While at a demolition derby about 20 years ago, I was talking to the promoter while an automotive aerial stunt was being performed on the track. Someone lined up 3 cars side by side and place a ramp about 50 feet away. The plan was for the guy to drive up the ramp at about 40 mph, fly through the air and land on top of the 3 cars. He drove around the track, went up the ramp and landed about 35 feet away. He slammed into the first car and pretty much wasted the front end. The track promoter moaned that the stunt cost him $500.
Being a little low in cash at the time, I told the promoter that I would do a stunt I saw on TV, stack 3 cars one on top the other, and I would come off the ramp and knock the middle car out of the stack. He said he would give me $500 if I would attempt it and if I was successful, he would give me another $500. Sounded good to me.
My father at the time owned an auto wrecking yard. I told him of my plans and that if he supplied the cars, I would split the uh, uh, $300, yeah that it, with him. He agreed and I went car shopping. On the TV show, a van was used as the middle vehicle, it was a bigger target than a regular car. There was a burned out 69 Dodge van that would work. A 67 Buick station wagon was selected as the base, and a 72 Plymouth Cricket was used for the top car. For the dive bomb car, there was a 69 AMC Rebel, had a good running V8 and frankly, was about the only driveable car in the yard.
I welded some bars into the Rebel to keep the roof from collapsing and bolted a piece of iron to the front to aid in the impact. The glass was removed from all the cars and everything was taken to the track. I also had to take the forklift from the wrecking yard to stack the cars.
Just before intermission of the evening action, it was announced I would be performing a dive bomb stunt. When the track was cleared, I stacked the cars, first the Buick, then the Dodge van and the Cricket last. The ramp was placed about 20 feet away. I went back to the pits and prepared for my stunt. Then I got nervous. What in the hell did I get myself into. I was looking at getting $1000 bucks for this, I had to do it. I came out on the track to a few cheers, took a quick hot lap then got ready. I accelerated as fast as I could on the backstretch, came around the corner and floored the car again. The engine raced but I wasn’t going any faster. The transmission had jumped out of gear. I had hoped to be going about 50 mph off the ramp but was going only about 35. For a split second it seemed like time had stopped.
Then the impact. The extra weight on the front end caused the car to nose dive. I hit at a point right between the Dodge van and the Buick. The van kicked out and the car I was in slammed to the ground on all 4 wheels. I remember seeing the van sliding off the Buick and thought I had done it. Then wham, the Plymouth Cricket landed right on top of the Rebel.
For about 2 minutes, everything was a blur. I remember someone asking if I was alright but I couldn’t answer. I was helped out of the car and taken to the ambulance. A paramedic checked me out and told me to take it easy for a little while. The track was cleared and the nights program continued. It took me an hour to get my senses back. The promoter handed me an envelope later and asked if I wanted to do it again, the fans loved it. I declined, figuring I got lucky this time. He paid me the $1000 too.
While looking over the Rebel the next day, there was a dimple the same size as my helmet on the roof of the car. The helmet had scratches from the roof. If the roof had caved in an inch or two more, it probably would have killed me.
My career as a stunt performer ended right then.
