The Vulcan Shuttle is a machine which has been snickered it, derided, laughed at, and generally mocked in the annals of drag racing history by those that know of its existence. Why? Because the thing was a freaking VW Beetle with a solid fuel rocket for propulsion. On its face, this is cartoon stuff, Darwin Awards junk, and an urban legend. As it turns out, Raul Cabrera and Ron Poole who built the car were not over their heads in many respects. They were brilliant guys with a pretty wild idea.
The car did not crash on its first run, the car was not event the first rocket powered machine that the guys had put together! It ran for years, made hundreds of laps at various tracks all over the country and the end did not come in front of a crowd but rather at a test session.
The story of how this car came to be, how two guys with a love of rockets developed their own fuels, built the thing from scratch, and ultimately made money with it making exhibition runs is awesome and 100% American.
We can still shake our heads in awe that someone actually did this but we’re no longer making jokes about it. The Vulcan Shuttle story is better than every urban legend you have ever heard about it.
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