A Calhoun man is recovering after a stunt goes wrong earlier this month. Michael Anthony Mooney, dubbed at “The Great Moodini” was performing at the Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this month, when the stunt went wrong.

“I just wasn’t safe,” he admits.

In the stunt, Mooney is blindfolded, shackled and chained to a pace car. The object is to get free before the racecar pulls the chain taunt.

He didn’t make it. Video footage shows him jerked down the track, flipping.

“It was the worlds fastest cartwheel,” he joked.

The result was a dislocated ankle, his wrist was shattered with the muscles and ligaments shredded, injuries to his fingers, and a broken collarbone.

“I’m blessed to be alive,” Mooney, 45, said, who has 27 stitches where his finger was tore in half.



Although he’d performed the stunt twice previously without incident, there were some variations to the June 2 performance.

“I’d never done it blindfolded before or on pavement,” he said.

Nor did he secure the excess chain which then wrapped around his wrist. This, along with other factors, contributed to mishap.

Since the injury, people around the country have sent him cards and get-well wishes after seeing the video on Youtube.

“It received over 200,000 hits,” he said.

It also caught the eye of Comedy Central’s Daniel Tosh of the show Tosh.O.

“They’ve invited me out to do a Web Redemption,” said Mooney. The show, where host Tosh makes commentary on popular web videos features a segment where a web-sensation can redo their performance.

“I know he’s going to rag me about it, but that’s okay. I’ll get a chance to tell my side of it,” said Mooney, who said the producers told him when he could walk, they would fly him to Los Angeles for the filming of the show.

Mooney does slight of hand shows and stunts and has opened for shows on Comedy Central before. He said he’ll keep performing once his injuries heal, but it will probably be the last time he does that stunt.

“I won’t do the race car stunt again,” he said.