Jim Moreau ‘fires’ up Monster Truck crowd in grandstands for fair finale. (Leader photo/RON HARNER)

In between each of the three monster truck competitions Saturday evening at the Cass County Fair was a rather unusual performance by a rather unusual performer.

Jim Moreau is from Bangor, Maine. He has performed in 47 states, as well as in Canada, and was featured on season eight of “America’s Got Talent.”

Moreau has two nicknames. His first nickname, “Crash,” he acquired as a child. His second nickname, “Captain Explosion,” he gave himself as he diversified his performance repertoire.

His performance? Crashing and exploding.

Moreau, 67, has been a stunt driver for 49 years. His first stunt was what he called the “Steel Wall,” where he drove a small sedan straight into a car propped up vertically on its front bumper.

The vertical car was split in half as a result of the stunt, fulfilling his first nickname, “Crash.”

His second stunt was to layer himself in gasoline soaked clothes, pour gasoline all over and around an SUV, get into the SUV and then blow the whole thing up with dynamite — fulfilling his second nickname, “Captain Explosion.”

After the car went up in flames, Moreau, on fire, ran out from behind the car to meet the four firefighters standing by with fire extinguishers. The remaining firefighters use the hoses from their trucks to extinguish the burning car.

One firefighter got a little too close, catching his boot briefly on fire and extinguishing it quickly.

“Captain Explosion, you’ve got some competition!” joked announcer Phil Reynolds.

Miraculously, Moreau was not injured in either stunt and, in 49 years, has only been injured once. He was driving a school bus perpendicularly through another school bus, splitting the second school bus in half and giving minor injuries to some of the organs in his abdomen as a result of the steering column being forced into him.

Despite that incident, Moreau said that he doesn’t worry too much about his own safety.

“It’s not so much safety for me as it is for the spectators,” Moreau said.  “In 49 years, I’ve never had a spectator get hurt.”

In fact, the spectators loved him, as each performance drew an enormous reaction from the crowd.

Moreau said that each of his performances went as planned.

“Did they look good?” he said. “I didn’t see them.”

With the conclusion of the monster truck event, Moreau packed his equipment back into his car, ready for his upcoming adventures over the next four weeks before he is finally able to return to his home in Maine.