived by the seat of their pants. What pioneers in the drag racing game. Thanx.
Always love your videos so thank you very much for this. Look forward to the next one.
Got a friendly wave from Art Arfons as he passed us on I-75 towing Green Monster.
Great video man....... When I was a kid, I remember this battle from the cover of my dads "Hot Rod" magazines..... I was awed by it then, as I am now. Thank you.
Ditto here, the land speed record chasing along with the space race were my main motivators to become an engineer.
@@kewissman I became a guitarist...... LMAO!
That was an addition of "Hot Rod" I re-read many times over the years.
Yet another excellent documentary on a fascinating topic. Well done. Very well done.
Genuinely impressed....keep up the great work!!!
Do you know Hollywood is missing a golden opportunity . This is one fantastic story and would make a great movie but it have to be a long movie . Racing enthusiast would love it .. I guess they just don't understand how significant this is
No. Because it would celebrate America & American ingenuity. Plus, the builders/drivers were white.
Now you would need are far more "compelling" characters than 'World's Fastest Indian' to even get a yawn from hollywood dollars. Perhaps one of them was a closeted homosexual or devout Communist?
@@hugh-johnfleming289 You're absolutely right , real men are not in demand................
@@sparky6086 the builders and drivers were white? No problem easy solution. In the movie, Don Cheadle could be Lovejoy's top mechanic LOL.
I did not realise until now that I love this stuff. Great video!
RIP Craig. I followed your attempts since I was a young boy. If nothing else, even though your last effort was unsuccessful, you always built the most beautiful LSR cars! (Sorry, something is in my eyes.)
Absolutely brilliant upload
What a wonderful channel I have found here
Arfons must be the the luckiest unlucky driner ever. (Thank you so much for a great program. )
Absolutely awesome Thanks
These are great videos! Thank you for reminding me of my youth.
❤😃🇬🇧 cracking series of posts Grommet.
Fabulous video! These are the guys who got me started collecting LSR memorabilia 55 years ago. Keep up the good work!
One correction though. It was Oliver Farm Tractor green, not John Deere.
Thanks for the metric conversions.
Incredible stories!
I bought way back in November, 1977 a sale-close-out book from the infamous K-Mart store in Indy when I lived there. Titled: "Spirit of America - Winning the World's Land Speed Record" by Craig Breedlove & sports newspaper writer, Bill Neely. The book was copyrighted in 1971 and way back when, it was a fascinating story to read. Breedlove's "Spirits" were a beauty but, I liked "The Green Monster" of Art Arfons. In fact, it was on display at the 1965 Indy 500.
Anyway...these men of Bonneville had "balls" to say the least! Incredible speeds on land that if one saw them in person do...well, he probably have a stock seeing a literal "bullet" fly by!
This production was well made.
EXCELLENT
Great little gem of a video
Growing up in the 60s remember the green monster it was my favorite car built a push cart out of old fencing and some wooden crates painted it green and of course had to put green monster on side of it, had a lot of fun pushing that thing around with my friends.
this was the stuff of my boyhood...great days full of heros...
Craig Breedlove, "I'm the man!" Gary Gabelich "Hold my beer!!"
Great storytelling! Well done...
This was a time I remember fairly well, the space program was in full swing and, in the desert of Utah, the new jet cars were battling against one another. Hard to believe this was over 55 years ago.
Fun video with nice, understated narration. Really looking forward to the Goldenrod video!
"I knowed I shouldn'ta done it.." - Art Arfons, as he was carried away from the 600 mph crash, referring to lighting off the second afterburner on the "Monster". Both Art and Craig had 'go-fever' in a big way once they really got down to upping the record in heated competition towards/past 600mph. Both have said as much in interviews.
I’m binge watching your videos; they’re beautifully-done and narrated. Looking for the Goldenrod story 👀
Thanks for your comment! Goldenrod is a work in progress - likely to be a couple of months away at least...
Had the pleasure of meeting Art Arfons at his Akron, Ohio shop thru his crew member Bob Frock who I worked with at the Post Office. Lots of cool stuff like jet engines standing up one after the other and his red Sunbeam Tiger sports car. When Bob and I arrived Art was on the phone with Richard Noble so Bob said. I didn't know who that was but I would a few years later after Richard built Thrust 2. I was to say the least on cloud 9.
Even though I was a very young, I remember this epic battle. I couldn’t pick a driver/car to get behind, I just watched and listen for the ever increasing speeds attained. And then along came some Brit guy from across the pond named Richard Noble.
Very much enjoyed.
hats off to these speed masters ...
What? A video without lame, pointless background music? SUBSCRIBED! 👍👍👍✅✅✅
great delivery
This is the coolest s*** ever. The technology they utilized at the time is fascinating.
Great stuff, mate! Your videos rock!!
you present great stuff. Thanks
Breedlove's 407 was not an official WLSR because it had three wheels (not 4+) and the drive was not given by at least two of the wheels. That was how Donald Campbell's lesser 403mph (but a truly heroic performance for a terrifying ride) record stood, because it had 4 wheels, and the jet turbine turned the rear wheels. Later on, the Unlimited class came in, so Breedlove's next record with the same car stood.
This channel is so good. Some day you're gonna get a huge influx of subscribers when the CZcams algorithm curs you a break.
@Bryan Steacy ....you are so right! CZcams put this on my “recommended” list. So glad! One of the rare channels without lame, pointless background drivel “music”, or some dopey, overly-enthusiastic narrator who thinks he’s a comedian!
Excellent! loved it.
Another fantastic video, love your channel!
I remember this . I was ~18 at he time. These two guys toured the drag circuit. i saw them at Ramona Drag Strip.
Breedlove’s record with the first Spirit of America was more of an asterisk, since the “car”only had three wheels it was considered a motorcycle by the Bonneville authorities
It was classified as a motorcycle. If you notice Walt Arfons' Wingfoot had two very closely set front wheels.
I was in my teens in Australia when all these hi-jinks were going on, but I devoured every bit of news that came in. Of course, the FIA didn't validate these jet records, because the rules for the LSR were for wheel-driven cars only, so for many years Sir Donald Campbell's speed of 403 mph, set right here in Australia, was the official record.
Excellent. I really enjoyed that.
Really enjoyed this video and the research that must have went into it. I'd be very interested in seeing a video on the November 6, 1965 story of the Cobra Daytona setting 25 records in 12 hours! That story also involved Craig Breedlove. I've read that prior to driving that day he had to be instructed on the operation of a 4 speed manual transmission. The Daytona coupe used in that record setting run has quite a history and would make an excellent side note.
I remember that story. not sure if it was the same car but it figured into the suicide of a Texas woman and Phil Spector being the owner of it. Car & Driver magazine did a big story on its strange history.
I teared up at the end.
I talked to Art a few months before he passed away, I told him that car should be in a museum. He said he scrapped it and recived $28.00.
Art Arfond would go on to the sport of professional tractor pulling in the 70's and 80's believe it or not. His twin jet engined tractor was also called The Green Monster. His daughter also competed with a single jet engined tractor.
Yes he did, he's crew member Bob Frock had a brother named Dallas who ran a front engine jet dragster. That was not propelled by thrust but by the rear wheels like the tractors. I saw pictures of it. Art also helped write rules for The National Tractor Pulling Association.
I saw Art pull many times on the twin-turbine Green Monster in the 1980's and 90's.
The Arfons sibling separation really is an odd story!
I remember when the Arfons brought their Green Monster to our local drag strip back in the 50's. As I recall at that time they were running two Rolls-Royce engines out of P-51 Mustangs. Awesome.
I remember the headlines in the newspapers as every other day they were swapping the land speed records
What a great story. We need the 🇺🇸 back. From the 🇬🇧 👍🍻
Great video. Thanks!
Can't believe how many people survived 500 kph crashes.
Some of the top officers in the US Airforce were believers in using racing in interesting youngsters in the things that would get them into the Airforce. From the sports car races held on Airforce bases in the 1950's and on they wanted to establish a connection between hot rodding and the Airforce. I do not know for sure, but I suspect that the jet engines these guys got were at least secretly slipped out the 'back door' for these guys to run. General LeMay liked this kind of stuff.
Me. I'm an old fashioned guy and think that the real records belong to wheel driven cars! That's why I want to see the Goldenrod video!
Thanks for this fantastic video! Absolutely awesome.
Does anyone know of a copy of the BBC "Battle of Bonneville" documentary?
I have a low resolution bootleg but can't find an original.
Craig Breedlove, noone above, noone beoyond, noone even close
- First man above 400 mph
- First man above 500 mph
- First man above 600 mph
What else is there to say, amazing
Not first to 400mph my friend i believe that goes to donald Campbell bluebird cn7
@@mirichclan9385 Yep, you're correct ... that was Campbell.... but while many of his friends were tweaking hot-rods, Craig Breedlove bought a turbo-jet engine to make a car around it, and so at least he was the first to set a world speed record with a turbo-jet powered engine at 407.447mph, at age 26 in his own turbo-jet powered car; insane :-)
@@HaraldMacGerhard we can get back to Craig in a minute first jet car to set record was wingfoot express walt arfons driver Tom green 413mph I believe I may be wrong
@@mirichclan9385 According to wikipedia Breedlove was first at 407mph
@@HaraldMacGerhard ya but at the time the stated that must have four wheels so the record was sanction by ama. As a motorcycle
Apparently, Breedlove had nightmares for ages after the incident with the failed parachutes
I remember reading about this in the ( of all things) not hot rod or car and driver but in Readers Digest.
All great people but Art's my favorite. The sheer audacity of a Navy Mechanic to achieve so much in a realm where aerospace engineering would really be the prerequisite is astonishing. Open face helmet and ski goggles; really! That's truly the minimalist approach. It reminds me of Astronauts hurling themselves at the moon or James Cameron going to Challenger Deep alone. Sheer audacity. I wonder what Art and the Green Monster really could have done with better wheels and chutes and maybe air brakes? I wonder if there any old J79's for sale??? Maybe the monster can breath fire again some day.
There might be, but you’d probably have to buy the plane that comes with it, it’s a non-negotiable package deal
Breedlove was my 10-year-old favorite. I think it was the Prince Valiant haircut.
And now for my next trick!
Those were some exciting times, when lone mad tinkerers could put there creativity to work, & Sunday TV Sports shows needed exciting programming!
6:23 I can only imagine it went something like this:
"Wooohooo it works! It wor- oh...
Uuuuh...anybody fancy a roast dinner?...or twelve?"
It is often stated (by Americans) that Mickey Thompson was the first man to drive at over 400mph. However, they forget that that was in one direction only (he couldn't make a return run due to a breakdown), and John Cobb's first run in 1947 was over 403mph: but his return run was a little slower, bringing his average to less than 400. Thompson was not the first man to drive over 400mph: Cobb was.
The driving position looks terrifying.