280 mph rocket-powered Lincoln- doesn't end well

I vaguely remember the car, but not the stunt. It may have been the publicity leading up to (or after) the event...they made a movie about it.

 

I’ve started watching the documentary that is in the article, The Devil at Your Heels. What a fiasco! In the first 10 minutes or so the narrator says Kenny dropped out of school at 14 having only completed grade 4.

The preparation for the jump is laughable. 2 weeks prior to the first scheduled attempt he had never driven a rocket car and he shows up with no helmet or fire suit.

 

Nothing there to protect...

 

Quote:
"Powers was lucky, for he had broken his back. This was nothing new, he had suffered this injury 7 times before."

That about sums it up. Did this guy eventually win the Darwin award he clearly craved???

 

In the ultimate plot twist 5 years after he originally scheduled the jump and cancelling 3 or 4 times the investors called Kenny Carter to their hotel in Ottawa and another stunt driver Kenny Powers jumped into the car and tried it. The washboard ramp beat the car up so badly the fiberglass body came apart as soon as it left the ramp. Also the bumpy ramp didn’t let Powers accellerate enough only getting to 170 instead of 280. If I didn’t know better I would have said they made the whole “mockumentary” up.