Rocket Cars & Broken Bones - The Story of "The Mad Canadian" Ken Carter

Dirt Nap City - History's Most Interesting Dead People · Mar 5, 2026 · 39m · transcript

In the 1970s daredevil golden age, Evel Knievel was the undisputed king. But north of the border, a Montreal high-school dropout named Ken Carter was determined to steal the crown. Known as "The Mad Canadian," Carter didn't want to jump motorcycles—he wanted to fly cars.

In this episode, we dive into the chaotic, tragicomic life of Ken Carter. We explore his gritty background climbing the ranks of traveling stunt shows, his absolute obsession with outdoing Knievel, and his epically insane idea: strapping 11,000 pounds of rocket thrust to a winged Lincoln Continental to jump a one-mile gap…