Ken Carter (stuntman)
Encyclopedia
Ken Carter born Kenneth Gordon Polsjek, was a Canadian stunt driver.
and grew up in a working class neighborhood. With little education, he dropped out of school to perform car stunts with a team of traveling daredevils. Soon he was a solo act, jumping at racetracks all over North America. He became a notorious showman, earning the nickname "The Mad Canadian" for his death-defying antics.
-- a distance of over one mile -- in a rocket-powered Lincoln Continental
. The preparations for the jump were the subject of a documentary called The Devil at Your Heels
, directed by Robert Fortier and produced by the National Film Board of Canada
.
For months, Carter prepared his car and looked for sponsors, with his persistence in self-promotion paying off when U.S. broadcaster ABC
gave him $250,000 to air the stunt on the episode of Wide World of Sports
scheduled for September 25, 1976. Carter anticipated a live audience of 100,000. Construction of a 1,400-foot takeoff ramp began on fifty acres of farmland near Morrisburg, Ontario. Evel Knievel
visited the site as a special correspondent for ABC and concluded that there was little chance of success. Delays in finishing the car and completing the ramp caused Carter to miss the broadcast date and ABC withdrew its support.
Carter resumed preparations the following year and again in 1978, but the jump was cancelled both times. On September 26, 1979, Carter got to within five seconds of takeoff before aborting the jump following a mechanical failure. The planned jump had been sponsored by a film producer in exchange for exclusive film rights. Believing that Carter had lost his nerve, the film crew secretly arranged for another stunt driver, American Kenny Powers, to perform the jump while Carter was in his hotel room in Ottawa
. The Powers jump was a failure, with the car travelling only 506 feet in the air and breaking apart in flight before crash-landing in the water. Powers broke eight vertebrae, three ribs and a wrist.
. During the jump his car — a modified Pontiac Firebird
— had a malfunction and Carter crashed badly but vowed to try the jump again. Several months later he did. The vehicle missed its target landing ramp by 30 meters and landed on its roof. Carter was killed instantly. He is buried in an unmarked grave at the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery in Montreal.
Early years
Carter was born in MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and grew up in a working class neighborhood. With little education, he dropped out of school to perform car stunts with a team of traveling daredevils. Soon he was a solo act, jumping at racetracks all over North America. He became a notorious showman, earning the nickname "The Mad Canadian" for his death-defying antics.
St. Lawrence River jump
In 1976, after 20 years of car jumps, Carter launched his most ambitious project: an attempt to jump over the Saint Lawrence RiverSaint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...
-- a distance of over one mile -- in a rocket-powered Lincoln Continental
Lincoln Continental
The Lincoln Continental is an automobile which was produced by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company from 1939 to 1948 and again from 1956 to 2002...
. The preparations for the jump were the subject of a documentary called The Devil at Your Heels
The Devil at Your Heels
The Devil at Your Heels is a 1981 documentary that chronicles the attempt of stuntman and daredevil Ken Carter to jump a rocket-powered car over the St...
, directed by Robert Fortier and produced by the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
.
For months, Carter prepared his car and looked for sponsors, with his persistence in self-promotion paying off when U.S. broadcaster ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
gave him $250,000 to air the stunt on the episode of Wide World of Sports
Wide World of Sports
Wide World of Sports can refer to:*Wide World of Sports , screened on the Nine Network*Wide World of Sports , screened on the American Broadcasting Company...
scheduled for September 25, 1976. Carter anticipated a live audience of 100,000. Construction of a 1,400-foot takeoff ramp began on fifty acres of farmland near Morrisburg, Ontario. Evel Knievel
Evel Knievel
Evel Knievel , born Robert Craig Knievel, was an American daredevil and entertainer. In his career he attempted over 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps between 1965 and 1980, and in 1974, a failed jump across Snake River Canyon in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket...
visited the site as a special correspondent for ABC and concluded that there was little chance of success. Delays in finishing the car and completing the ramp caused Carter to miss the broadcast date and ABC withdrew its support.
Carter resumed preparations the following year and again in 1978, but the jump was cancelled both times. On September 26, 1979, Carter got to within five seconds of takeoff before aborting the jump following a mechanical failure. The planned jump had been sponsored by a film producer in exchange for exclusive film rights. Believing that Carter had lost his nerve, the film crew secretly arranged for another stunt driver, American Kenny Powers, to perform the jump while Carter was in his hotel room in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
. The Powers jump was a failure, with the car travelling only 506 feet in the air and breaking apart in flight before crash-landing in the water. Powers broke eight vertebrae, three ribs and a wrist.
Peterborough jump
Carter returned to stunt driving and in 1983 attempted to jump a pond in Peterborough, OntarioPeterborough, Ontario
Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...
. During the jump his car — a modified Pontiac Firebird
Pontiac Firebird
The Pontiac Firebird was built by the Pontiac division of General Motors between 1967 and 2002. The Firebird was introduced the same year as the automaker's platform-sharing model, the Chevrolet Camaro...
— had a malfunction and Carter crashed badly but vowed to try the jump again. Several months later he did. The vehicle missed its target landing ramp by 30 meters and landed on its roof. Carter was killed instantly. He is buried in an unmarked grave at the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery in Montreal.