MANAWA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Kurt Anderson wanted to drive the fastest rocket engine ice drag racer in the world.
As Anderson watched his crew drag his totaled sled off the track, it turned out his dream wouldn’t be coming true… yet.
“I’m not done,” he said with enthusiasm.
The Arctic Arrow sled left behind a trail of steam after taking off on Manawa’s frozen Bear Lake on Sunday.
It sped hundreds of miles on ice in seconds. It was just as quickly Anderson found himself upside down in the ice racer.
“You see how far I got off course up there.”
Crew chief Ky Michaelson telling Fox 11…
“I’m 81 years old, I’ve been building rockets since I was 13 years old.”.
He says reaching the time for takeoff has taken years.
Very expensive years too.
“It’ll burn about 18 gallons of fuel in four seconds at about 150 dollars a gallon.”
Michaelson adds burning fuel that fast is part of the rocket being able to climb to speeds faster than a plane leaving a runway.
“Actually a plane takes off at about 150 miles an hour. So you know, he’s trying to get to at least 250 we’re working on that right now.”
Back in a tent just off the water, Anderson showed off the rocket engine before taking a crack at the world record.
When he’s inside the racer Anderson is strapped in tight, restricting most of his movement.
“My arms are tethered so that if something happened they wouldn’t fly out of the car.”
It’s because of safety measures like those he was able to walk away from Sunday’s crash without a scratch.
So it’s back to the drawing board for Anderson and his crew.
He says they will have to study the crash to figure out just where they went wrong, in hopes that next time they’ll get it right.
“Stay tuned,” Anderson urged.
He says It won’t be too long until he’s back behind the wheel.
