Which prompts this story:. A first hand account of how bad things can go when they go really, really bad.
I was 17, and living in Denver. I had my first "cool car", a 1965 GTA mustang FB. 289 4bbl, C4 auto car. Tired, with 100k miles.
It was Friday night, and me and my friends were coming back from a movie. I had 3 people in the car including me.
(So,......7:30-8:00 pm....in the summer...still light out but getting dark)
We get blown past by a long haired kid in a charger. Driving alone in what looked to be maybe a 383 car...72/73 I think.
Fate puts me right behind him in the left turn lane. I can see his eyes in the rear view. He knows we're right behind him.
The lights changes, he squeals through the left turn, and the one guy in the back says "Go get that guy!"
That's all I needed. The race was on.
Peoria was a 4 lane, undivided, two way street that cut through the various named suburbs between "here" and "there". The only things that divided traffic coming the other way were painted yellow lines. I don't know for sure, but I think the posted limit was 40 MPH. When the Charger burned through the left turn, I followed,...and there was traffic. We are both at full throttle cutting in and out through the cars.....rat racing. Doing my very own version of Bullit, only in Colorado, and in 74, instead of 1968.
The road ran up hill for about a mile, then dropped off sharply after reaching the top, with a fairly steep downgrade following after that. As we are weaving in and out of evening traffic, both making our way to the top of the hill, the Charger guy is putting distance between us...he is walking away from me.
By the time he reaches the top of the hill I'd say he was a block ahead of me,...probably going 80. He drops over the top, and disappears from sight for a second. Then I crest the hill...probably going about 80 as well...and get to watch what seems like slow motion.......
A guy coming the other way was making a left turn.....Directly in front of two cars coming at him at over 2 times the posted limit.
I remember seeing the guy look up at us and literally jump on the throttle to try and get out of our way. The Charger guy stands on the brake and tried to steer left to avoid him,....all he managed to do was start a full smoking slide sideways, still moving forward, but now presenting an 18' broadside of steel sliding at over 70 MPH towards the poor guy just trying to get home.
I stand on the brakes too, but realize real quick that I'll end up "T-boning" this disaster that is happening right in front of me if I stay that course. I choose the oncoming lanes instead.
Obviously since I'm here to tell the story, there was no car in the oncoming lane. But there just as easily could've been.
I went by the Charger guy at the same instant they collided. Broken glass showered us, I still remember the loud "Whump!" Noise made when they hit.
We blew through the smoke to come out on the other side unscathed, still probably going 40-50 MPH...
My neighborhood was a couple blocks down from there...on the left..where I made a legal left turn...and drove the additional block to my house...where I turned casually into my driveway,...and turned off the car.
And the three of us sat in the car.......silent for a long time..We had just watched our lives flash before our eyes,.....and we weren't dead. ( I think we had to sit there for that time just to be sure)
We walked back to the crash site some time later. Emergency crews were trying to get the guy out of his car I do not know his fate. The Charger guy survived, and was sitting on the curb crying, holding his head. We were scared sht less. I could've, and should've been implicated in this. It most surely would've impacted my life much in the same way the two cars ended up.
This is as bad as it gets when you talk about the perils involved when you "street race" . I didn't consider what we were doing at the time to be anything more than a race...clearly I was wrong.
And it is definitely an instance where I sit and think that I shouldn't have gotten away with that.j
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