Ken Carter - Stuntman To The End

ten Carter stuntman to the end here's Graham park he was known as the mad Canadian a stunt driver who plied his trade throughout Canada and the United States piloting speeding automobiles over cars buses even a house eking out a living and satisfying a thrill-seeking passion that had dogged him from his youth he was born Kenneth Gordon polish checked into a low-income family in Montreal said to have had only a grade four education he as a school dropout first joined a team of travelling Daredevils as a motorcyclist later he'd become a member of the international hell drivers and the all-american Daredevils then after buying and painting up an old bus he went out on his own and now known as Ken Carter he was beginning to make a name for himself by the mid 70s now in his latter 30s and his body having endured over 20 years of abuse from countless crash injuries he knew his days as a stunt driver might well be numbered so he was looking for at least one major stunt to mark the apex of his career perhaps even provide a sizeable payout that he determined could be a nearly mile-long jump across the st. Lawrence River at Morris burg Ontario in a rocket-powered automobile a major and costly event into which he put every penny he'd saved and then be forced to seek sponsors to cover the rest intended jump dates came and went and the project dragged on for some five years on one occasion just five seconds before the intended blast-off the mission was aborted the closest Ken Carter would ever come to making that jump the producer fearing Carter had lost his nerve after expressing safety concerns about the stunt but fellow American stuntman Kenny Powers in the driver's seat as it turned out Carter's concerns appeared to have been well-founded not only did the car fail to reach the necessary speed but its fiberglass exterior began to break apart it traveled a mere 500 feet before plummeting into the water below its impact lessened somewhat by one fully open perish you'd left powers with braixen eight vertebrae three ribs and a wrist and Ken Carter with a shattered dream after that Carter returned to more run-of-the-mill stunt driving that built up to a record-breaking 186 foot jump that Cayuga speedway in 1982 and the car did leave the ramp at a funny attitude but it made it and I drove around the track and it became a world record now he wanted to smash that record and as it turned out he'd set up his next challenge for the following summer when he approached art Robinson an owner of West Gate Speedway located just outside of Peterborough Ontario can come to us looking for places to do his stunt driving and we were looking for opportunities to to promote the Speedway and and make some money as well and we come to terms with Ken that he would come and do a smaller stunt and then he got into one to jump the pond it didn't take long for Carter to move into promotion mode giving checks reporter Tricia helling then a sense of just how the big jump would play out they save zero all hit that rocket car back on that ramp come down the 300-foot runway to the edge of this pong where will be a 12-foot high ramp 60 feet long I'll hit that ramp at 100 mile an hour climb to an altitude of approximately 45 feet in the air over the pond destination target area on the other side of the pond he got some people together to do the this set up Brian Cathcart for one he was in the father they were a great help to us he contacted me to see we could provide some flatbeds to to help facilitate the the jump with the ramp then there was Bob Bruce Bruce custom fabricating Angemon Road got approached to use one of our car trailers to move this Firebird around that Ken Carter was going to use in his jump we thought it was a good promotional idea so we let him use it for a couple of months while they towed the car three advertised jump it was a good car that we had got for Ken it was a roadworthy car bill stories give us a wholesale price for doing some advertising for him as well later on he approached us about having the car modified we couldn't at the time but he said he could bring a crew guys over to work on the car they could use their shot for some time so we let him do that and we ended up getting a couple of free passes or something to the races for the use of it two or three guys came over and they installed the roll cage in the engine in the back of it meanwhile Carter maintained a high profile with the area's media Gary down a day check sports director at the time saw it firsthand he might phone two or three times a day updated me about the job he would just show up at the station dragon look the car behind them and part of the hype was to emphasize the dangers in such a jump here we gotta have some frogmen out there I got to have oxygen in the car there's a lot of things that could go along if it was just ground then it wouldn't be a problem but that water is 200 feet across that pond out there and I gotta clear it and if I don't it's 18 feet deep and murky and you won't be able to find that car William Winslow who worked for a local diving company was part of the team set up for that possibility we had a crew of about four people there we were on safety we were a recovery team in case anything went wrong and if the car itself had to be recovered Scot Fitzsimmons the young proprietor of Fitzsimmons toy would be on him there was a big buildup prior to that jump you know a lot of radio and TV broadcasts regarding it so it was pretty exciting to be involved in it and be that close to it and can actually took up residence at Westgate Speedway for the summer pretty much so yeah in a trailer you had on site yes a big 160 feet long and 10 feet wide so it was quite spacious and our wife recalls how he disliked being referred to as a daredevil he preferred to be referred to as a stunt driver and he corrected anybody that referred to him as a daredevil because he never seen himself as being that when we come back stunt driver Ken Carter finds himself a bit over his head in the West Gate pond jump attempt and I'm gonna get this car across this pond I swear to you I will you as the now highly anticipated July 31st record-breaking attempt at Westgate Speedway neared Ken Carter was splitting his time between promoting the event and the on-site preparations at Westgate ken was certainly there when we were setting the ramps up and everything and making sure that they were all set up according to plans we had a life support system on Kenny the Dave and people that were taking care of him they hooked him all up it was a band mask and there was a bottle that was secured down in the roll cage we all knew that ken didn't couldn't swim so there was a lot of volunteers there you know fire ambulance I put the band mask on I'm in that and turned the bottle I'm I lucked out I mean he was saying his prayers and gave him the thumbs-up and I took off the get in in place where I had to be it's just prior to him lighting the candle on that thing yes it happened checks television had five cameras on the jump that day checks producer Fred berry planned to make a documentary of the event and caught the countdown to the Pontiac Firebird 'he's rocket powered blast-off the car kind of got out of control on Tim on takeoff and kind of got off the ramp on one side and for the car apart a little bit and of course because when off the side of the ramp with Carter unable to swim in the car now sinking emergency crews put their recovery plan into action we were in the boat at that time when we put a diver in the water went down he remained calm we took his seat belts off and brought him out and then we switched from there - we took the band mask off him at the bottom he held his breath and then we fed him air coming up and we were getting a little bit concerned that they weren't going to get a moment I'm because time had gone on a little bit it was quite a relief to see a money come on front of the water he was pretty excited when he got up there is anyone would be soaking wet and apparently undaunted Carter took full responsibility for the failed jump it's a driver air has nothing to do with my crew it was me behind the wheel I was the one that pulled it to the left and pull it to the right and then even before chanting with westgate speedway owner our Robinson he made an announcement we'll be back Labor Day weekend and I'm gonna get this car across this pond I swear to you I will one of the checks camera crew shooting the jump that day was Fred woods I was shooting on the right side of the ramp on the day one there and when he came in the car almost hit the ramp sideways and he shot right off and into the pinger there calm down initially we wanted to shoot from underneath that ramp it shoot up and Fred Barry said no you guys aren't doing that he went off the one side that he never doubt the the side of their lot fed then almost immediately things switch to the just announced Labor Day job which no one up to now had even anticipated Scott Fitzsimmons obviously the car was submerged in the pond there and so they used my company there to pull that I would at that time divert oxen went down and hooked up for me I told her a few days after to a local fabricator and then after that was done I I office Lee brought it back to the racetrack when we come back Carter's second attempt to smash his own world distance record at Westgate Speedway the evening of September 3rd 1983 hit some snags right from the start [Music] Ontario provincial police constable Gord Magee was at Westgate Speedway that Saturday night on an unrelated matter but his focus was about to change the announcer was was upbeat ladies and gentlemen you know this year Westgate Speedway next year Niagara Falls and the crowd was all in a good state of mind expecting this jump to go off just the way it should have and things went horribly wrong in fact from the start things here at the speedway that evening weren't going exactly as hoped I remember the races ended up going on longer than probably what they should have the students and there was issues with I I think the vehicle and the fuelling of the vehicle is well into the dark well into the night by the time he was ready to jump James careless was one of the checks videographer reporters that night the jump was supposed to go off before the Sun went down there was no provision at the track for lights itself one of our other reporters Doug Martin went to them I think around 11:00 and said look we can't see anything so for heaven sakes Pete the car so they painted the car yellow just prior to him taking off Larry Flickinger a renowned rocket propulsion expert from the US was in charge of fueling the car but clearly Carter was calling the shots according to Jim Chaplin who'd become acquainted with Carter after taking a picture that appeared in a Millbrook newspaper he'd recently started a picture he allowed Carter to you is to promote this jump he had run up the ramp and back down again and was back at the beginning of his approach ramp and I kind of got curious and I walked over to see what was going on and spoke to him through the car window and said you know was there any problems and he indicated at that point that he felt he needed to put more rocket fuel and ken wanted the car to have a little extra fuel so that he was sure to get over the punk the first time I think when he landed in the lake the they thought perhaps there wasn't enough fuel it was his call he's the one who decided how much needed to go in so with the tanks now fueled everything was in readiness for what he and the assembled crowd hope would be this time a successful world record jump and just after midnight in the early morning hours of September 4th 1983 the rocket was fired up the vehicle when it landed it actually landed on the hood and the roof of the car that's roof let's push straight down to the door panels the roll cage that was in that car wasn't designed for a drop I was the first one at the at the car to get to it and then there was an officer there I got to the vehicle I turned around and the stands were empty and I would say there was 4,000 people there that night and I think everybody had the same instinct get to the vehicle the next thing you know we had a crowd situation around me the actual vehicle and victim was still in it at the time there was a bunch of guys that came running over myself included and a friend of mine Mike Ploog first thing we did was preserve life and protect the victim and then we basically rolled the car over onto its wheels we got the cable off of one of the emergency vehicles and we handed it across from officer to officer and we were holding that out to keep the crowd back so that we could get our work done on with the I'm gonna get them and get him off to the hospital another polling company in Peterborough put their boom on top of the hood and then I came around and grabbed ahold of the roof and I actually opened it up enough that we could get in and out in those days there was no jaws they were doing it with the hoist on the back of the truck in their hooks and you know it was it was a different day in a different era once we got it opened enough I know I did get in the vehicle and actually had to pry up on the steering wheel to relieve some pressure off of mr. Carter's chest and stomach and Robinson's son Tim was also there his feet were caught up underneath the clutch pedals and I had to go into the passenger side and crawl into the carb free up their feet then we got him on book from the seatbelts and at that time we started to pull him out of the vehicle we got him out of there on a backboard and we started CPR on him and we put him in the st. John Ambulance and we transported them to a febrile hot boy I worked on him all the way right from the time we got him out to the time we got into the hospital and on Sherbrooke Street just below crest would I believe that I got a pulse for a vote maybe 30 seconds or 35 seconds maybe a minute and then I lost him right there and I never got it back and he was pronounced dead you check sports director Gary down today was in British Columbia that Labor Day weekend to cover the man cup for which the Peterborough Lakers had qualified he and Mike Brophy of the Peterborough examiner had just gone out for a pizza then returned to their hotel room and turned on the news first story was Canadian daredevil stunt driver Ken Carter was killed early today trying to beat his own world record we have this report from James careless of our affiliates ehe X in Peterborough Ontario Kim Carter first attempted to judean both broke when I was out there first I don't think anybody said anything for about a minute I was just shocked about the whole thing and couldn't believe it and even to this day it just seems like surreal it was with JP Asiata current owner of what is now Peterborough Speedway and Brian Cathcart that I made my way back to the site of that fateful jump for the first time in those 30 years since ken Carter's death I'm roughly right where I watched the jump that night right now near the location of the second camera that recorded the event almost exactly as I saw it then [Music] that car left the ramp it kept gaining altitude apparently I guess he miscalculated because the Rockets were still firing when he went off the ramp the car above the tree line that is imprinted in my mind and you're thinking when's it gonna stop like when's it gonna run isn't we're supposed to run out of fuel at the end of the first ramp and that was to bring him to 72 miles an hour when he got a bit hoppy above the pond then it quit and the momentum carried him on and it was just silence then eerie silence the first feeling was it wow he's gonna make it because he's well up there and then all of a sudden it was obvious he was overshooting you couldn't believe what you're seeing because he knew something had gone wrong yes it was quoted quite an ordeal to first see that happen kind of a terrible feeling in the gut for a minute there it was just like time Stood Still until the impact also seared in my memory is the last time I spoke with Ken Carter just a minute or so before he climbed into that pontiac firebird just a few hundred feet to my right here and as I wished him well he was still displaying an uncharacteristic degree of nervousness that others had noticed in the time that led up to that second jump he wasn't showing that confidence that he had the first time I don't think he was ready yeah he was nervous very mellow almost non-committal certainly the talk of the time was he was under some sort of tremendous pressure that he had to go I think that he thought he couldn't do it whether he had a premonition or what it was but I just felt that I don't think he wanted to do it but he was committed Carter's friends say he was particularly worried about last night's jump but they say he was desperate to regain the publicity he'd been losing for the past few years ken was a little different with this room he asked me to do things form before he got into the car and what kind of things he asked me to make sure that Larry Flickinger had been taken care of we never like to see these things happen under your own roof sort of thing it's bad enough when you see that happen to anyone but especially when it's someone you know it's something that you never forget you mentioned a lot of people remember I mean oh you know how could you not even drive by on on the highway I look over and I think a pen Carter and that awful ending to his life there's not too many people that were there that night they'll drive by Westgate Speedway or not comment or think that yeah I was there the night Ken Carter took his fatal jump it's something that always sticks to your head it's something that stuck with me for a long time it's just something you don't you don't forget you know I got I got to know this man a bit and and then all of a sudden he's gone you remember the whole day when something like that happens but not only does Ken Carter still live in the minds of those of us who knew him or were at Westgate Speedway the night of his death there's now a younger generation of car enthusiasts who have never met him or even seen him Joe Tony glob of Cornwall Ontario not yet born when Carter died is one of them and his friend Andrew Witten of nearby Ingleside another this is the escape hatch off the lincoln rocket car from the st. lawrence river attempt both clearly stimulated by their proximity to that sighted morris burg britain who visited that jump site with his parents on several occasions in the off delayed event was only six at the time but he's now collecting some impressive Carter memorabilia unwilling it appears to allow this important slice of Canadian entertainment history to fade into oblivion and art Robinson too has some Carter memorabilia of his own carefully stored in a container at his wrecking yard and Whitby the Camaro that Carter used in the world record-breaking jump at Cayuga Speedway in 1982 and the mangled wreck of the Pontiac Firebird in which Carter's life ended a year later rocket engines still intact all pieces of Ken Carter history and are Robinson's too with which he's not yet prepared my own interactions with Ken Carter were varied and always pleasant once while strapped securely in the passenger seat I actually did a jump with him at the wheel at moral Park up a ramp over a car and into the roof of another probably the least dangerous of his jumps the one I can assure you I'll never forget it's estimated that the car in which Carter died that night in 83 reached the height of 75 feet and hit the ground some 100 feet beyond its intended on-ramp touchdown investigating officer Gord McGee tells me that after a several days long investigation into the incident the crown did not call for a coroner's inquest it was ruled simply death by misadventure an event that seems to have marked the beginning of the demise of stunt-driving entertainment as we once knew it and certainly the end of anymore talk about jumps across the st. Lawrence River or Niagara Falls after his funeral in Oshawa Ken Polish tech Carter was taken to not redeemed in a cemetery in Montreal to be buried amongst family in an unmarked grave close to the location shown here he is survived by his son Peter kind of a dung hole kind of a guy he was all for thrills I think he was trying to be the Evel Knievel if you like of Canada each person was entitled to do what they want to do in their life and that particular marijuana and to do strange things he seemed like a very nice guy obviously he was like to live a little bit on the edge and I think he liked to keep people entertained in hindsight and with the st. Lawrence jump that went wrong it's easy to make fun of him but if you look at his earlier jumps this guy had thought about what he was doing and his jumps did work a good guy and you know I got to like him he was personable he was likeable do anything for anybody you know if you need help for anything you know he'd give me the shirt off his back possibly especially our boys ages they really thought he was taking the nicest guy that you know I ever met he was a showman and he lived to jump curse [Music] you [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Ken Carter - facebook.com/TheMadCanadian

Views: 69,783

Keywords: Ken Carter, The Mad Canadian, Stuntman to the end, Daredevil, Canadian history, Devil At You Heels, Superjump, Rocket Powered Car, Canadian Folk Hero, Aim For The Roses, Peterborough, Westgate Speedway, Car Stunt

Id: SyH5rfYL3xM

Length: 24min 31sec (1471 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 02 2018