Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 2

2A ST. PETERSBURG TIMES MONDAY, JULY 10. 1989 Timet photo BRIAN BAER build and test, had safety features including a cockpit "built to resemble an oversize crash helmet" 7) cr rr 'J -A I 7Xj y. a I SS 4. -I i i fV mph, Whipp said.

But the speed won't be official. "Craig Arfons was the only person who could have broken that record. Now he's no longer with us. Ken Warby will have that record for an eternity." Sibley said the last communication he had with Arfons came just as the run started. "He said the windshield was fogging just a bit.

That was the last I heard from him." There was no monetary prize at stake. Had Arfons broken the record, a silver cup now at the St. George Yacht Club in Sydney, Australia, would have been returned to the United States and put on display at the Treasure Island Tennis and Yacht Club. The organization has stressed safety during the more than two-year period it has taken to build and test the boat, and prepare for this weekend's attempt. "The last thing I want to do is put my money into something that's going to hurt somebody," World Speed Records official Paul Martin of St.

Petersburg said Friday during a rehearsal session. The boat had a number of safety features besides the parachutes, including a reinforced hull, a computer to measure stability, a 20-minute compressed air supply and a cockpit "built to resemble an oversize crash helmet," World Speed Records officials said. The cockpit remained intact, though equipment inside was damaged. A dive team will try later this week to recover the rear half of the boat and the engine, which sank. Loebenberg, the organization's president, said the dream has ended.

"My corporation will never build another boat," he said, struggling to contain his emotions during an interview. "No more boats. Times photo BRIAN BAER Craig Arfons, right, and his 18-year-old son, Chad, are shown after a test run Saturday. going straight up and into a tumble. "At one point, we saw the motor flying on its own," Whipp said.

The hydro broke in two, Whipp said, with the engine and rear half of the boat sinking into the lake. He said the cockpit remained intact, upside down in the water with the windshield smashed. Two divers from EPSAR, a Manatee County search and rescue team, got Arfons out about three minutes from the time of the crash. Whipp said Arfons still was strapped in the cockpit and was wearing his helmet, which showed signs of an impact he described as not a life-threatening blow. Whipp, who races hydroplanes and holds a world record in a class for smaller boats, said Arfons had severe injuries to his legs and pelvic area.

He speculated internal hemorrhaging may have killed Arfons. Hospital spokesman declined to discuss the nature of Arfons' injuries, referring questions to the district medical examiner's office in Lakeland. Arfons' body was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center, where an autopsy will be performed today. The medical examiner's office is located in that hospital. The Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission will investigate the accident, as is routine for accidents on state waters.

Arfons "did not show a response" when medical technicians reached him, but his pulse returned after CPR was administered, Whipp said. At the staging area, spectators stood stunned in confusion and shock. Many cried and hugged one another. Walt Arfons waded into the water to glimpse his son. Chad Arfons hugged his grandfather.

Craig Arfons came ashore on a gurney, medics guiding it in thigh-high water. He was taken to Highlands Regional Medical Center, two minutes south on U.S. 27. By 7:25 a.m., as hushed family and friends gathered in the emergency room, there were reports that Arfons was breathing, had a pulse and had squeezed a relative's hand several times. There was some optimism because he had not been killed outright, as is often the case in high-speed hydroplane accidents.

But soon after 8:30, Dennis Bryant, a 25-year Arfons family friend whose Wauchula auto dealership helped sponsor the record attempt, came into a conference room and uttered a single sentence to reporters: "Craig Arfons is dead." Times photo BRIAN BAER An unidentified crew member reacts to the crash. The news cut through the entourage who'd come to see a record set and Arfons hailed, as Sebring radio station WWOJ said, as "a genuine American hero." Fighting back tears, crew chief Sibley said Arfons died the way he would have wanted. "Let's not be sorry. Let's just keep the ball rolling," said Sibley, 31, whose own father worked with Walt Arfons a generation ago turning out the jet-powered dragsters. "Craig was where he wanted to be, and he knew the risks," Sibley said.

Sunday afternoon, Arfons' family gathered at the home of Craig's brother, Terry Arfons in Braden-ton. A spokesman said everyone was too shaken up to talk about what had happened. Arfons survived a 1980 crash when he set the land-speed quarter-mile record of 324 mph. His car crashed when the drag parachute didn't open and his neck was broken. Sunday, Arfons apparently didn't deploy the hydroplane's two drag chutes, which Whipp said didn't come out until forced by the motion of the tumbling boat.

Arfons did use them effectively during Saturday's runs, stopping the boats after runs of 175 and 274 mph. "He said if he felt anything (wrong) at all (Sunday), he'd go to the chute," Whipp said. But there were no indications Arfons had time to do anything when the hydroplane started going out of control. The throttle was still open, said Whipp, and water killed the engine, not a manual shutdown. Based on his apparent speed through the measured kilometer which he didn't quite get through before the crash Arfons probably reached 340-350 The boat, which took two years to Boat from 1A son, Chad, and 16-year-old daughter, Suzanne.

Walt Arfons, while based in Akron, Ohio, pioneered jet-powered drag-racing vehicles starting in the 1950s. He and his brother Art drove the famous "Green Monster" machines. Walt Arfons set a land-speed record of 4 13 mph in 1963. Many members of the support crew had brought family members and friends to watch. All expected to see a record set, although Walt Arfons confessed Saturday he he had a case of nerves.

"I don't like boats," he said. "I steer clear of them." Craig Arfons built his fame racing dragsters. The water-speed project was his first high-speed experience with super-powered boats. Sunday, he began final preparations about 6 a.m. Saying he wanted the best possible visibility, he borrowed an open-faced crash helmet from Gene Whipp, an international powerboat official present to time the event.

At 6:15, Arfons hugged and kissed Chad goodbye. Then, with Suzanne and Bren-da Patterson, his fiancee, he drove to the north end of the 3.3-mile-long lake, where the boat would be launched. To break the record, he needed to make two timed runs through a one-kilometer section down the middle of the lake. An average of more than 317.6 mph for the two runs would give Arfons the record. "We were confident.

We knew we were going to get it," Loeben-berg said later. Arfons waded to a pontoon boat, carrying Suzanne piggyback so his daughter could stay dry and have a spot to watch the action. Just after 7 a.m., Arfons started the engine. Orange flame glowed in the tailpipe and a jet whine filled the air. When Arfons shoved the throttle, a roar from the boat's engine the kind used to power F-5 fighters echoed around the lake.

Churning up a wall of water, the boat rocketed toward the lake's south end. There was a boom when Arfons ignited the engine's afterburner. The run had taken less than 15 seconds when from a distance, a huge splash appeared to rise above the waterwall already being kicked up by the boat. "He just went airborne," said spectator Ed Naugle, who was watching from shore through binoculars. "You could see the bottom of the boat and part of the cockpit in the air." Whipp, the timer, and other officials who watched a tape of the accident, said the boat appeared to veer right off the straight-line course, then lift to the left before Lotto ticket may be worth Associated Press No more cars.

No more jets." Loebenberg, 33, met Arfons 2 12 years ago. "It was a rare meeting, once in a lifetime, once in a million said the St. Petersburg resident. The two decided almost immediately they wanted to chase the water-speed record. Arfons, a mostly self-trained designer had the idea.

His cousin Mike Becker sketched the boat on a piece of scratch paper about two years ago. The result was this weekend's attempt, an effort that has cost World Speed Records nearly $500,000, Loebenberg said. Some of the money was recouped through corporated sponsorships, and the organization hoped to make more after getting the record. A series of exhibitions was planned. Loebenberg and Arfons also wanted to go after the land speed record of 633 mph.

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