by Jesus Garcia - Photos Provided by Corey Eubanks - 09/22/2023
A Typical
Day in the Life of a Stunt Performer
Imagine, if you
will, being strapped into a metal cage that used to be the vinyl-clad interior
of a late 60s muscle car—your flameproof suit squeaks when rubbed against the
series of polyester safety belts. Standing before you through the windshield is
a ramp you wish was further away and less inclined. Between you and it, a dirt
road that might as well be ice in terms of providing you with traction.
A sunburned
director yells action, and you hit the gas like it owes you money. The muscle
car lurches forward, kicking dirt as you work the wheel to keep the tail
straight. It’d be much easier if it weren’t for the 450 pounds of weight
stuffed in the trunk to help keep the car level when airborne. As the ramp gets
closer, your left foot lunges for the button on the floorboard that’ll shotgun
a bottle of nitrous oxide into the big block V8 to deliver a haymaker of speed
before takeoff. You know that hitting the ramp will feel like crashing through
a brick wall as you steady your aim and fire the muscle car in the air.
The impact is
violent but brief, followed by the surreal momentary bliss of zero gravity just
before you descend to Earth. You brace yourself for the second brutal impact as
you see the ground coming up fast. Crash. A split-second blackout and you are
back on the ground in what used to be a functioning vehicle.
The brakes still work - this time. You unbuckle yourself from the cage and crawl out of the heap of twisted metal as you hear the word “cut” shouted in the distance. One take. Another day at the office for professional stuntman Corey Eubanks.
A-List Hollywood Stuntman
Moves to Cowboy Country
With over 40 years in the biz, Corey Eubanks has garnered a lifetime of experience in the art of wrecking cars for TV and movies. His career spans beyond stunt work with experience in directing, writing, producing, acting, teaching, fighting, and rodeo. I recently had the pleasure of talking with him about his extensive career, moving his family to Texas, and learning more about his latest venture, a stunt school called the Car Crashing Clinic. This class puts the crash in a crash course, teaching you to survive violent car stunts.
What I learned most about my conversation with Mr. Eubanks is that his wisdom rivals his modesty and that performing stunts is a trade learned exclusively at the school of hard knocks.
Hollywood Comes to Texas
Eubanks is just one of many California natives immigrating to the Lone Star state through reserve manifest destiny—members of the Hollywood elite fleeing the life-intimidating-art-irony that's befallen the city of angels. Having grown up in the rodeo circuit and having children with a natural ability for the sport, it seemed only natural to settle in Stephenville, Texas, known as the cowboy capital of the world.
When asked what he likes most about living in Texas, Eubanks commented on people's politeness and dramatic seasonal changes in the weather. He talked about how his family experienced a bit of culture shock in how Texans frequently use slang terms like please and thank you. He also appreciates the changes in the seasons compared to the seemingly never-ending supply of sunshine in southern California.
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Who is Corey Eubanks?
You may not know Corey Eubanks by name, but if you've watched TV within the last 40 years, you are a fan without realizing it.
Eubanks' career in Hollywood started in 1982 at age 18 on a little-known show called The Dukes of Hazzard. By age 19, he was mocking the laws of physics sailing through the air in an orange 1969 Dodge Charger.
His IMDB page is a greatest-hits collection of pop culture media with credits in everything from the A-Team to driving the Bumble Bee Camaro throughout the entire Transformers franchise. He doubled for Paul Reubens in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985), resulting in multiple ER trips dressed in the high-pitched voice character's signature gray suit and red bow tie.
One of his most significant claims to fame in the industry is setting a world record for the largest vehicular stunt in cinema history. Eubanks set the record by cannon rolling a prison bus 3 ½ times at 60 mph – twice! An incredible feat that you can see at the beginning of the fifth installment of the Fast and Furious franchise, Fast 5 (2011). The actors he's doubled for on-screen include Sylvester Stallone, Robert DeNiro, Mark Wahlberg, and Tom "I do my own stunts" Cruise.
To say that Eubanks learned his craft through the school of hard knocks is an underestimate. With 14 concussions (that we know of), multiple broken bones, and brushed with flames, his medical file is so extensive that it could be cited in research papers for medical journals.
At an age when barrel rolling cars feel more exhausting than exciting, Eubanks wants to do his part in passing down the wisdom learned through painstaking trial and error, some of which made it to the big screen, on to the next generation. Which led to his decision to start the Car Crashing Clinic.
The Car Crashing Clinic,
the Art of Cinematic Survival
Eubanks founded the Car Crashing Clinic to teach stunt performers how to survive in the industry – literally. "They have schools that can teach you how to shoot, drive, and even fall down a flight of stairs, but there's no criteria or certification for stunt work," said Eubanks when asked about the significance of this course.
His two-day class gives factual meaning to the phrase crash course by putting you in a driver's seat to feel what it's like to land a car after a jump and experience the brain-rattling spin-cycle of being inside a barrel-rolling vehicle. People who enroll get one-on-one time with Eubanks as he teaches you how to properly inspect a safety roll cage and prepare for three of the most common car stunts: the pipe ramp, cannon barrel roll, and the high jump.
Safety is paramount in the Car Crashing Clinic. "You can't depend on a recovery team when you are upside down and start to feel the heat from the engine that's spontaneously burst into flames or sinking to the bottom of a pitch-black pond," says Eubanks.
The safety aspect of the course involves learning how to use life-saving devices like the Jump Vest, which Eubanks helped develop during his Dukes of Hazzard filming days. The vest helps prevent a driver's spine from compressing when a car lands after a jump. It uses D-rings and bungee cords to suspend a driver a few inches over the seat inside the vehicle. As the car lands, the jump vest holds the driver, preventing them from absorbing the full impact. This device has saved many vertebrates from being crushed.
The course features a simulator built using a car chassis to get a natural sensation of the violence in car crashing impacts. This device was designed and constructed by Eubanks and dubbed the "overkill" roll cage. With this simulator doubling as a classroom, students can safely practice how to strap in and get out in an emergency.
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Riding the Fear in a Safe Environment
The real fun comes when students are strapped in and get to ride the equivalent of a metal twister. The roll cage device is tossed with great force to tumble across the ground to simulate the hard-hitting impacts of a car in a barrel roll. The simulator is also hoisted at different heights and dropped onto the earth to get a feel for a crash landing. The result is a safe and cost-effective way for new stunt performers to experience stunts they've never done before, thus saving students from potentially life-threatening on-the-job training.
Safety prep and experience help remove the fear of the unknown. If you've never been punched in the face, your mind has a habit of overanalyzing and imagining a series of dreadful scenarios. But then you enroll in a boxing class, get a face full of fist in the form of a right hook, and realize that you can take a hit. It's the same logic for a stunt performer about to step on the gas and charge at a ramp for the first time. The Car Crash Clinic prepares to take that leap.
The stunt industry needs a course like this because of its brutality. When a stunt performer gets killed or seriously injured, which is more common than you think, it's rarely or never covered by the media. Stunt coordinators and performers are the difference between an action movie and a blockbuster. Yet, when the Academy Awards show clips of stunt work featured in the film, they hand the award to someone for best makeup, visual effects, or sound mixing.
There is no Oscar for stunt men and women, which is wrong and unjust. How many movies become iconic because of their stunts? Stunt performers are unsung heroes and the closest we have to the fictional superheroes we obsess over on screen. They make the stars look good by getting hit by cars, crashing through windows, and mastering the fight choreography.
You Don’t Have to be in the Biz to Learn from Corey Eubanks
Corey Eubanks' Car Crashing Clinic course is open to anyone. The two-day course is cheaper than a nice set of golf clubs, and Eubank's countless stunt stories is a far better yarn than someone bragging about hitting a hole-in-one.
If you’ve ever wanted to know it you have the stomach to barrel roll in a vehicle, this weekend course is a dream come true. This course is open to anyone who wants adrenaline injected into their system, like a shot of nitrous oxide, and a first-hand perspective of what goes into producing some of our favorite action scenes.
Courses are held multiple times a year, with the next Car Crashing Clinic currently accepting enrollment for the next class on November 11-12.
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