Bus-Melting Jet Cars Are Getting Scarce

As racetracks close and old aircraft engines get harder to find, the crowd-pleasing spectacles are endangered. From a report: Magdatude is a 1946 Chevy pickup modified with a jet engine. It wasn't put there for speed. On a rainy September night, the truck rumbled onto the infield of the Rockford Speedway in Illinois, stopping with its business end about 10 feet from a junk minibus. The engine whined to life and shot a blast of fire from its afterburner, engulfing the bus until it was reduced to a charred metal skeleton. 'There's nothing left of that thing!' the announcer shouted. 'Holy cow!'

It was a textbook jet car meltdown, once a common spectacle at racetracks and drag strips. The fiery craft has become endangered as venues close, spare parts grow scarce and practitioners dwindle. 'I think realistically there's going to be a few people that keep it alive,' said Josh Baumgartner, Magdatude's owner. 'We're hoping to be among them.'

A former Navy mechanic named Doug Rose helped to popularize meltdowns after he created a dragster using a jet engine from a scrapyard. According to his widow, Jeanne, he conducted his first fire show around 1968 with a car he named the Green Mamba. Over the years, he honed his craft until he could torch a half-dozen vehicles at once. 'Doug's objective was to please the people,' she said.

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