Robert Maddox calls himself Crazy Rocketman on YouTube, but his is just the kind of crazy America needs today. Strapping a pulse jet engine to a go kart, Bob Maddox grabs a selfie stick and jams the accelerator until his rocket engine glows rich orange, his beard flaps like a flag as he grins into the wind. This is what freedom is all about! Let’s revel in it. Here’s the link to his YT channel.
Bill Whittle, Scott Ott, and Stephen Green, create five new episodes of Right Angle each week funded and inspired by our Members. When you join, you unlock access to exclusive features of our site that link you up with conservative patriots like yourself. You’re going to love diving into the archives of thousands of videos, but even more, you’ll love the new friends you’ll make when you click the big green button above.
Listen to the Audio Version
16 replies on “Crazy Rocketman: This is What Freedom is All About!”
Great episode… I decided to try skydiving before I was inducted into the Israeli army at age 21 (a little late… long story…) and did a course over 3 weeks before I was ready.. I also had to pack my own parachute… and in those days it was the French army model round canopy and maybe two windows to steer with… first time I jumped I had no time to even start counting before I was jerked up by the automatic line opening my chute… and then barely 2 minutes down… By the third jump I got to 2 numbers before I felt the jerk… then my folks returned from Canada and upon my asking if they’d like to see me jump out of a plane on the weekend… never got to do more … though I did offer to train as a parachute instructor (unheard of for women at the time)… they offered me the option of being a parachute packer which I definitely declined…
but I have parasailed since and even took my mom on a hot air balloon ride as a birthday present…
I still throw myself into situations that are out of my comfort zone… I have to impress my grandchildren!!
Rick Michaels, mentioned in the podcast, is now the morning guy on a classic rock station out of Allentown PA.
Great episode. Nowadays kids aren’t even allowed to take such risks.
LOVED this episode. Right on target in every way — and it was so much fun!
That was wonderful to watch.
Just a few years back, I saw a video of four Russian guys driving down a highway on a specially built trike with a platform. One driving. One playing the drum. One playing guitar. And one playing keyboard.
The joy of it was immense, I also felt sad in a way. You could never do that in the USA, and a lot of good reasons it shouldn’t be allowed. Someone gets distracted, someone falls off, a key weld fails…there were a thousand bad outcomes.
No guardrails. No inspection. Distracting other drivers. You could go on and on, but…there they were. Driving down a highway on their home-made mobile stage, having a grand time.
A young kid started at my work recently and he keeps talking about safety, after a few days of this I broke the bad news to him that life isn’t safe. The Bible does not mention be safe at all, rather it continuously instructs to not be afraid. Fear not people, and enjoy your lives!
My kid brother, God rest his soul, and I made a ramp by our driveway on a little rise. We would come tearing down the street on our bikes, hit the ramp and go flying. My brother, not the finest bicycle mechanic in the world followed me over the ramp. He sailed up into the air (we used to get a couple of feet in altitude our of a jump) and as he left the ramp, his front wheel came off. He hit the ground, forks first, but gymnast that he was he managed to tuck and roll up to his feet. He looked around and spied the front wheel rolling off across the neighbor’s front yard and took off in hot pursuit, managing to catch it before it ran out into the cross street half a block away. My brother was the epitome of cool, unlike his awkward older brother. I have two pictures, one of me and one of him doing a hand spring over a heavy sawhorse we had purloined for the purpose. Donny’s image was captured at the peak of the flip, perfect form, toes pointed, back straight headed for a 3 point landing. I was better at photography than gymnastics. The picture of me shows a gangly kid, long torso, short legs, sort of a skinny flying troll look. I looked like someone had flung a bag of loose bones over the sawhorse. I was headed for a -5 point landing and a face plant. I told my brother his looked so much better than mine because I was the better phhotographer.
Life back then was high-risk and a ton of fun!
Tom king
Similar to Steve, except I was a listener and the radio station was giving away a tandem jump. By the time I pulled into a parking lot, looked up the number, and called in, I thought “NO WAY I’m in time to win”. Except I did!
I guess they’ve beaten the spirit out of most of us, because even the radio folks mentioned something about not wanting to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. They asked me to call in afterwards. I did, thanked them, and said, “I couldn’t get the smile off my face for the longest time!”
That was about 10 years ago. I’m north of 60 now, and I’ll still occasionally ride the Harley faster than Mom would’ve liked. Some things never change.
Thanks for a great story.
Bill you forgot he did not have both hands on the steering wheel.
Maybe Elon could hire him as he has the AMERICAN SPIRIT
What impressed me about this was that while he was riding is jet go cart, he was holding a selfie-stick to take the video!
When I was eighteen, I had never yet been in an airplane of any kind. Never been off the ground, so to speak. So I thought to myself, “This would be the time for maximum scariness to go skydiving since it would be my first time ever in an airplane.”
So, I found some guys in a rural area of our state that would take me up. They “trained” me by having me jump off of a picnic table until they decided that I was ready to go.
Now, here’s a thing most people don’t know about jumping out of a small plane: When it’s time for you to jump, they have to cut the engine so that the plane will coast with you. Otherwise, the tail will hit you before you fall below it.
The plan was for me to step onto the fender of the landing gear and grab onto the wing strut. The pilot will then cut the engine and the jump master will tap my leg, indicating that I should let go of the strut.
However, since I had never been in a plane before and it was a long way down, I was scared s–tless!
I was out on the wing. The pilot cuts the engine, the jump master taps my leg, but I don’t let go. I keep holding on for dear life. He taps me again, a little harder. I’m still holding on. This is bad! The engine is shut down, I’m causing a lot of drag and I’m gonna bring us all down if I don’t let go. Finally, the jump master grabs my leg a starts violently shaking it yelling “JUMP!” as loud as he could.
I let go and immediately started tumbling head over heels. It was extremely loud, windy and total chaos. A couple seconds later, my static line tightens and the chute opens. In an instant I went from total chaos to complete calm and quiet, hanging upright with just the gentle sound like a desert breeze. It felt like I was suspended in the air and I had no sense at all that I was dropping. It was indescribably peaceful and beautiful.
I started playing around with the controls, spinning around, going this way and that. In fact, I got so caught up with playing I neglected to see the ground coming up below me and I hit it with a splat. Broke my ankle but, not seriously.
Anyway, mission accomplished. Scared the crap out of me and I never felt the need to do that again! I soon found other other ways to scare myself a comparable amount.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for reminding us of the joys that many of us had as kids. I remember showing off for the hottie that lived up the street, popping a wheelie on my bike, and having the front wheel fall off the forks, just like the kid in Bill’s story – feeling completely embarrassed, but she was impressed! And the bulldogging competitions we had on our Flexible Flyers on the sled run with the jump that launched us into the canyon behind our house in the winter time. We needed this episode!
Since when do 10 year old’s grow long white beards?
Must be hormones released into the environment!
My eldest son was a white water kayaker, mountain biker, kite surfer, wake boarder, …, you-name-it thrill seeker as a youth and young adult. Now he has 3 kids and drives the speed limit and obeys the rules of the road. Looking back on it from my perspective as a lifelong “chicken” it makes me jealous. (A lot about my life of accomplishment makes him jealous, so I guess we’re almost even.)
The shear JOY on his face is what is the most striking. Most of us may never have cause for that particular expression; and it is out there for the taking and doing at any time.
Les Nessman: “And then things got weird. The Steve Green launched a counterattack”
My favorite line from a song is from a tune you never heard and a band you never heard of, “Head Above Water” by Electric Angels:
That video and this clip perfectly sum up that line