The butterfly steering wheel of the kart has an auto-kill switch on the right side which Jack must keep his thumb on at all times. If for any reason his thumb comes off that switch, that shuts everything down instantly.

Indeed his personal doctor told Jack recently even at age 89, he has the bone density of a 50-year-old man. When asked if he’s ever had heart problems he replied, “Only with women, other than that … no.” As you can see, his sense of humor is as solid as his skeleton.

The planets have kind of lined up for Jack to be where he is in life today; it’s as if he’s destined to do this. He sold his one-of-a-kind rocket kart in 1973. Nearly four decades later he was able to buy it back, still intact. He’s had the good fortune to be in contact with people who helped him fully restore the kart to its original 1973 condition. So it seems as if he’s meant to be doing this once again.

In the second week of November 2014 Jack and his good friends “The Rocket Boys” got the green light to do some testing during the Manufacturers Cup World Finals at South Georgia Motorsports Park. For the first time in 45 years, Jack suited up in his original Deist firesuit, that still fits him perfectly – a testament to his good living. He made a few short test bursts of the kart and while it needs some tuning to get the performance back to where it was, all the systems, like the owner, are still in good working order.


Jack himself attends the high-pressure system just before getting into the kart.

Some things have changed, though, over the years that can never be reversed. Like the cost of 90 % grade hydrogen peroxide back when Jack was racing used to be around $15 a gallon. Today it’s $150 a gallon IF you can get it with today’s rules and regulations in place. After all, considering when high grade H2O2 comes in contact with organic matter, violent chemical reactions often happen, it’s not exactly safe to handle or transport. It takes special skills, thorough knowledge, correct equipment, and courage to do this kind of thing safely.

How safe is it? Well. Jack looks at it this way: “I had more than one close call back when I was at some race track almost every weekend, and some of the tracks I performed at were not exactly the safest facilities I’d ever seen, but I’m still here. Heck, you can get killed just getting out of bed these days so there’s a measure of danger in everything,” he says with a smile. “I had my kart built to my specifications, my seat, my chrome-moly frame, everything on that kart is just right, even the wheels and tires are high speed balanced correctly for the speeds I encounter. I have complete faith in my equipment.”

Jack is pragmatic about it all, “I know something can go wrong, but I don’t dwell on that. I have a fatalistic point of view about these things, some things are meant to be, or not.”

On Saturday, February 28, some three weeks after his 89th birthday, Jack will be stepping back into his kart at Aruba International Raceway to thrill fans once again. He’s slated to make three passes that day. There are more dates under consideration at this time in the continental USA, but no contracts are in hand at the time of this writing.

Not everyone makes it to age 89; life is like that. Our journey in life begins with a birthday, everyone gets a starting date. But there is no ending date, no due date or return to sender date noted on our birth certificates. What sets us all apart in this world is what we do with our time while we can. Jack McClure of Florida, makes the most of his life doing things his way. He always has and he always will, including piloting his 200-mph rocket engine-powered go-kart.