Splendid obit of someone I've never heard of

No, SSC took the record set by Thrust2 higher, in 1997.

Dunno - you should have. He was an icon to me as a sprog, he
epitomised the Man in the Brown Dustcoat, fighting the might of
Corporate America on the salt flats. My old man approved of him, an
accolade made to few Americans.

Them were the days, you know, when you could attain the title of
Fastest Man on the planet on Wednesday, lose out on Saturday and
regain it by the following Thursday.

You're referring to the casket contents? Oh, yes. That made me grin
and put a lump in my throat simultaneously. He was a larger-than-life
character with larger-than-life hair, possessed of a huge sense of
good humour, according to what I've read of him. He'd have got the
joke - bloke was a star.

 

Art Arfons, in The Times, today.

Drag racer and three times world land speed record holder (the
supersonic ThrustSSC can took his title).

How come I've never heard of him?

He built super-fast bikes to run at Bonneville Flats. He was one of the
first people to build a decent jet car, using the engine from an F104
Starfighter, bought in 1967 from a scrap dealer.

When he asked General Electric for a workshop manual (as you do), a
government agent turned up to confiscate the engine as everything about
it was still apparently top secret. Oh, and in the absence of a Haynes
BoL, Arfons had meanwhile got the thing working again.

One of his jet cars crashed, killing a TV reporter who was in the
cockpit with him, btw.

The final paragraph if the obit is poetry. Read the entire obit at

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3053472.ece

The world still needs nutters like this. Petel, are you there?

 

Rather good. I know I've said this here before, but I really enjoy
reading the broadsheets' obituaries, because you get these fascinating
potted histories of people who were, in one way or another, exceptional.

 

Indeed, hadn't heard that name since the 70's / 80's when he regularly
cropped up in the hot rod mags I used to waste my hard earned on.

--
Dan L

Too much time to think, too little to do.


http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/
1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6/7)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

Sign of a damn good send-off, I always think.

 

Nah, but ta for the offer.

 

From everything I've read about it, you'd have a ball at the Bonneville
speed week.

I'm definitely planning to go there if/when the US gubmint allows my
arse to reside over there on a slightly more permanent basis.

 

Do you need a sponsor? Short of adopting you, let me know if there is
anything I could do.

 

Because you ain't been paying attention.

Quite the well known showman to some of us he was.

 

Link from findarticle doesn't work, but the google cached one is here
http://tinyurl.com/2skfqz

 

ITYM "discussion". Heh. I recall this programme, it was the one with
something of a bias in my perception.

 

If it's the one I saw last year about the land speed record attempts it's
worth a look. There's a fair bit about Art Arfons and his vehicles in it.

 

Thank you *very* much for that offer. I may have to come back to you on
that one - we've got the sponsorship side sorted out now with Ann's new
job, but there are a couple of things that you could potentially help
with.

I'm over in Santa Clara in the first week of March anyway, so maybe we
should have a chat over a beer or five...

 

I think he was better at building vehicles that went somewhere else
first before they blew up.

 

One should always play to to one's strengths.

Even if he was in the Party, I dunno how much of a real Nazi WvB was. I
get the feeling he'd have supped with the devil if he'd have been given
the funding to play with rockets. In that respect, the war was just a
big development park for him.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"A scone and tea at half past three
Makes the day a little brighter
Keep your cakes and fancy tarts
And stick them up your shiter."

 

Did you get a sneak preview of Top gear then ?

 

Heh. There are a couple of Geewheezes parked in the carpark I use near
work. I'll never look at them the same way...