"SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
04/11/2015 at 10:00 • Filed to: None
4
15|
"SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
04/11/2015 at 10:00 • Filed to: None | 4
| 15 |
I know many of you are sitting around thinking, "It's a spring Saturday. How can I stay indoors and kill some time without leaving my desk?" So I present to you The Devil At Your Heels . I believe it is one of - if not THE - greatest car documentaries ever made. And I bet you have never seen it.
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I won't spoil the film for you and I don't do movie reviews, but in the 1970s, a craze swept North America. People would jump things with other things. Jump a motorcycle over a casino fountain? Sure, why not. Jump a bunch of double-decker buses with a motorcycle? Again, you bet! So along comes Ken Carter. The craziest of the crazy. And when you see the film, you will understand.
The guy announced that he was going to jump a car from Canada to the US. He found a spot where it would only be about a mile - give or take. And he got the Wide World of Sports to give him a couple hundred thousand dollars US to build the ramp (in exchange for the TV rights).
Was such a thing possible? Did he make it? You'll have to watch the film to find out. But I guarantee you. You will be entertained. This is a full-length documentary that followed the plan from its inception. And it is well worth the price of admission.
After all, it is free. Thank you National Film Board of Canada!
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Steve Lehto is a writer and attorney and has been practicing law for 23 years, almost exclusively in consumer protection and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! He wrote !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .
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webmonkees
> SteveLehto
04/11/2015 at 10:15 |
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Re: They Jumped Everything .
Jimmy Koufous and the Bus Jump. *
"I wouldn't get out of the electric chair to get into that."-Cale Yarlborough
Check out the Bristol track as it was in 1980.
40k capacity. Grass in the turns. And a schoolbus in the air. Classic NASCAR.
*diy from purchase to plywood.
Birddog
> SteveLehto
04/11/2015 at 10:17 |
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Always a fun watch! I bet if he didn't use a car that weighed 5000 lbs before modifications he'd probably have made it a little further.
Bearded Bastard
> SteveLehto
04/11/2015 at 10:20 |
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I remember discovery channel playing this every couple days for a few months straight a couple years back, someone was looking to replicate the jump and discovery was on board to find it and promote the project, I don't think it ever happened though
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SteveLehto
> Birddog
04/11/2015 at 10:38 |
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About ten feet farther - maybe. This is one of the dumbest stunts anyone ever sold. The fact that they gave him money! Seriously. Did no one ask, "Hmmmm, how fast does the car have to be going to clear A MILE?"
After all, it's just physics and numbers. I suspect there are even readers of these pages who could do the math and show their work.
thebigbossyboss
> SteveLehto
04/11/2015 at 10:42 |
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As soon as I saw the car, I knew what this is about. Ontario's very own contribution to automotive history!!!
In regards to the piece I was planning on Ontario's traffic law proposals, I haven't even began it yet, and for that I do apologize. I have been super busy at work, and it looks like April will stay that way.
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SteveLehto
> Bearded Bastard
04/11/2015 at 10:46 |
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I've never seen this on cable. I just stumbled upon the site where you could watch it for free. I bookmarked it and have watched it 4 or 5 times now. It's almost hypnotic in its stupidity.
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Birddog
> SteveLehto
04/11/2015 at 10:55 |
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Maybe he should have pitched it as the Automotive Long Jump..
I would have loved to be in the room when he pitched the idea to the Network. I have a feeling it involved a few cocktails and napkin sketches.
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SteveLehto
> Birddog
04/11/2015 at 10:59 |
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It was probably that he landed a respected sports agent who had dealt with WW of S before. The network execs assume HE knows what he is talking about and he assumes Carter knows what he is talking about. But no one ever sat down to figure out if anyone actually knew.
Or it was alcohol. Each explanation (or both) is (are) plausible.
SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
> SteveLehto
04/16/2015 at 17:56 |
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I've been asking the Jalopnik crew to do jump tests for months. They haven't done any yet :(
KayGB
> SteveLehto
04/16/2015 at 21:30 |
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Steve, if you were amused by this National Film Board production, search out "The Defender" the story of one man's effort to build a new and novel fighter aircraft for Canada, and an NFB production as well. Let me know if you can't ferret it out.
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SteveLehto
> KayGB
04/16/2015 at 21:34 |
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I'll look for it. Thanks!
GliveCo
> thebigbossyboss
05/26/2015 at 19:54 |
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I have pieces of the car from The Devil at Your Heels - facebook.com / themadcanadian
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GliveCo
> SteveLehto
05/26/2015 at 19:55 |
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Car needed to be going 280 mph. I have a lot about this car in my kinja article. Find me.
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GliveCo
> Bearded Bastard
05/26/2015 at 19:56 |
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Mad Mike was going to replicate the jump. I have pieces of the original jump car. Mad Mike bailed on the stunt pretty quick.
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GliveCo
> SteveLehto
05/26/2015 at 19:58 |
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I have pieces of this rocket powered car, I run a fb page memorializing the outrageous project and have taken part in several documentaries on the stunt. Find my Kinja article.