Was the real Ken Carter anything like the man Jay Baruchel portrayed in ‘The Stunt Driver’? Not even close. The real Carter was loud, pushy and so full of himself that he spoke about himself in the third person. What was he, a professional wrestler? The real Mad Canadian was a much less charming character than the Hollywood version.
Directed by Robert Fortier for the National Film Board of Canada, ‘The Devil at Your Heels’ (1981) documents five years of Carter’s preparations to jump the St. Lawrence River in a rocket-powered car. Unlike the fictionalized 2026 movie, this documentary captures the real stuntman, warts and all. And the true story is much more messed up.
Dressed like a 1970s TV detective, Carter holds court at Toronto’s Royal York Hotel, with reporters hanging on his every word. He absolutely loves the attention. But did he ever intend to make the jump? Or was the whole thing an elaborate publicity stunt to promote his regular car-jumping shows? Come see Ken Carter before he’s a superstar! Or dead.
His preparation was laughable. Carter claimed to be training for the jump, but only seemed to exercise when the cameras were rolling. He jogged about a block, then stopped once the film crew had enough footage. That’s it? Planning to launch a car at nearly 300 mph, and his physical preparation consists of jogging around the block?
Even worse, Carter had practically no experience driving rocket-powered machinery. When he finally got an opportunity to test a jet car, he showed up without his helmet or fire suit! He had to borrow equipment from the car’s owner, who was several sizes smaller. Once behind the wheel, Carter looked terrified by the acceleration. Did he really spend years planning this stunt without knowing what driving one of these machines felt like?
To be fair, the delays weren’t entirely his fault. Carter correctly complained that the enormous launch ramp had deteriorated over winter, becoming so rough it could shake the car apart. Mechanical failures, bad weather and endless postponements followed. Unlike the Hollywood movie, this wasn’t one afternoon of excuses. The delays stretched over weeks, until his financial backers became convinced he’d lost his nerve.
They secretly arranged for Carter to attend a meeting in Ottawa, then put American stunt driver Kenny Powers behind the wheel. Powers launched the rocket car, which failed to clear the river and crashed into the water. He survived, but was badly injured. Carter never made the jump himself, and the disastrous outcome proved how dangerous the stunt really was.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is how little the people around Carter seemed to believe in him anymore. His crew was exhausted, his financial backers were losing patience, and everyone wanted to move on. But Carter remained consumed by his impossible dream, unable to recognize just how far things had gotten out of control. Whether he’d genuinely lost his nerve or simply enjoyed the publicity more than the prospect of jumping remains an unanswered question.
Carter eventually returned to smaller rocket-car jumps, but his story ended tragically in 1983, when he was killed attempting another stunt in Peterborough, Ontario. For all his faults, Carter really did risk his life entertaining crowds. But ‘The Devil at Your Heels’ reveals something Hollywood couldn’t quite capture: a man so obsessed with becoming a legend that he couldn’t see the absurdity of his own ambition. Sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction.
I saw the jump video on YouTube several years ago, but I didn’t know anything about the Canadian stunt driver—super cool story.
“If you want your car to perform like a fighter jet, why did you choose a brick-shaped Lincoln?” “