I saw this on facebook earlier. Irish
The 1969 Z/28 on the roof Mosteller's Garage in Chattanooga ,Tennessee has been a warning for years to the local teens not to street race.
Sadly, a couple young guys were racing a truck, on July 7th 1978, and contact between them at high speed caused the car to flip up and out, and wrap all the way around a telephone pole, still embedded. The roof touches the floor, the hood and trunk lid touch each other.
the story on the 69 Z28
Rivals at Central High went to go race a 1956 Chevy truck that hadn't been beat and the other was this 69 Z/28 , with two boys 16 and 15 years old, the driver lived in Hixson and the passenger lived near the lake off Kings Point Rd
They started at Germantown headed East on South Terrace.
They were followed by a guy in a Road Runner, his story:
As we topped the hill, I backed out of it because of the traffic light ahead. The Camaro was slightly ahead and hit his brakes just as the truck was changing lanes. (the road is said to have a bump in it) The truck clipped the bumper of the Z-28 and it simply went into the air sideways. I estimate they were going around 90-95 mph because I was still doing 80 and slowing down.
The car slid on it's passenger side right into the pole instantly knocking out the power in the area. The sound was like a sonic boom. The truck slid just off the road onto the sidewalk.
The driver was hanging half out of the car and the passenger was bunched up in the floor, they were both removed and taken to East Ridge Hospital. Other than being bloody, they were intact and really did not look that bad.
The headlights were still on and the radio was playing and that made it kind of spooky.
The fire department pried open the trunk and tore into the back seat to see if anyone was in the back seat in spite of us telling them nobody else was in the car. The wrecker tried several times to pull the car off the pole with no luck.
They cut the pole top and bottom.
The driver of the truck was brought up on charges of vehicular homicide. ( Both kids had died instantly)
Holy crap!
ReplyDeleteWe had a wreck very similar several years ago. I want to say the car was a 4 door Nissan Maxima. The driver, a 15 year old boy with no license was the sole occupant. The car belonged to the boy's aunt and she would let him take it whenever he wanted. He was doing an estimated 100 MPH when he went airborne and the car rolled roof first into a large oak tree on the edge of a hay lot. The car was lodged over 10 feet high, and required ladders to get the tow chains on to pull it down. There was no safe way for us to access the passenger compartment until it came crashing down. While it wasn't fully folded in half the roof was completely pancaked down on the passenger compartment, requiring removal to remove the deceased. The drivers seat back had broken backwards and he impacted the tree with his head and upper torso. Death was confirmed and the photos were taken before removing his body, which was laid on the ground and covered with a sheet. Then the family arrived on scene. I will never forget their screams and wailing when they got the news. We cleared the scene shortly after.
ReplyDeleteA local side street favored by racers put up huge speed bumps after several wipeouts and some fatalities caused by crashing into a monster tree that is well over 100 years old.
ReplyDeleteNow they just go to the US highway that the street empties onto.
^@what Anon said. That 3rd pic. Brutal.
ReplyDeleteI had 6 Camaro's during my time ,crashed a couple. Uni- body construction means the frame isn't continuous front to rear. That car folded where there was no frame rails.
ReplyDeleteI went to college, in the late '80s, with a guy who worked summers for a towing company. He had pictures of a 4-door Jaguar wrapped around a telephone pole, centered on the passenger side B pillar. Looking down from above, the pole was a foot from the drivers door. The highway patrol didn't find any skid marks before the ones that showed the car was rotating counter clockwise. Neither the driver nor the passenger survived. Just remember kids, seatbelts and airbags won't save you from your own, or someone else's, stupidity or carelessness.
ReplyDeleteMy family moved to Hixson TN in 1977 when i was a child and graduated Hixson HS in 1982. this was always legend, but better was a classmate wrapping his 'stang around a big oak on Big Ridge Road. he walked away too.
ReplyDeleteTestosterone….and Stupidity
ReplyDeleteThere are consequences.
You forgot the third part of the triangle:
DeleteSpeed
Three of my AF buddies and I were going back to Chanute AFB after checking out the females in Champaign, Illinois back in '73. We came upon a '70 (?) Cutlass that some GI's were pushing because of... something or other, mechanical failure or who knows what. Anyways, their bodies were covering up the taillights that were in the bumpers, and somebody ran up the rear of the car and cut three guys off between the knees and the hips. We all bailed out of our car and ran over to the scene and tried desperately to squeeze the stumps of their legs while tourniquets were jury-rigged, but to no avail - the three guys bled to death rather rapidly. We had so much blood on us the Emergency guys and th Cops thought WE were badly injured. It was a very bad feeling, watching a guy die while you were trying your best to save him. I'll never be an EMT, lemme tall ya. I'm too old anyway.
DeleteYouthful exuberance, those of us still here were just lucky He was looking out for us.
ReplyDeleteBear Claw
1979, I was looking for my first car, I found a 69 Roadrunner on a back road for sale. Asking $875 for it. Body was a bit rough, but had track times on the back window. I asked dad to "look at that Plymouth I found, and since you bought two cars for my sister, could you help me with this one?" I had about half the price. He came back with a real defeated look on his face and said, "I'm not ready to bury you yet. We'll find something else." Found out later he'd worked an accident a month or so previously. Four teens in a.... 69 Roadrunner. They went sideways into a live oak at speed, and the car broke in half, just in front of the back seat. Everyone went with the front half, most of the exhaust did too. Female in the back fell over the muffler and cooked through like a roast. Only survivor was passenger behind the driver, and he died in dad's arms a few minutes before the ambulance showed up...
ReplyDeleteDrove a wrecker for a while back in the late 80s early 90s and the damdest thing I ever saw was a guy who rolled down a hill after going off the freeway, He hit and took down a call box and the post ended up clean through his face out the back of his head. I would hate to be the person who had to get the face out of the pole……
DeleteOh man, wrecker drivers.... You guys get to see the worst too. I talked to one down here that towed a car out of a creek bottom after a flood. His description of the passengers still haunts me, and I didn't see it. He quit the company that had the city contract after that tow.
DeleteUnfortunately, the ultimate FAFO.
ReplyDeleteJust had three teens killed the same way just outside of Tulsa. All 3 in the back seat crushed by the tree. 2 up front made it out. https://www.newson6.com/story/6323dc1d16b94a01710c3c22/friends-remember-high-schoolers-killed-in-sand-springs-crash
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised no one has said this yet.
ReplyDeleteWas the song playing on the radio "Dead Man's Curve"?
(Jan and Dean, 1964)
Seems appropriate.
President Elect B Woodman
I really have wondered that
DeleteI had a 1970 Chevelle SS with a 396 4-speed, a 1970 Thunderbird with a 429 Thunderjet, and an early 70s Mercury Comet 302. I routinely drove over 100. On nearly bald bias ply tires. I don’t know how I survived. Pure luck.
ReplyDeleteWe just had some dopehead cut his Honda in half yesterday (11/27) when he was doing 60+ in a 35 zone, cop said he was doing 67 when he turned on his lights. Idiot had to avoid a left-turner, lost control, hit a major sign pole (looks to be 8" or more in diameter, opened up the sedan right in the middle. Idiot lived, relatively unscratched!!
ReplyDeleteI grew up an evil street racer. A body Mopar with a 340. You start with a very balanced rotating assembly. Start adding the proper amounts of fuel, compression, and air from there. Then there's the hook up. You gotta get that power to the ground. 5:13 gears. I actually still have those. Far beyond a 15 and 16 year old. Top end racers. Box stock. A good way to die quick. Most my races ended coming out of second gear. No laughing gas.
ReplyDeletePrime time here mid 70’s, small West Texas town, I can still name the owners, we were all Classmates.....late 60’s models....Camaro, Mustang Fastback, Mustang Coup, Mach 1, GTO, Charger, Super Bee, Comet, Roadrunner, Chevelle, Cuda, El Camino, and other assorted Impalas, c-10’s, F-100’s, Pinto (lol) and one Vega that my buddy and me dropped a 327 into...one tap and you were in the ditch....we used joke that our guardian angels all had gray hair....little did we know, it’s a wonder any of us survived....but we did, good times......
ReplyDelete