{{short description|American motorcycle racer}}
{{Infobox person |name = Doug "Danger" Senecal |image = Doug "Danger" Senecal.jpg |image_size = |caption = |birth_place = Palmer, Massachusetts, US |birth_name = Doug Senecal |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1962|3|31}} |spouse = Maria Senecal |children = |occupation = Motorcycle jumper, Stunt performer, Motivational speaker |website = http://doug-danger.com }}
'''Doug "Danger" Senecal''', born March 31, 1962, in Palmer, Massachusetts, is known as Doug Danger. He is an American motorcycle jumping world record holder and stunt performer and Stage 4 cancer survivor who lives in Oak Hill, Florida.<ref name="Telegram">{{cite news|last1=Ring|first1=Kim|title='Doug Danger' nails record-breaking motorcycle jump in Sturgis|url=http://www.telegram.com/article/20150806/NEWS/150809468|accessdate=3 August 2016|work=Telegram|date=August 6, 2015}}</ref>
Danger has set many records, including the Longest Motorcycle Jump, which was 251 feet over 42 cars. With that jump, he entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 1991.<ref name="Iron Trader News">{{cite news|title=Doug Danger, Iconic Motorcycle Daredevil Appearance|url=http://irontradernews.com/doug-danger-iconic-motorcycle-daredevil-appearance/|accessdate=5 August 2016|work=Iron Trader News|date=February 23, 2016}}</ref> Danger also broke Evel Knievel's jump record over cars at The Legendary Buffalo Chip, Sturgis 75th Motorcycle Rally, Sturgis, South Dakota in 2015.<ref name="Mass Live">{{cite news|last1=Simison|first1=Cynthia|title=Motorcycle daredevil Doug Danger sets new world record, crossing 22 cars at Sturgis rally|url=http://blog.masslive.com/criesandwhispers/2015/08/motorcycle_daredevil_doug_dang.html|accessdate=3 August 2016|work=Mass Live|date=August 7, 2015}}</ref>
On his motorcycle, Danger has jumped a jumbo jet from wingtip to wingtip, over school buses, tractor-trailers, cars, as well as through fire. He's also crashed, accumulating a total of 50 broken bones, a fractured skull, burns, and once suffered amnesia that lasted a year.<ref name="Sturgis Rally Daily">{{cite news|last1=Griffith|first1=Tom|title=Death-defying Doug Danger|url=http://rapidcityjournal.com/sturgisrallydaily/news/death-defying-doug-danger/article_d507ad93-0f21-5f04-a80f-272559c92f27.html|accessdate=3 August 2016|work=Sturgis Rally Daily|date=August 5, 2015}}</ref>
Danger is sponsored by Vanson Leathers,<ref name="Motor Sports News">{{cite news|title=Vanson Leathers at 6 Great Events for 75th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally|url=https://motorsportsnewswire.com/tag/doug-danger/|accessdate=4 August 2016|work=Motor Sports News|date=August 3, 2015}}</ref> Bell Helmets,<ref name="Iron Trader News" /> and Mustang Seats.<ref name="Motousa">{{cite news|title=Doug Danger, Mustang Hometown Hero at IMS in New York|url=http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/2015/12/article/doug-danger-mustangs-hometown-hero-hits-ims-in-new-york/|accessdate=4 August 2016|work=Motousa|date=December 11, 2015}}</ref>
Although Danger still jumps, he is now a motivational speaker at elementary schools, high schools, community-service organizations and corporations.<ref name="Mass Live 2">{{cite news|last1=Schoenberg|first1=Shira|title=Western Massachusetts motorcycle jumper Doug Danger honored at Statehouse ceremony|url=http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/04/western_massachusetts_motorcyc.html|accessdate=4 August 2016|work=Mass Live|date=April 7, 2016}}</ref>
==Early life and history== Growing up in Palmer, Massachusetts, Danger's mother rode a motorcycle, but discouraged him from doing the same. However, as a young man, Danger saw Evel Knievel jump over 13 Mack trucks on ABC's Wide World of Sports in 1974.<ref name="Iron Trader News2">{{cite news|last1=Stemp|first1=Marilyn|title=Evel Knievel's Traveling Circus is Back!|url=http://irontradernews.com/evel-knievels-traveling-circus-is-back/|accessdate=4 August 2016|date=July 2, 2014}}</ref> Danger aimed to follow in Knievel's footsteps by jumping his bicycle over his neighborhood friends when he was 11,<ref name="Sturgis Rally Daily" /> and shortly after received his first motorcycle from his stepfather.<ref name="Rapid City Journal">{{cite news|last1=Holland|first1=Jim|title='Danger' looking to finish Knievel's jump|url=http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/danger-looking-to-finish-knievel-s-jump/article_308deed9-9d03-5d23-ae01-4b62937845c1.html|accessdate=4 August 2016|work=Rapid City Journal|date=February 9, 2015}}</ref> As a sophomore at Palmer High School, Danger drove his motorcycle through the school hallways on a dare. Palmer High asked him not to come back for his junior year,<ref name="Mass Live 2" /> so he transferred and finished at Pathfinder in 1980.<ref name="Sturbridge Times">{{cite news|last1=Richards|first1=Stephanie|title=Motorcyclist/stuntman puts motivational speaking into high gear MeetDougSenecal|url=http://sturbridgetimes.com/images/0713ST.pdf|accessdate=4 August 2016|work=Sturbridge Times}}</ref>
When Danger was five and living with his parents in Las Vegas, Danger first saw Knievel jump live over the fountains at Caesar's Palace.<ref name="CJ Online">{{cite news|last1=Ranker|first1=Luke|title=Topeka plan 'Evel' announcement regarding 'daredevil' Friday at Topeka-Harley Davidson|url=http://cjonline.com/news/2015-07-16/city-visit-topeka-plan-evel-announcement-regarding-daredevil-friday-topeka-harley|accessdate=16 August 2016|work=CJ Online|date=July 16, 2015}}</ref> Twelve years later, Danger made his first public motorcycle jump, over 10 cars, in Palmer.<ref name="Mass Live 2" /> When his career took off, he and Knievel became friends.<ref name="Telegram" />
==Career==
===1979–90=== Danger began his motorcycle stunt career in 1979 when he jumped 10 cars in Palmer.<ref name="Cycle Jumpers">{{cite web|title=Doug Danger -- United States|url=http://www.cyclejumpers.com/danger|website=Cycle Jumpers|accessdate=4 August 2016}}</ref> At age 22, in 1984, he jumped over a three-story restaurant into Forest Lake in Massachusetts going 85 feet high and a distance of 145 feet.<ref name="Motorsport">{{cite news|title=Doug Danger makes first appearance at Oswego|url=http://www.motorsport.com/bike/news/doug-danger-makes-first-appearance-at-oswego/|accessdate=6 August 2016|work=Motorsport|date=July 10, 2000}}</ref> A year later, he made a 125cc motorcycle leap over 14 school buses in Thompson, Connecticut, earning him his first World Record.<ref name="Mass Live 2" /> That same year, his motorcycle exploded during a fire stunt in North Carolina which threw him 150 feet down the track, legs in flames.<ref name="Sun Journal">{{cite news|title=Motorcycle Jumper Still Hospitalized|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1914&dat=19920702&id=tQogAAAAIBAJ&sjid=X2UFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2366,558622&hl=en|accessdate=5 August 2016|work=Sun Journal|agency=Associated Press|date=July 2, 1992}}</ref>
In 1990, Danger earned another American record, this one for 250cc bikes, by jumping 25 cars at a total of 181 feet at New Hampshire International Speedway.<ref name="Cycle Jumpers" />
===1991–2000=== In 1991, Danger set a World Record for a 251-foot motorcycle jump over 42 cars in Loudon, New Hampshire.<ref name="Mass Live" /><ref>{{cite news|last1=Stabile|first1=Lori|title='Doug Danger' is the name. This 1984 motorcycle stunt was his game|url=https://www.masslive.com/westernmass/2024/06/doug-danger-is-the-name-this-1984-motorcycle-stunt-was-his-game.html|accessdate=5 July 2024|work=Mass Live|date=June 27, 2024|url-access=subscription|quote=In 1991, Danger jumped 42 cars on a Honda in Loudon, N.H., a distance of 251 feet, breaking a record that he held until 2000.}}</ref> That jump earned him a place in the Guinness Book of World records, and it stood for nine years as the Longest Motorcycle Jump. A year later, in a competition against Australian National Champion Jumper, Dar Davies, he won the International Motorcycle Jumping Competition at New Hampshire International Speedway.<ref name="Laconia Motorcycle Week">{{cite book|last1=St. Claire|first1=Charlie|title=Laconia Motorcycle Week|date=2008|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|page=91}}</ref> That same year, Danger signed a contract for a Daredevil Showdown with Robbie Knievel for a Pay-Per-View but the event never happened<ref name="Cycle Jumpers" /> because in July 1992, a practice jump went awry and Danger crashed into a three-foot retaining wall at Hudson Speedway in New Hampshire breaking 17 bones and remaining in a coma for over a month. When he recovered, his memory was gone.<ref name="Sun Journal" />
After recovering, Danger created the Doug Danger Motorcycle Stunt Spectacular, Legends Stunt Show, a thrill show that included various motorcycle jumps, firewall crashs, wheelie show, and automobile stunts. He partnered in the venture which ran from 1997 through 2003, with legendary stuntman Tim Chitwood.<ref name="Herald Palladium">{{cite news|last1=Lerner|first1=Norma|title=Children get early start in showing fair animals|url=http://www.heraldpalladium.com/localnews/children-get-early-start-in-showing-fair-animals/article_8a304586-3d04-53eb-8435-5e4d35f0783c.html|accessdate=6 August 2016|work=Herald Palladium|date=July 29, 2003}}</ref>
One of the first jumps Danger made after his accident was on October 10, 1999: he jumped over 18 tractor-trailers at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, setting another World Record and breaking the one previously held by Robbie Knievel of 17 semi-trucks. On March 18, 2000, Danger jumped an L-1011 Jumbo Jet wing tip-to-wing tip, a stunt that was filmed for the "I Dare You" television show. For this, he rose 30 feet and traveled 160 feet across the airplane.<ref name="Cycle Jumpers" />
===2001–10=== Danger did a couple of stunts in May 2001 at Thompson Speedway, Connecticut, one involving a Honda CR500 motorcycle jumping 120 feet across three school buses lined up ended to end, and the other using a 1987 Harley Davidson 883 Sportster weighing over 500 pounds to jump over 10 cars.<ref name="Cycle Jumpers" />
Louis "Rocket" Re and Danger performed a double jump—two riders one behind the other in the air at the same time—covering over 100 feet on July 15, 2006, in New Castle, Pennsylvania.<ref name="Cycle Jumpers" /> The duo met again later in July at Brockton Fair Grounds in Massachusetts for a head-on criss-cross jump where they passed each other at 70 mph with four feet of clearance that was filmed for a Country Music Television pilot called "Hell Drivers".{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}
===2011-present=== For two months, beginning May 2011, Danger made an Australian tour in Hell Raiser's of Insanity Extreme Stunt Show. Among the jumps were two that he made with a broken leg, obtained after a moving truck stunt. During the hospital examination in Australia, doctors discovered a lump near his tonsils, and after its removal was told it was benign cancer. Six months later, a cancerous growth surfaced, and he had another operation in the United States. The prognosis was not good. During his treatments, Danger injured himself again doing a jump in May 2012 to benefit The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Lulu Shriner's Arena in Plymouth, Pennsylvania. He separated his shoulder and broke his knuckle. After 35 radiation treatments, and three rounds of an experimental chemotherapy, each lasting five days, Danger received news that he was cancer free.<ref name="Sturgis Rally Daily" />
In 2012, Risky Rick Cruz, of the Ricksonian Daredevil Museum<ref name="Cycle Jumpers 2">{{cite news|title=Risky Rick Cruz — United States|url=http://www.cyclejumpers.com/riskyrickcruz.html|accessdate=16 August 2016|work=CycleJumpers|date=2016}}</ref> presented Danger with the honorary Triple Crown, awarded for the stunt performer's holding the 125cc, 250cc and 500cc motorcycle records at the same time.<ref name="Press Release 1">{{cite news|title=Senator Gobi Recognizes Doug 'Danger' Senecal in Senate Chamber|url=http://www.senatorannegobi.com/4-7-16_Senator_Gobi_recognized_Doug_Danger_Senecal_in_Senate_Chamber.pdf|accessdate=7 August 2016|work=Press Release|date=April 7, 2016}}</ref>
Danger began a motivational speaking career in 2012 that continues. Entitled "Live Life Full Throttle", the message he brings to various elementary and high schools, community service organizations like the Boys and Girls Clubs, Chambers of Commerce, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, and Motorcycle Shows is to follow your dreams, go for your goals, and maintain a drug-free life.<ref name="Mass Live 2" />
On June 14, 2014, Danger once again attached to the Evel Knievel legacy, by using Knievel's XR-750 Harley-Davidson to leap over 15 cars, 110 feet in across at the Republic of Texas Rally in Austin, Texas<ref name="Iron Trader News" /> Danger was able to break Knievel's record the following year using Knievel's own XR-750 Harley-Davidson—loaned to Danger by its owner Lathan McKay—to jump 22 cars at the Buffalo Chip Campground during the 75th Sturgis motorcycle rally on August 6. The jump was 151 feet long, and was a success, outpacing the Knievel attempt, which only cleared 21 cars.<ref name="Mass Live 2" /><ref name="Motor Bike Times">{{cite news|last1=Almeida|first1=Daniella|title=Daredevil Doug Danger completes record-breaking stunt|url=http://www.motorbiketimes.com/news/people/celebrity/daredevil-doug-danger-completes-record-breaking-stunt-$21385650.htm|accessdate=7 August 2016|work=Motor Bike Times|date=August 7, 2015}}</ref>
Next April 7, 2016, Danger was recognized by Massachusetts State Senator Anne M. Gobi (D-Spencer), during a formal Senate Session.<ref name="Telegram and Gazette">{{cite news|last1=Semon|first1=Craig|title=Doug Danger honored at Statehouse|url=http://g53-wtstage.newscyclecloud.com/article/20160407/news/160409331|accessdate=7 August 2016|work=Telegram and Gazette|date=April 7, 2016}}</ref>
Danger participates in the KSR Motorsports Monster Truck and Thrill Show, performing 25–30 shows a year, jumping, doing wheelies, and fire wall crashes.<ref name="Gant Daily">{{cite news|last1=Parks|first1=Dustin|title=KSR Motorsports Thrills Fans with Monster Trucks at CNB Raceway Park|url=http://gantdaily.com/2014/07/05/ksr-motorsports-thrills-fans-with-monster-trucks-at-cnb-raceway-park/|work=Gant Daily|agency=CNN|date=July 5, 2014}}</ref>
==External links== *[http://doug-danger.com/ Official website]
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danger, Doug}} Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:American motorcycle racers Category:Motorcycle stunt performers Category:American stunt performers