Green's estimate.) However, although Spirit Of America had a $250,000 budget and Bluebird CN7 more than $2,000,000, Arfons and Green's car cost only $78,000. Wingfoot Express' cockpit was located centrally, just behind the front axle, covered with an acrylic glass canopy from in front of the driver's feet to behind his head. The front wheels were mounted within the bodywork barely further apart than the width of the engine, while the rear wheels were on outriggers and exposed to the air. Green estimated that the aerodynamic drag of the exposed rear wheels cost the car , but since his calculations indicated that they already had much greater speed available than they needed, this was not viewed as a problem. A small fin rose vertically at the tip of the car's nose. Veteran drag racer Arfons was to drive the car for the record attempt, but a month before the scheduled run, during initial testing on a dragstrip with Arfons outside the car observing, the two braking parachutes ripped loose and the car "knifed through a chain link fence at , ripped across a highway, jumped two ditches and plunged into a wooded area. Only of fence that had become entangled in her rear wheels stopped her", according to Green. Although the driver was unhurt "when Walt saw the Wingfoot heading for oblivion he had a heart attack on the spot" and was briefly hospitalized, but released himself in order to repair the car. In the process, he damaged the ligaments in one hand, eliminating whatever small chance remained of his driving the car for the record. At this point there was no time to find another driver, and Green, who had never driven over in his life, was the logical choice because of his familiarity with the mechanics of the vehicle. At Bonneville, Green began his Land Speed Record career by easing the car around "the parking area" like any student driver. On his first timed run he hit , but "I hadn't fully anticipated that I'd have the feeling of rattling and banging down the black line like a rock in a can...the salt was a little rough....". "at the upholstery of the seat hugged me like a pressure suit, at 275 [440 km/h] I had the weird feeling it was snowing in the cockpit!" The "snow" was flakes of salt which were being sucked into the cockpit by