Art Arfons, who died on 3 December, 2007, was a drag racing driver who broke the land speed record three times in his Green Monster cars.

During the 1960s he and fellow American, Craig Breedlove, battled it out on the Salt Flats of Utah in their jet cars, taking the record from under 400mph to 600mph. However, a horrifying crash, as Mr Arfons tried to go faster than 600mph, ended his land speed career in 1966.

Art Arfons was born on 3 February, 1926. His father was a Greek immigrant and his mother half Cherokee. He and his two half-brothers and sister were raised at the family feed mill in Akron, Ohio, which was where Mr Arfons became interested in mechanics.

After leaving high school at 17, he joined the US Navy and worked as a mechanic on landing craft in the Pacific theatre of World War II where he took part in two battles. After the war he returned to Ohio to start a family.

He and his half-brother Walt developed an interest in drag racing and in 1952 built the first Green Monster car with the unlikely financial help of their mother (an impertinent announcer coined the car’s name at the first race). They competed in drag races together throughout the 50s before going their separate ways to become friendly rivals in the race for the land speed record.

John Cobb’s record of 394mph in the Railton Special had stood since 1947. There then came a spurt of activity in the deserts of America and Australia, with Mr Breedlove’s three-wheeled Spirit of America – one of the first jet-powered vehicles – breaking the 400mph barrier in 1963 and Great Britain’s Donald Campbell reaching 403mph in the gas-turbine Bluebird CN7 the following year.

On 5 October, 1964, American Tom Green set a new record of 413mph in the Wingfoot Express, a car built by Walt Arfons. Not to be outdone, Art ran the Green Monster at an average speed of 434mph over the regulation one-mile stretch just three days later.

The Arfons’ cars were remarkable not only for their speed, but for their low budgets. Spirit of America cost $250,000 to make and Bluebird’s price went into seven figures, whereas Wingfoot Express cost less than $100,000 to produce and Green Monster came in at an astonishing $10,000. This thrift earned Art Arfons the nickname "Junkyard Genius of the Jetset".

Mr Arfons’ biggest coup was securing an ex-Air Force jet turbine for $600. The scrapped engine came with no manual and he had to repair it himself. Testing it behind his workshop resulted in a small creek drying out, boulders being blown across the ground and gun threats from neighbours.

Within just over a week of securing the record, Mr Breedlove had smashed it again, notching up 468mph and then 526mph. But Mr Arfons took to the Bonneville Salt Flats again on 29 October, achieving 536mph.

He held the record for just over a year until the speed addicts returned to Bonneville in November 1966. Mr Breedlove’s Spirit of America: Sonic 1 ran at 555mph on the 2nd. Mr Arfons snatched it back with 576mph on the 7th, but on the 15th Mr Breedlove broke the 600mph barrier.

Two days later Mr Arfons set out in the Green Monster for a final run, vowing to “stand on the accelerator through the mile”. He was clocked at 585mph and was still accelerating, when the car started to drift to the left. The driver wrestled with the wheel but Green Monster pitched up in the air, flipped twice, landed nose down and slid across the ground on its side, eventually coming to rest 100 yards away from the course.

Miraculously Mr Arfons was conscious when rescuers arrived at the wreckage and suffered no broken bones, but his skin had been badly burned by the salt which had got into his cuts. He then revealed that he had foreseen his accident in a dream the night before. “I just knew I was gonna have a crash. It never happened to me like that before and it's not happened since,” he said.

Mr Breedlove held the record until 1970 and although Mr Arfons was talking of designing a new, streamlined Monster on his release from hospital, he returned to drag racing. In 1971, he had another accident, this time with less fortunate consequences – two safety workers and a journalist were killed when a burst tyre sent his jet car into a barrier at the Dallas Speedway.

He did not race again, but would develop a series of Green Monster turbine-powered tractors for pulling competitions. And in 1989 he made yet another land speed record attempt, hoping to beat Richard Noble’s target of 633mph in the slim-lined two-wheeler, Green Monster 27. Once again his craft went airborne. Uninjured and unperturbed, he continued to develop his vehicle for several more years without coming close to the speeds needed.

He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1991. He died at home at the age of 81 at his home town of Akron and was survived by his wife June and their two sons and a daughter. His family announced he was to be buried with wrenches, a jet engine operating manual and a jar of salt from the Bonneville flats.