It was 1963, and I was a wide-eyed 15-year-old kid who had discovered the sport of drag racing at Northern California’s Fremont drag strip. The wonderful world of drag racing introduced me to all kinds of different styles of race cars, and one of those that stood out above the rest was the jet dragster. What’s not to like about a car that has a huge jet engine attached to four wheels and a fearless driver hanging out on the front of the race car.
Now that’s entertainment for this then 15-year-old, armed with my dad’s 620 Brownie. Capturing it on film, that was my next challenge. Romeo Palamides owned the first jet that I ever saw run at Fremont, and his “Untouchable” was something out of a sci-fi movie. It reminded me of a land-bound, four-wheeled spaceship. Since Romeo was based in Oakland, a mere 23 miles from Fremont, I got to see many of his jet creations at Fremont. By today’s standards, Romeo’s jets were pretty crude, but they were state-of-the-art for their time 60+ years ago.
I soon learned that Romeo was the West Coast guy when it came to jet cars, but in the Midwest came the Arfons brothers, Walt and Art, and their jet car creations. Walt built the first jet-powered funny cars, and Art was into jet dragsters. Together, their cars were one incredible show, as I found out in 1969 at Bristol Dragway, TN. Backtracking a little, in 1968 I got to meet Doug and Stephanie Rose at Fremont. They were there to test and tune their all-new “Green Mamba” jet dragster. I learned that Doug had been the track photographer at Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, Wisconsin, and one weekend he saw Walt Arfons’ “Green Monster” jet dragster run and fell in love with jet cars.
Rose pursued Arfons until he got a ride in the “Green Monster.” Now that was the beginning of his career as a jet car driver. His career driving for Arfons was cut short with a horrific accident in Pittsburgh, PA. The accident cost Rose both his legs below the knee. Undaunted, he healed, put on some prosthetic legs, and set out to build his own jet car, a.k.a. the “Green Mamba.” So he debuted his jet at Fremont with a little fanfare, and now the Roses were back on tour with their own race car.
I also quickly learned that jets had been banned by NHRA competition. Of course, at that time Fremont was an AHRA-sanctioned track, and jets were welcomed, but not so at NHRA tracks across the U.S. NHRA’s reasons did seem reasonable, because with the size and weight of these cars, stopping one with a chute failure would almost be impossible. An out-of-control jet could do catastrophic damage to spectators and the racetrack. Even though these cars were banned by NHRA, the class would flourish in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
When I began touring the U.S. in the late 1960s, jet car shows were the main attractions at AHRA and independent (non-sanctioned) tracks. The crowds that attended these jet events loved the smoke and fire shows from these race cars. This did not sit well with the owners and managers of NHRA-sanctioned tracks. They saw the big crowds that attended the jet shows and thought about the money that was lost by not featuring jets at their track.
A truce between jet car owners and NHRA in the mid-1970s produced a working relationship between the two factions. The ban was lifted after all jets came to Orange County International Raceway (OCIR) and passed inspections. This huge gathering was the brainchild of jet car owner/driver Doug Rose. So now a whole new world was opening up for NHRA and jet car racers. NHRA tracks could now feature jet cars, and jets also could be found as an exhibition at NHRA national events across the U.S., much to the delight of the paying spectator.
I’d continue to tour and photograph jets at Union Grove, Milan Dragway in Michigan, and pretty much wherever I saw them. The Super Chevy magazine shows and Popular Hot Rodding magazine events featured jets, and of course I captured them on film from all over the U.S.
Armed with my dad’s 620 Kodak Brownie, I snapped this photo of the “Untouchable” at Fremont, CA, in 1964. It was my first ever sighting of a jet car. Now in 1966, I shot this photo of the “Untouchable” racing the Waters & Edmunds AA/FD at Fremont. Jet cars at night were spectacular, and Fremont fans loved the jet vs. AA/FD match races.
Two of the local “fast guys,” Top Fuel owner/driver Frank Martinez {left} with jet car driver Don Beeman {right}. Beeman drove both jet dragsters and jet funny cars for Romeo Palamides in 1968. He could be found in either the “Untouchable” or the “California Kid” jet funny car.
Local businessman Jack Birdwell went jet racing in 1968 after purchasing an old model of the “Untouchable” from Palamides. Birdwell refurbished his purchase and renamed it the “Scorpion.” JD Zink would do double duty driving for Birdwell and also driving the “Eastside Kids” AA/FD when he wasn’t piloting the “Scorpion.”
Making their debut at Fremont, CA, in 1968 was the husband-and-wife team of Doug and Stephanie Rose and their “Green Mamba” jet dragster. Doug, of course, was no stranger to jet cars, his former ride was in Walt Arfons’ “Green Monster” jet car.
The Arfons Bros., Walt and Art, had a few jet cars running on the Midwest circuit in 1969. Walt had two jet funny cars and his “Green Monster” jet dragster racing throughout the country, and Art had his “Super Cyclops” jet dragster, with Garth Hardacre driving “the Dud” jet dragster. Sadly, in 1970 Art and Garth built a jet funny car named the “Jet Vette.” Garth would lose his life in a horrific accident in the jet funny car.
This is Art at the controls of his J-79 powered “Super Cyclops” jet dragster at West Palm Beach, Florida, in 1971. On Oct. 16, 1971, Arfons would crash his “Super Cyclops” at Dallas, Texas. The accident took the lives of IHRA track workers Robert Kelsey and Sean Pence. Art had a ride-along passenger with him in the two-seater jet. Local WFAA news reporter Gene Thomas also died in the crash, but Art escaped with minor injuries. A tire failure, not driver error, was the cause of the crash. Art never returned to drive at a drag strip again and went tractor pulling and LSR racing the rest of his career.
Aggie “Hi-Speed” Hendricks was the fastest woman on the 1320 when she drove Wayne Knuth’s “Odessey” jet dragster in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Aggie was unofficially driving over 300 mph on drag strips in the Midwest. Because there was a so-called speed limit on jets by NHRA, her true speeds were never announced to the fans.
• Now if you ever attended a big jet car event at Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, Wisconsin, then you would have been treated to the “Broadway Bob” Metzler and Doug Rose show. Track manager “Broadway Bob” Metzler rode the nose of Rose’s “Green Mamba” jet dragster while Rose {slowly} put on quite a smoke and fire show for the delighted fans down the whole 1320 racing surface. Metzler would wave and salute the crowd.
• Another husband-and-wife jet team was Fred and Sandi Sibley. Fred owned and drove his US-1 jet dragster, and Sandi drove her “Gypsey Moth” jet dragster. Their home base was Great Lakes Dragaway, where they were featured match racing on a regular basis.
When the cost of running a Top Fuel dragster became high and the bookings started to dwindle, TV Tommy Ivo went jet car racing. Ivo, of course, was a long-time Top Fuel dragster guy, but the move to a jet was more financially sound. Here he’s racing Mike Evergens driving his “Earthquake” jet dragster at Martin, Michigan, in 1981. Evergens would soon sell his “Earthquake” to Otto Jackson. Jackson would rename his new purchase “Master Blaster” and go racing in the Midwest. And Mike? Well, he went and drove Roger Gustin’s team jet funny car.
Another fugitive from the Top Fuel ranks was George Schriber, AKA the “Bushmaster.” George parked his “Yellow Fang II” Top Fuel dragster and built himself his “Star Jet” jet dragster. The always colorful “Bushmaster” towed his “Star Jet” to the Blue Angels base in El Centro, CA, and put on a fire show that delighted the Blue Angels pilots. George made such a great impression that the Angels took him for a ride along.
One of the “fast guys” on the West Coast was Jerry Segal. Jerry could be found driving either John Fattorri’s “Simple Pleasure” jet dragster or the “Thunderbolt” jet dragster. Jerry was one of the most sought-after jet drivers that was based in Southern California.
Joe Douthit left the world of wheelstanders for this ride in his jet dragster. His “Smokey” jet put on a great show here in Palmdale, CA. Joe’s next venture was a Camaro-bodied jet funny car in 2014. Now if one jet engine is cool, how about two jet engines side by side. That was Joe Hamel’s “Thunderstruck” jet dragster. Hamel didn’t have his twin for long, he had a chute failure at a Midwest racetrack and went off the end of the track, totaling his jet dragster. Joe was unhurt, but he did not rebuild his wrecked racer.
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