Whats the hairist ride you very had in or on a vehicle?

Land, air or on water?

Land= going through a barb wire fence in/on my brush buggy that was built out of a 54 Buick Chassis that was shortened up to the wheelbase of a CJ Jeep. That was right at my 19th birthday and I still have the scar on my neck from the barb wire as a reminder that I used up aof my life points right there.

 

Not in a hot rod, but i was doing 145 on my friends gsxr600 (crotch rocket motorcycle for those of you who arnt familiar) and the throttle stuck. i was dodging cars on the highway while trying to break, down shift and mess with the throttle cable. longest 30 seconds of my life.

 

1972, on a CB 750, I-5 northbound in downtown San Diego about where 395 crosses I-5. Coming around a regular left hand corner under a few bridges and ramps, I see a police car in the left lane with a mopar sedan up against a bridge pillar. I pull into the far right lane, figuring I'd go by no problem at 70 or so. The officer was out of his car and standing on the freeway frantically motioning me over to the right (where I was going) and watching for other traffic. The there wasn't anyone on the freeway at all that night (about 11:00) and suddenly I'm way up in the air, looking down at a really startled police officer. It seems the windshield popped out of the mopar and was sitting in the road at a great jump angle. I didn't see it, and would have figured it would break, but instead it launched me about 7' into the air. I regained composure and landed fine (lots of dirt bike riding), then motored off to to the next exit, watching the cop staring at me all the way while still standing in the freeway. I had to come back around on a side road to see what was going on, and the officer was dragging the glass over to the left side of the road as other units were pulling up. I don't think I'd ever been that high off road, but the wide-eyed look on the officers face after a perfect landing was priceless.

 

Being driven by Grumpy Jenkins after he had downed a large portion of a fifth of Scotch!

 

No pics.
I took a '55 Ranchwagon over a small cliff (about 30 ft) and landed on its nose in an onion patch in highschool.

Hit the hay bales on a 750 Harley at the end of the back stretch on the San Jose Mile in '80. Bent a wheel but it was hot laps and we repaired and made our heat.

Layed my hawg doen on US 101 by the SF airport at over 100 the year before that. I was the roadrash king for a few days. But Pauls woman was able to put my blue jeans back together so I was happy.

 

Rode in this one at the first Memphis Nats in '71. Too much! 427in Side-oiler motor.
{From an old HAMB thread: 50's Hot Rods]
"Ontario George Fitzios" and he still has it. It was grey way back then, but it's blue now (and has been for about 25 years. George has owned it for well over 30 years. I don't believe it was ever injected, and I've been a friend of George's for a long time, but it did have a wild tunnel ram on it that was home made by a guy in Michigan name of Fred Fleckinstien.
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Tank slap on a cafe racer Yamaha that equaled me meeting pavement at 80 doing a front flip after being highsided in rush hour traffic and yet I walked away just rash and a hole in my ankle

 

Late September of 1966, just prior to being inducted, I was driving my Chev. powered '59 AH Sprite [283 w/2 WCFB's, 3 spd] excessively fast in an unfamiliar sub-division when I realized I was on a dead end street. The car had a 5 lug '63 Ford Falcon Sprint rear end, re-cap 13" cheater slicks from Rink's Bargain City, original front brakes, no proportioning valve, no fan, and no firewall to speak of. When you're getting drafted in 2 days, you don't sweat the small stuff. I instantly lost control and spun through a front yard, stopping only after I crushed part of someone's front steps. Luckily I stopped facing the road with the engine running, and had the presence of mind to dump the clutch and exit the yard before the people hit the porch. This happened in a suburb of Cincinnati called Cherry Grove. If this was your porch, I apologize.

 

around 1994 i had my o/t car (saleen mustang) on the road course at watkins glen. having a great time. a guy in a road racing mustang from canada asks me if i wanna take a ride around the track with him . first lap was easy to get everything warmed up second lap he goes for it. Up thru the ess's and it's awesome cranking up the back stretch i look over and the speedo is saying almost 200 WTF! forgot it's kilometer's not mph as were about to enter the back chicane(added after J.D.McDuffie got killed here) he says the brakes are a little low made it thru ok but it sure felt good to get back to the pits and get the hell outta that thing it was an animal and someone i didnt know with bad brakes yes the shorts needed some extra bleach. My older daughter got to ride in a Steeda track mustang with dario orlando doing the driving that must have been a wild ride for her around Sebring racetrack

 

I had a front wheel bearing freeze up on a 1956 Panhead,,when that happens you start losing spokes in your rim at a rapid rate,,the out come wasn't very good,,for me or the bike! HRP

 

1962, hauling 110 gal of nitromethane up the Harbor Freeway when the engine on the '41 Ford deuce-and-a-half pukes a rod...Phil Brown and I left it in Watts overnight and retreive it the next day with Blair's 58 Ford pickup...hook up the 41 with a logging chain and back on the Harbor freeway...I am to be the brakes for both of us, get up to around 60 and Brown signals me to start braking for the Santa Monica turnoff...then I realize that the '41 has vaccuum-assisted brakes, no motor, almost no brakes, so as he instinctively brakes the tow truck, all I can do is to pass him, two trucks chained together with 110 gallons of nitro scraping the rails of the turnoff at around 55mph...the nitro drums are teetering back and forth in my truck... needless to say we didn't hit anything or I wouldn't be telling the story, but both of us needed new underpants when we finally got back to Pasadena.

 

Another hairy ride, but at the time I didn't think about it. It's February in the late 80s. Went to Philly to look at a 47 Cad conv. Ended up getting the car at such a good deal the buyer decided we ought to drive it home right away before the guy changed his mind. He hopped a plane and I drove back to Motown solo. Spent the night at a friends house in northern PA as a safety stop to run over things one time. All's well until on the PA pike a tadem big rig blows by at like 80mph. The hood popped up about 1/2 way then slammed back down! I was freakin a bit so I stopped at the 1st service plaza to find the latch had broken, I wired it shut with a coathanger and went on my way. Before the trip I did remove the skirts and sombraros just in case and it was a good thing. Just past Cleveland it started to snow...and snow...and snow some more. So deep I didn't have to steer! Snow was building between the top and top of the wndshield, the wipers were slow so I removed one and again a good thing. The snow dropped off the top, wiper goes over it and down the cowl, gone. Another service plaza stop. Took the spare wiper and put it on, filled up and another motorist stops at the car. I was dressed in an old style raincoat and Fedora. The guy says "you're driving that in this weather?" with a tone of shock. I tipped my hat and said "It's my everyday ride..." and he walked away confused. Back on the Pike and finish the ride home, tires tracking in the ruts left by trucks, I-75 north was barren, no traffic at all, could barely see the reflectors on the side of the road. No plows had been out and things were just a bit spooky. It was now 1am and I'm alone on the freeway, no traffic, no mobile phone, driving a 47 Cad conv in pretty showy condition in a major snowstorm. I was both proud and concerned, got home at 2:30am and the report was a 24" snowfall. The next morning I went out and thanked the car for getting home, imagining what if someone went through this in 47. I had turnpikes and freeways. I wouldv'e been stranded somewhere if I had stopped. Looking back it really was a hairy ride but at the time I was determined to get home and actually enjoyed it. If I find it, I'll scan the pic I took at a PA train station minus the skirts and wheelcovers.

 

OK lads here it goes
Winter 1980. Went to a hotrod xmas party. It was the day before I was going to pull the roadster apart and paint it. After the party was over we decided to go to a bar and have 6 or 10. Well I left the bar about 6 beers past Fucked up and headed home. Some where along the way at about WFO we left the road. She rolled 3 times. Don't tell any one but if I would have had seat belts I would be dead. As near as I can tell when she hit something immovable my hand and arm went through the dash at the intersection of the Speedo and tach. Speedo was crushed at 48 MPH. The spire of the dash went through my arm just above my wrist. I flattened the fire extinguisher with my forearm and laid open my forehead on the edge of the dash. Took 67 stitches to close my fore head. I was up under the dash for the full 3 rolls and as she slid down the road upside down it ground a lot of the back of my head off. When the emergency crew arrived I was not there. The crew asked the cops if they knew where I was and he said if you follow that trail of blood up the road you will probably find him. This is from the EMT that picked me up. Took my blood in the ambulance and you could see right through it.
Roadster sat tore all apart for 25 years in the garage. Took a few months off work in 03 and rebuilt it.
Don't drink and drive!!!
FUZZY

 

All loaded up and just pulling our of my driveway for a stock car race about 100 miles away. The water pump in my pickup gave up the ghost and we had to borrow my crewmember, Dave's dad's old Dodge truck. We were running late by then so forgot to check the air in the tires. About 30 miles away from home, with Dave driving, we were descending a hill as the road curved down to a bridge over a creek. The trailer carrying my '57 Chevy stock car started to sway. On the third of progressively larger sways, the trailer started sliding sideways. It caused the truck to go up on two wheels and I thought we were goners. As the trailer hit the grass on the left side of the road, the reduced traction let it settle down and we flew off the road backwards at about a 45 degree angle to our direction of travel. We went through a barbed wire fence and on about 40 yards through some small trees and brush before coming to a halt.
Amazingly, we nor the equipment were hurt. We did have to let some more air out of the tires to get back on the road, as the soil was sandy. We limped into the next town and filled up the tires and took a much needed restroom break before continuing to the track. I wish I could say the races went better for us, but the new dirt track wasn't properly preparred and it started comming apart before the end of the first heat race and the remaining races had to be canceled.

 

I had my Logghe altered on every possible combination of two wheels until I finally met a concrete guardrail head-on. Fractured two vertabrae and spent four weeks on my back baiting telemarketers.

The car is being reconstructed for nostalgia racing. The avatar pic is a later replacement ride. Also a thrill.

 

I was driving my 31 rpu home from the Gas-Up in Buellton, CA. It was dark and I was going about 65 through the curves. I came around a corner to see a motorhome laying on it's side blocking all lanes of traffic. I had to decide to slam on the brakes and hit it or drive around it on the dirt shoulder next to the edge of the mountain. I went with the shoulder of the road. My back tire dipped off the edge and it was enough to spin me around but when the dust settled I was rubber side down and hadn't hit a thing. I just remember the 34 commercial headlights beaming into a cloud of dust and i was facing the motorhome but on the other side. I think I used up all my good luck in one shot!

 

Wildest ride would have been Claudette Hoffer on the trunklid of her '60 Buick.

 

Had 3 friends packed into my old T bucket one night, Lit it up at a stop light, at bout 65 mph guy sittin in the middle accidentally kicked the shifter into Park, car locked up and spun that bucket like a top!! did about 5 or 6 complete 360's. finally pulled it out and stopped coming inches to hitting a row of parked cars on the side of the street, Turned the opposite way facing on coming traffic on expressway

 

Several:
1969, my friend's 55 Chevy wagon, small block with Rochester FI, sideways through a corner, winding up in third with 5:13 gears.
Mid 80's, riding shotgun in a New Mexico State Police Crown Vic WFO. I got to run the siren too....(I was being relayed to a ambulance call)
About the same time frame, different run, smoked a 454 Chevy ambulance running code with 4 MVA patients in the back. They don't run very well without water when you break a belt and nick a radiator hose in the process. They will run about twenty miles at 85-90 before the coolant quits circulating!
And a few more, but have to leave for lunch now.......

 

My 99 Honda Blackbird. 1100cc crotch rocket, the fastest thing Honda made and when it first came out it was the fastest machine on the planet. I took her on the freeway and wrung it's neck until I hit 181 on the speedo... but that wasn't the hairiest.

Making a mountain pass run and on my way home, I was coming to the last of the twisties. Just passed 2 cars and was coming up to a left handed sweeper. I knew I was coming in a little hot and had a handful of brake to shave off speed. Just at the time I was going to let off the brake and go into the turn, I hit a patch of dust, get a millisecond of headshake and do a high-side at about 40 mph. Not a piece of plastic left on the bike that isn't completely shredded. Helmet, jacket and pants destroyed. Gloves torn through and it's been almost 2 months and my thumb hasn't closed up yet. My knee is finally closed and my ankle cast will be off in another week so I can get back on two feet and buy a replacement bike. I'm thinking an RC51...

The old girl... RIP

 

Drafted in '66 that was a pretty damned hairy ride in itself.
Even if you didn't make SE Asia your destination I really appreciate what you have done. Screw the damned fron porch.

 

Some years ago the career that I was in became obsolete. Central California is one of the worst places in the nation to be out of a job, so I used up the last of my savings to go to a truck school to get a commercial driving job. Hadn't been driving long and still very green, I draw a run hauling a max capacity load of beer from Ft.Collins, Co. to Phoenix, Az. They tell you how many miles that they will pay you for the run, and you have to look at a map and figure out a route with those miles or you are driving the extra miles for free. I hadn't been this way before, and found a route. Headed off toward the four corners area. I didn't notice on the map but the route that I took included a 10,000 ft. elevation at Wolf Creek Pass. It was summer so, no snow. The cheap ass company that I was driving for refused to buy trucks with "Jake Brakes" so I had to come down the Mountain all on the gears and brakes. After a while the brake are smoking like a big dog. You are not supposed to take the truck out of gear after you have committed to a certain gear for the descent, you can easily loose control. I'm coming down down, and it's really getting smoky, but I have passed the turn out. It's the middle of the night, full moon, nobody but me. I finally found a wide spot in the road so I pulled off, but you are not supposed to set the air-brakes when they are that hot, so I just let it roll a bit, then stop, roll then stop, and crammed it into a lower gear. In the moonlight I can see the smoke billowing up but no fire, thank God, but I don't know how much more I can take, I was really afraid. Turns out I was nearly at the bottom. About a month later, another driver from my company lost his life doing the same thing, and the company finally instituted a policy of telling the drivers not to go that way but they would still only pay those miles for the run. I don't drive trucks anymore. OTR truck driving=70+hrs a week=sweat shop on wheels.

 

Two complete revolutions end-to-end in my Ford Escort wagon. A little sore from the trip and the seat belts, but fine otherwise.

My dad had a friend who raced a LaSalle with and Olds engine that would heel over to one side badly on every shift.

Years later, they got back together to talk about the old days (the friend restores Alfa Romeos now) and Dad brought up the problem with the LaSalle. "Oh, I never had time to finish the engine swap, so it was sitting on a board across the frame"- the only mount that was attached was on the transmission!

 

Coincidentally, the Hairiest ride I've ever had was from our bass player (Harry) back in my 20s.

He had an olds cutlass (I think) with a firebird motor in it all hopped up. It was a boat that would run 12.66 at OCIR.

He used to pick me up for practice and we would have a hairy ride to the rehearsal spot.

He would drop my off in front of my apartment after wards and do a smoky brake stand out in the street while I sulked into the apartment with guitar in hand as if I didn't know him.

I'll bet that mo mo is on this board somewhere.

 

Everytime I floor the B/B S-10

 

One of the first times I rode my bike and was about to overtake a couple of cars. Was in 2nd gear and hit the throttle hard. The front wheel went to the skies, couldn't keep my feet on the footpegs and when the bike came down again I really hurt my.... precious parts. OUCH! Needless to say, I was a bit more careful after that.

Oddly enough I haven't had any really hairy moments in the hot rod. I mean, the combination of too much engine and roadholding worthy a John Deere should be recipe for disaster.

 

"speed kills" so what the hell. Nobody gets out alive.

 

Did a 360 + 180 spin at 85 mph when a tread separated and folded my fender under the running board of my 31 Sedan. I posted about it here somewhere....

 

jumped on it in the rain in my GTO next to a 69 Z, shifted 2nd to 3rd and the tires were doing 60 but we were doing 40. went 45 degrees one way, then 45 degrees the other way. I actually boadsided the Z while sliding sideways at 40 MPH.

Z went over the center divide, took out a fire hydrant and across 3 lanes of oncoming traffic before ending up on someones apartment patio.

got a ticket for "unsafe speed for conditions".

another hairy one was the ONE time I did a balls out dead stop run through the gears on my 1984 Ninja 900. I really thought the bike was going to shoot out from under me and go flying off down the road. took it up to 60 -70 and slowed down. definitly the most exciting 4 seconds of my life. these bikes were advertised as 0-60 in under 3 seconds and 10.30 @ 130 in the quarter. never had the balls to take it to the track and see.

 

If airplanes count, I was flying a 172 into Columbus, MS (KGTR). I was on short (and I do mean short) final, an ASA regional jet was holding short. Despite my having called final he decided to take the runway for departure. I was close enough that when I banked to go around I could see the fear on the passenger faces. A second time, as I was rolling out the right main gear hit a dip in the runway, bouncing that side and rolled the left. The wingtip was about 4 inches from the runway. Those are just some of my aviation stories.