Captain Jack McClure: One of Drag Racing’s Oddest Acts: by K. Scott Teeters

I never got to see this act, but it’s kind of connected to the last story. Jack McClure was either the bravest man in drag racing or the chief of the “More Balls Than Brains” department. This little machine was nothing more than a single cylinder, gas powered go-kart frame and body with a small hydrogen peroxide rocket motor in the back.

The 36 year old Florida deep sea fishing boat captain had several years experience running various exotic go-karts, but never anything like this before. With 1000 pounds of thrust, Captain Jack would goose his little kart for 2 or 3 seconds and squirt down the track, 1-1/2” off the ground, pulling 3G’s, and stopping the timers with 6.3 et’s at around 215 mph! NHRA said, “Man, he’s gotta be crazy! No way is he going to run at a NHRA track!” IHRA and AHRA said, “Come on in!”

The kart had a few unusual safety features. Captain Jack had velcro on the seat to help keep him where he was supposed to be and he wore a parachute on his shoulders to help reduce injuries in case he was thrown from the kart. I’m sure that would have been a BIG HELP if he ever had to use it. In the beginning of 1973, Jack had over 50 bookings at $650 to $750 a pop. The entire machine cost Jack $10,000 to build and only about $90 per run for fuel.

I’m not really sure of what happened with Captain Jack and his rocket-kart. He may have gone to that big drag strip in the sky or hopefully he telling his grand kids about the nutty thing he did when he was in his 30’s. If you know how the story turned out, let me know.- ST

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