62 Yr-Old MI Sledder Not Quite The Rocketman He Thought He Was

Q: How does someone dumb enough to fill a car muffler with gasoline and gunpowder, strap it to their back and ignite it while sledding downhill live to be 62? And they say miracles can't happen today. Or, was it really just a failed Darwin Award effort?

INDEPENDENCE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- A 62-year-old sledder looking for a burst of power got it when the homemade rocket strapped to his back exploded, burning him over nearly 20 percent of his body. Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe said the man, whose identity hasn't been released, was hospitalized in stable condition Monday.

The man was hosting a Sunday night sledding party when he filled an automobile muffler with gasoline and gunpowder, strapped it to his back and had it lit, seeking what McCabe called "a rocket-launch effect."

The device blew up as the man headed downhill, causing second-degree burns to his face and right side of his body and possible eye damage.

No charges have been filed against the man, whom McCabe said is known for doing "outrageous things" at his sledding parties.

Comments

[steveegg]

Perhaps he is a product tester for the Acme Corporation.

[mrkwong]

For some reason I recall at least one of Goddard's rockets being fueled with something similar, and I think it's been used since then, but it needs a little more thought than "Hold my beer and watch this!"

[smitty]

At first, I thought the headline meant a story about Robert Stacy McCain.
However, he isn't quite that old, and he's doing something nearly as nutty to get home from Alabama:
http://theothermccain.com/2010/02/09/heading-north/
What a jolly madman.

[Paul A'Barge]

Without pictures this post is worthless

[on-the-rocks]

It seems that sledding naked might have been a better choice.