Doug Rose, an entertainer to untold thousands during his lengthy jet car exhibition career, succumbed to injuries he sustained in an incident at a speedway on Michigan’s upper peninsula Friday evening. Rose, 80, was performing an act he had completed successfully countless times prior — belching flame and smoke from his jet-powered ‘Green Mamba’ dragster to the delight of the fans as he navigated an oval circuit at low speed— at the Norway Speedway, a paved 1/3-mile oval, when he lost control and crashed into a tire barrier.

Sitting at the speedway’s turn four with flame emanating from its J46 Westinghouse jet engine, Rose accelerated in front of the flag stand and the track’s man grandstand as he began to round turns one and two. But, carrying more speed than usual, the Green Mamba careened off-course and plowed into a tire barrier, where it overturned and caught fire.

The track’s safety team, along with the Norway Fire Department and an ambulance responded to the scene, but Rose was later pronounced dead at the scene. Although unconfirmed, news reports suggest evidence of a medical anomaly as Rose performed his show for what would be his final audience.

The Norway Speedway cancelled the remainder of the evening’s racing activities as law enforcement personnel conducted their investigation, but racing did resume on Saturday night.

“Norway Speedway would like to offer our deepest condolences to Doug’s family,” said Norway Speedway’s John Ostermann in a statement. “We also want to commend the Norway Fire Department, Beacon Ambulance Service and the Michigan State Police and the track safety crews for dealing with this extremely difficult situation. With the trauma and delay of the situation and all things concerned we had no choice but to suspend the program.”

Rose, from Ring Town, Pennsylvania, was considered among the greats of jet car drag racing; he began his career in the early 1960s, eventually scoring a gig in the seat of Walt Arfons’ legendary Green Monster jet dragster. A 1966 crash in that very car left him a double-amputee, but his handicap hardly slowed him. He returned to racing three months after the accident, and that same year debuted the Green Mamba — a car for which he had raced and performed with nearly continuously ever since.

Only a theft of the car, in 2006, that devastated Rose could bring his life-long adventure to a brief halt. Drawing considerable publicity, Rose found the car a month later, albeit cut into pieces. Much of the contents of his trailer — everything he’d acquired over the years needed to perform   — were gone. But with an outpouring of support from the community, he returned the following spring.

Rose hadn’t run the 300 mph-capable Green Mamba in a drag racing capacity in a number of years — instead, he’d opted to slow things down, performing at small oval speedways or lighting cars and other items on fire with the afterburners to a whole new generation of fans.