I get hit by cars all the time
ARCHIVES: Early Stunts Article
September 13, 2005
By Maggee Honesto

“If I’m at a party, and I’m talking to a girl but she’s not paying too much attention to me. I just dive through a window.” Ted Batchelor, a freshman radio-film major enjoys being dragged by trucks, setting himself on fire, sleeping in front of cars, eating glasses in bars and other unusual extracurricular activities. Such feats have earned Ted a minor stuntman part in the movie, “Death Race 2001.” A Chagrin Falls native, Ted got hooked on stunts while watching a TV show when he was in eighth grade. “I would get hit by cars all the time with my friends. They would really hit me, but I’d jump up a couple of inches off the ground as they were making contact and that would flip me over the car about three times.” Ted spent 18 months in Hollywood trying to break into the union. He added, “Unions are very political. You have to know the people and they won’t let you in unless they feel comfortable around you. It’s pretty tough.” One of Ted’s specialty stunts is being set on fire, running 90 feet and jumping into water. “When I first went parachuting, the instructor told the class that this was the best feeling you’ll ever feel. I did that and it felt all right, it felt pretty good but not like what I feel when I’ve been on fire. That has to be the best feeling, knowing that I can do it and come out of it without being hurt at all.” As for injuries, Ted has been lucky with only minor troubles and added that, “The only mishap that I had was out in Los Angeles. The driver wasn’t going fast enough so I started yelling at him. He got up to a speed that was just too much, like 35 or 40 miles per hour. I jumped the wrong way and went right through the windshield. I didn’t get hurt but I had to pay $140. For the windshield.” “Stuntwork gives me the satisfaction of using my body. In high school I played football and every other sport. But in football I would go up against other people and sometimes get hurt or hurt them. Being a stuntman is like a challenge. You have to be athletic and you have to know what you’re doing. It feels good to play football or baseball but I feel great doing my stuntwork.”