’64 – ’65 NY World’s Fair Hell Drivers (Part 2)

(Continued from Part 1…)

The history of the Jack Kochman Hell Drivers goes back to the stunts of the ’39-’40 New York World’s Fair. Over many years the auto thrill show was seen in county fairs from coast to coast. It was ’42 when Mr. Kochman took over as the head of the auto thrill show. The original name of the group was aptly enough the very dramatic “Death Dodgers”, they performed at the ’39-’40 New York World’s Fair with Chrysler products. During World War II, the gasoline rationing and shortages of replacement parts created obstacles that were overcome by running their cars on propane gas, and of all things iron tube wheels.

For the ’64-’65 New York World’s Fair, the Hell Drivers performed with a group of 30 drivers and stunt men, combined as a team for each performance. They had been using safety belts since ’42. Drivers inspected their own vehicles before and after each performance. Superstitiousness did exist for some of them, but was it really a matter of practicality? For example, one driver painted his clutch, brake, and accelerator pedals yellow while another stuck various patches on his steering wheel. The president of the company, Alan Gottlieb, summed up the goal of his team; “We wanted to provide the most thrill packed auto stunt driving show, that would give the public the best entertainment at the Fair at a reasonable price. To get a reduced price we had to have more shows and that’s why we had scheduled 1,800 performances throughout the run of the Fair.” To complete this first-of-its-kind auto stunt driving required dealing with an inhospitable location that included swampy land and former garbage dumping area that had become a ‘sea of ashes’. (As the area was referenced in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby.) To improve on the success of the ’39 Death Dodgers, quite a large investment was required. Mr. Gottlieb noted, “The shows had to live up to the excitement and jammed-packed action the ’39 event provided. This was quite a different automotive era comparing ’39 to ’64. Cars are sleeker and faster, but are they really as durable as the earlier models? We had to determine product reliability before the show was even possible. Again, we were planning 1,800 performances and the cars that were to be used had to measure up to a lot of punishment.”

The “T-Bone” crash stunt was one of the highlights of the Hell Driver shows. This maneuver was done with the older used cars, and not the ’64 Dodge Polara Lineup. One racer would zoom up a ramp, fly through the air then “dive-bomb” itself into the side of another car, and continue racing through the course. Another stunt was the always popular, body-crunching “Roll-Over Contest” where a car is raced at high speed onto a ramp launching its two wheels up in the air while its other two remain on the ground. The elevation of one side of the car flips the car over as it reaches the ramps peak. If the car lands on its side, the driver was awarded two points by the producer, Mr. Jack Kochman. But… if the driver flips one full turn the driver got five points! The stunt men competed against each other for just a $1000 prize, saved until the end of a very challenging and long season. Then there was the “Hi-Ski Event” one of the many different thrill shows that made spectators feel like you ride from the bleachers. The ’64 Polaras climb up ramps, or at least half the wheels do, the other two hopefully stay on the ground. Then off the ramps and as far as the cars would go on two wheels before coming down again with a jolt to both car and driver. Mr. Kochman turned this into a competition between drivers to see which one could “stay up the longest” as it were, with special prizes at the season’s end to the “Top Man”!

“Happy”, the wacky antics clown, had his own special set of thrill car wheels, a miniature one that was likely to move in any direction. Sometimes it would explode, or disintegrate, or what some of the show personnel would say, “take off into the wild blue yonder”. Happy and his vehicle were a little bit unpredictable. But he was considered a ranking Hell Driver with the best of them, even though his baggy pants and flapping arms often caused the audiences to miss the hairbreadth timing that was part of his gags. For instance, he would stand on the track as two ’64 Polaras racing at more than 50 miles per hour would pass in tandem and, seemingly, sandwich him very tightly to their sides. He had faced as many as four ‘64s careening towards him simultaneously! Just when it looked as though he would end up carried away in an ambulance, the agile “Ole Happy” would drive away to safety. (Perhaps Happily?)

One of the most thrilling of the maneuvers which the Hell Drivers would perform was their motorcycle leap. A stock model motorcycle launched 30 feet through the air from one ramp to another. It was aerial leaps very similar to these that killed many of the early stunt riders who dared to be first. The crowd favorite was a motorcycle jump over six men laying on their stomachs as the motorcycle seemingly drove across their backs. While all of these stunts were dangerous, the skill of the drivers, the exactness of their preparations, and the amazing sturdy frame and construction of the ’64 Dodge line, including the Charger inspired convertible Polara 500 model, combined to prevent fatalities during their 18 years of performing shows across the nation.

(The Story Continues in Part 3, Coming Soon…)

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Images of the Hell Drivers from the World’s Fair Hell Drivers Official Souvenir Program at the New York World’s Fair 1964-1965
Published and Copyright 1964 by Alsack Corporation