The wheels of fortune were turning for Steve Wyrick recently when he taped an episode of A&E Network’s hit reality show Shipping Wars in which trucking companies bid to transport freight across the country. The master illusionist put up one of his fully constructed illusions – a giant 747 turbine jet engine– for bid on U Ship.com, needing it to be driven across country from his secret warehouse in Las Vegas to the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City where he was performing. The trick was that it needed to be there in record time. Marc Springer of Snortn Boar Transport won the bid but it took a bit of magic on Wyrick’s part to win Springer’s unwavering support.
“Marc wanted to see some magic before loading the jet engine onto the truck,” Wyrick reveals. “He came to my warehouse and I took an old shipping crate out. I jumped inside the crate and levitated it and myself two feet off the ground. It was the first time I had ever done that and I performed it cold. He was astonished.
“We then loaded the engine onto his truck,” he continues. “He needed to get it to Atlantic City in record time because it was the new illusion that I was adding to my extension shows. My biggest concern was that because it was traveling fully set up, it wouldn’t work when it got there. But the biggest challenge proved to be time. When Marc got to New Jersey, the engine couldn’t clear a bridge by a few inches. So he had to drive halfway around the state to get to Atlantic City.”
Springer did get the illusion to the casino in time but as he and Wyrick were unloading it, the two suddenly found themselves in a bit of a stalemate. Springer wanted his check but Wyrick wanted to make sure that the illusion worked before he paid him his fee. Wyrick ended up giving it to him but told him that if the engine didn’t work, he would make the check disappear out of Springer’s pocket where the trucker had put it.
Upon the unloading of the truck, Wyrick decided that he not only wanted to test the engine but that he wanted to do the entire illusion. He had Springer lock him into a steel framework behind the massive turbine and then had him walk around and check everything out. Next, Springer placed a target over part of the front of the engine. He then stepped back a few feet and watched as Wyrick penetrated the spinning blades of the engine, which were going at Mach 1 speed. Wyrick emerged without a scratch and Springer was rendered speechless.
“Afterwards, I asked Marc if he was sure that the check was still in his pocket,” Wyrick laughs. “He reached in and discovered that it was gone. I had magically transferred it to my own pocket. I then gave it back to him.”