Hell Driver Flashback: Father Mike Juran

Over the next few weeks, we plan to share selected interview snippets from some of the most legendary Hell Drivers who ever stepped foot on a racetrack!

This week, we visit with Father Mike Juran, the longtime spiritual advisor to Jay Milligan’s American Thrill Show and Joie Chitwood’s Auto Thrill Show. Juran, also known as the “Flying Padre,” excelled at precision driving stunts and the human battering ram — which involved lying flat on the hood of a car and smashing through burning walls of fire.

It looks like an illusion, but it does give your helmet the beating of a lifetime. Juran had little patience for daredevil wannabes who thought the gig was easy. Watch the interview clips and find out how he took care of those who didn’t take the danger seriously.

Broken thumbs aside, Juran is also one of the few priests we know who will publicly reminisce about the joys of picking up chicks at the racetrack:

“Man in uniform? – the girls loved it. We used to sit at the track before the show, because we were dressed half hour beforehand — and the game that we played is that we would pick out certain girls in the audience while we were having our cigarettes… And the wager was which one would actually come up to one of us.”