[mechanic17]

NOT to make light of a serious topic, but this used to happen to me with regularity and I sometimes feel as if a guardian angel shielded me against my own youthful stupidity. I can recall at least five times clearly. Here's one:

1989 or so. I'm chasing a buddy's Dodge home at 2am (blind drunk, of course) because I'm in a totally unfamiliar area and he knows the way and thinks it's funny to try and lose me. My friend in the passenger seat says "After this bridge you can floor it," and he's obviously never ridden in a GTO because that old Pontiac torque comes on hard with the kickdown and then he's yelling out "Dude, there's a turn!" in two seconds as we fly--without braking at all--clear through a chain-link fence, into a parking lot, right in the seven foot gap between the fence post (cemented in, would have wrecked us) and an industrial guardrail (would have DEMOLISHED us). Next day I went back to retrieve my missing grill (accordioned a fender too) and just couldn't believe the luck. Three more inches to left or right. . . and I know I hit 80+ mph easy. . .or (it being Saturday night) if anyone who worked at that factory had a car in the parking lot. . . oh, and finally, my passenger could have easily lost his hand because he was holding on to the roof-rail through the open window. To this day the car has traces of the chain-link running over the roof.

Whoo. . .still scares me just typing that.

[wytnyt]

16 years old i was pushing 115 mph when my right side went in gravel,i panicked and lock the brakes up,,traveled 160 feet and smacked a tree head on and landed 26 feet in the direction i had just come from
2 broken elbows,broken jaw with tons of stitches but still lucky to have lived

[Cobrabill]

The number of times exceeds 100,as i did some crazysh*t on a regular basis on bias ply tires in the 70's.
Knowing what i know about tires now-i shouldn't be here.

[The Boss]

10/17/80 - 10 days before my 17th birthday, on my way home from the drive-in in my Mom's Pontiac Phoenix. Came around a corner on wet leaves doing 50 - hit a tree going sideways where the door meets the fender. Got ejected between the top of the door frame and the roof.

2 Broken ribs, collapsed lung, cracked my skull in 2 places, severe concussion and swelling of the brain. Nearly took my right ear clean off as I passed the roof gutter! Emergency room doctor called the plastic surgeon to come in, and he said don't bother, take it off, I'll reconstruct it later. ER doc put it back on, and there it stayed!

In the hospital for 2 weeks, home for a month. There's a picture in my Senior Class yearbook with the bandage around my head and a still very black & blue face.

[400 4spd.]

My closest call:

10 years ago I was a passenger in this '97 Tahoe. It hit the stone wall of a mountain side head-on, launched across the road and tumbled end-over-end for 290 feet before landing upside down on the gravel edge of the New River, down below. That's what the Highway Patrol accident report stated.
All I know is that to me it felt like being sideways in front of the whole Daytona 500 field and getting hammered by the other 42 cars.
Three of us were injured and the driver died within a couple of minutes.

[David Jones]

I had a 1977 KZ650 back in 77 and 78. I was 20. It had headers and some re-jetted carbs. It was faster than any 750 of the time. I'm sure I was nearly killed a 1000 times in the 20,000 miles I put on that bike.....I just didn't realize how close I came. There were no speed limits when I cranked that bike. I dropped it once, going about 10mph and tore a hole in a brand new pair of jeans.........

[mike nixon]

There're way to many times to fess up to here.

I was kinda crazy when I was younger. Some people claim I never outgrew it.

Mike

[Buford T. JuSStice]

In my Buick Station Wagon when I first got it... the tires were so bald you would think they were racing slicks... I was driving around in the rain one day and along a turn the car lost traction completely and did a 270 degree spin... I spun from my lane, into the next lane and into a person's yard... by the time my car was at the 180 degree mark, it literally managed to slide in between two on-coming cars in the opposite lane and on into the yard where it faced outward towards the road. After collecting myself and letting my adrenaline wear off (about a minute) I got out of the car, walked up to the house, and rang their door bell ready to apologize for ruining their lawn. They apparently weren't home, so I got back into my car and crawled it back home.


Another time was when I was in my late 1987 Caprice 9C1 Police car... I was driving along during winter at a slower pace because of the ice we get up here in the North East. Despite that, I hit a large patch of black ice at a corner, and the car simply kept going in the direction that it was originally going. At 25 mph I slammed into the curb front, passenger side wheel first, the car spun 180 degrees, and slammed the rear passenger wheel into the curb, putting the entire car up on said curb. Thankfully, no oncoming cars this time since it was night time. I got out of the car, inspected the (lack of) damage, and when I felt confident that it was good to go, I got back in and went back home. Two months later, I discovered that the collision on the rear wheel caused the seal on the front of the differential to come unseated. It leaked out all the oil inside the pumpkin, and eventually the gears fried on the inside. After fixing it, I sold it to my Uncle, whom it still belongs to.

*EDIT*
So I don't forget about it in the future... while I was driving my Catalina, along a forest road, plenty of trees and turns abound... and going plenty fast... the brake line blew out completely leaving me without brakes. I don't know if you would consider it a close call, but one wrong move, or slower reactions would've ended badly for me... I don't know how I managed to think so quickly to use the E-Brake to navigate the turns until I could come to a stop. It was one of those "Animal Instinct" moments where you don't think - just do.

[Me Notyou]

Wayyy too many to count. I don't really even like to relive them. Although they're not as bad as what some of you guys here have been through.

One transfercase explosion on the highway at 120 mph. In an old Suburban with my friend driving. We had to walk back two miles to find parts of the driveshaft. The damn truck had to lift a foot off the ground when that thing went! I'm thankfull that it went out sideways and didnt pole vault us onto the roof. Naturally, NONE of us were wearing our seatbelts..

[Lostsoul]

Sunday after thanksgiving 1998 Sitting at a traffic light waiting for it turn green...looked in my rear view all I see is Kenworth Grille, hit me at 40 plus 80 feet of skidmarks..flew me out.. broke all my ribs, sternum, collar bone ,collaped lung , bruised liver and kidneys, concussion and what ever they call it when the blood vessels in you eyes burst and the white part turns red. truck driver claimed it was my fault.

[Hitman]

All I can say is a seatbelt would have cost me my life.

[Rustie]

I don't recall ever being in any really bad accidents, but I do remember my Dad and I were almost in one when I was very little. He told the story the other night. All I remembered (even as a 4 or 5 year old) was that one of the people in the other car was hit head on and his head came through the windshield and he was standing outside of the car leaning against the hood with his head in his hands and just blood dripping from the cuts in his scalp. That made an impression on me. I never go withot my seat belt.

But last winter, I took the kids to the local ski resort and it had begun snowing while we were there. The parking lot had just started to get slick as we decided to leave as I was worried about making it home. There was only a couple of inches on the ground, but it was very icy underneath the new snow. As I was coming through the parking lot, an SUV with a bunch of teenagers in it comes sliding out of control down one of the lanes between the parked cars. I saw it out of my corner of my eye so I steered to the left quickly and then back to the right which made the rear end fish tail just slightly. I had timed it perfectly. My minivan slid out of the way just as the SUV came barrelling through the intersection when I had just been. It would not have hurt me as it would have been the rear passenger side that had gotten hit, but it would have hit right where my youngest Scotty was sitting. That was a near miss which had my hands shaking the whole way home and my middle daughter burst in to tears right afterwards because she even realized how close we came and her exact words, "I just can't imagine life without Scotty."

[Stu Norman]

I wasn't driving, as I was 15 at the time (1975) but we were out cruising in my buddy Kurt's 1967 Fury 4 door one rainy November evening, smoking something and drinking a few beers. i was in the back seat. Jerry was in the passenger seat. Going down a steep hill Kurt accelerated to over 100 MPH. When we told him to slow he applied the brakes and nothing happened....nothing, nadda, zip...nothing.

Knowing the road ended at a "T" intersection in about 1/4 mile I got a very bad feeling and frantically tried to find the rear seat belts. Jerry and Kurt got into a debate about what to do. Jerry yelled at Kurt to put the car in the ditch, but Kurt decided to try the right angle corner at the bottom of the hill. I never did find the seat belts.

Because the pavement was wet, we slid off of the road and over a 10 foot embankment. The car did not flip due to a line of apple trees parallel to the bank, which we hit while still airborne. Since I never found the rear seat belts I ducked down and found out where Kurt kept his bottle jack, which came into contact with my face numerous times as we hit the trees and bounced around violently. When the smoke cleared we had one totaled car, one banged up knee (Jerry), one broken nose and bruised up face (me) and one real PO'd property owner.

I vowed never to get into a car with Kurt again.

[LeighP]

1978....18 years old and headed back to my Airforce base after a weekend at home.
I'm cruising down this two lane blacktop - narrow road that the government jokingly called a highway.
Now its around 11pm, dark as it gets out in the country with no lights around.
A tractor/trailer rig coming the other way decides he wants both lanes....his AND mine.
On one side of me is a two foot verge and then a twenty odd foot drop down to a creek, on the other side is 30 or 40 tons of steel doing 70mph in the wrong direction.
So I gently ease the side of the car over the verge edge till I just "know" the tyres are rolling along the edge.....the side wheels of the truck go past my side mirror at a combined 140mph with about two inches to spare.
With the truck past me, I ease the car back onto the road and glance over at my passenger, who had been asleep. His eyes were like saucers.....huge and white. He says to me that he woke up just as the truck was about to hit us and when he saw what I was doing he didn't want to say a word in case he distracted me....lol. Now thats a cool headed co-driver for you.

[carcrazy]

Going about 120 downhill at night in a 1960 Chrysler Windsor on a road just outside of Poland, Ohio. I was the driver and there were a total of 8 in the car. Way down the road someone pulled out. Slammed on the breaks and barely avoided a collision by just inches. Seemed like it took forever for that monster to stop. Another one involved a street race where I had the right lane. It was a close race and I was up by about a car length at 90 mph. Unfortunately the lane ended abruptly due to construction. I moved to the left lane (there was no other option) and was ahead enough to just barely pull it off. Last time I raced on the street!

[TempestFugit]

in 1973 On a divided highway, a car full of kids in the oncoming lane came careening around a turn, the driver couldn't hold it and jumped the divider right into my lane about80 feet in front of me coming straight at me. I was going about 60 they were going faster. Luckily I saw him in time, I hit the brakes and swerved with only inches to spare. I was doing about 50 as we passed each other, it was like slow motion. I could see the time on the watch on the drivers wrist as they flew past me and I could hear them screaming. They never stopped. He swerved back through a break in the divider and kept on going.

[rod cole]

My story. Was seeing how fast a 455 grangville could go at night. At 125 mph I see a gray shadow that turns into a saltwater tank truck with no lights going 20 mph. Only time I have sucessfully passed someone with all 4 brakes locked up. Must of yanked wheel and slammed on the brakes all at the same time. Used both lanes and some ditch. The other miss hap was a catalina barreling down a dirt road way fast car flew which I was used to but dug in coming down stopped for a instant. Busted myself in the nose real hard with that steering wheel. And that is all I am admitting to. Rod

[AGTO8U]

I've had many close calls over the years but never wrecked while I was driving. Was in 2 serious wrecks in musclecars with friends driving, and walked away from totalled cars with minor cuts/bruises. One of MY idiot close calls was when I had just installed 4.33 gears in my 70 455 Judge and was cruising Speedway Blvd in Tucson late Saturday night. Did several blasts from stoplights and was amazed how quick it was 0-80. Had plenty of audience as Speedway was a hangout back then for car enthusiasts. Problem happened when I came upon slower traffic after accellerating and downshifted to help slow down while also on the brakes. Was also changing lanes at the time and the rear tires broke traction and went into a spin. Car was totally out of control, sideways onto the sidewalk and into a storefront, but got lucky because the store was recessed unlike the stores next to it that were more flush with the street, and it was a large store with a lot of frontage. I thought this was gonna be it, but miraculously came out of the spin and ended back into the street and recovered. Drove a few blocks away to check for damage and found no body damage at all, just lost a center cap from one of the wheels. Back at the scene I found tire marks all over the place and as close as 6" from the brick building. Keep in mind the car was spinning round and round and how the body didn't contact anything stationary such as light poles, tree boxes, trash cans, etc was a miriacle. Found the center cap across the median on the other side of the street. Even where the car initially went onto the sidewalk it happened to be a driveway rather than a curb so none of the wheels were impacted or bent.

[Stuckinda60s]

A couple of guys on the forum have heard this story, but I don't think I've ever posted it.

I was living in DC and having a lot of fun with a '64 Goat that was a 13.6 second car. One night I'd had a few over the limit and when the bars closed I went into Silver Spring, MD cruising for runs. I ran a couple of guys and headed home down Rock Creek Parkway, still well under the influence. I stopped on a straight stretch by the National Zoo, came off the line and went through the gears. I flew under the P Street bridge in 4th gear and realized I'd missed my exit. I did a sliding u-turn and headed back up toward the exit. There was a cross-over back up by the Zoo and I took it and did another run through the gears. This time I went under the bridge flat out in 3rd gear, over 90 mph. I'd stayed in 3rd because I knew I had to make the exit. The exit was uphill, to the right and was in the middle of a pretty good right hand turn. As I approached it I cranked the wheel to the right to set up a 4-wheel drift. As I steered into the slide I went to pull the shifter into 2nd gear but when I'd steered into the slide the sudden change in speed threw me against the door. It was half-latched and I wasn't wearing my seatbelt. I was thrown out and headed for the pavement. I sobered up real quickly! I managed to double up and hit the pavement on my butt. I was going fast enough that I could balance and slide on my butt. I tried to ride on my left cheek for the protection from my wallet and when I started to lose momentum and started to lose my balance I rolled to my left and hit the ground with a Judo slap to try to avoid hurting myself too badly. I rolled to my feet, headed back toward where I'd come out of the car.

The car was about 60-feet away, headed up the exit road, engine still running and the door open. It was in neutral because I had pulled it out of 3rd but flew out before I managed to hit 2nd. I ran up and jumped in the door as the car just started to roll back. I pushed in the clutch, grabbed 1st gear and proceeded up the exit to P Street. I only lived about 4-blocks away and drove home gingerly.

When I got inside I did an inspection. The outer left pant leg seam on my slacks had been split from my hip to my ankle. My pants had rolled up my leg and given me some protection as they were torn on the pavement. My sock was ripped and my belt was almost ripped in half. I had a brush-burn on the bottom of my left cheek, just below where my wallet had been, it was a little less than 2-inches-very raw and tender. I had another spot, about an inch in size, above my belt-line, and I had some minor scrapes on my left arm in the elbow area from when I slapped the ground.

With all of the things which my stupidity could have caused, I thank the Lord that I came out of it virtually unscathed.

[LeighP]

Wow, didn't wreck the car and got out of it with scratches....now thats lucky!