Las Vegas Weekly

July 15, 2008 · 12:28 PM

Human Cannonball beats death-defying stunt

By Robin Leach

World-traveled, world famous and Guinness World Records holder David "The Bullet" Smith paid his first visit to the Vegas Valley. David Smith holds the Guinness title from 1996 for soaring 181 feet through the air as a human cannonball. David and his family travel the world -- including the United States, Canada, Australia, England, the Middle East, Holland and most recently South Africa -- delighting audiences with the amazing daredevil human cannonball stunts.

Photo: Rob Marion/Findlay Toyota

David "The Bullet" Smith made another successful jump -- this time in Southern Nevada.

He has worked professionally as a human cannonball for more than 11 years and logged more than 5,000 human cannonball shots. David told fans in Henderson that he is pretty sure he holds just about every human cannonball record and he's certain his friends at Guinness World Records would notify him if somebody else came up with a larger verified claim.

During his first-ever Vegas visit, "The Bullet" shot out of his 35-foot-long, custom-made human cannonball launcher to celebrate the grand opening of the new state-of-the-art 145,000-square-foot Findlay Toyota auto showroom. The crowd went silent and seemed to stop breathing as he flew about 150 feet across the front of the dealership at a height of about twice the building. As he landed safely, hundreds of onlookers, including reporters and TV cameramen, cheered the successful shot!

In addition, super-salesman John Barr, who has become a Vegas celebrity with his own zany TV commercials, filmed his own human cannonball commercial using Smith's equipment. Clever editing will make it look as if Barr, who is fond of saying "I will do anything to sell you a car," makes a similar jump! Not only was it the first time "The Bullet" had been "shot" in Southern Nevada on his first-ever visit to Vegas, but Findlay Toyota now becomes the first dealership to expand the giant Valley Automall even further to the eastern edge of the Valley.

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