In 1968, Art Arfons built the first rail-type jet dragster, a little J-34 car
later driven for many years by Bob Motz. This car remained the only rail-type
jet dragster until 1977 when in May the first J-85 car, the Gustin/Palamides
"Daily C II," was given approval by NHRA. Third of the
Gustin/Palamides jets, the "Daily C II" weighed 1,300 pounds ready to
run as compared to 2,400 to 2,800 pounds for the J-34 powered "Daily
C" and "For Special" cars (under different sponsorship the
"For Special" became the "Sherbits" car). Handling problems
prevented the "Daily C II" from showing the real potential of the
J-85. At Napierville Speedway in Montreal, Gustin was forced to shut-off early,
running a 7.19 E.T. with a 128.38-mph speed. At York U.S. 30 Dragway, Gustin
again shut-off early to record a 6.72 E.T. with a 181.04 mph speed.
In March of 1979, NHRA approval of Craig Arfons J-85 "Green
Monster" dragster was announced in National Dragster. It would be this car,
together with Wayne Knuth's simultaneously constructed but more conservatively
designed J-85 "Odyssey" rail-type dragster, that would revolutionize
jet car racing. Initially, Arfons was limited to single runs only. Also in March
of 1979, NHRA announced approval of the rail-type "Avenger" J-34 jet
dragster built by Lee Austin and driven by Dan Sullivan. In September of 1979 at
Great Lakes Drag-A-Way, Arfons ran a 6.08 second 277.77 mph pass.
Sincerely,
Franklin Ratliff
PROPSTERGUY@aol.com