40, license at 16.
Only two wrecks and an almost, but they were memorable:
1982. Rammed a '72 Datsun 1200 through a creek bed during an all night TSD
rally. (You know, the kind where you don't exceed the speed limit -- as
long as you haven't taken a wrong turn and ended up 20 minutes behind
schedule....) Found out that the route instruction reading "Ignore the
bridge out sign -- there is no bridge" did not mean the road no longer
crossed the creek. Went over the bank at about 35, dropped several feet
onto the concrete slab in the creek bed, climbed up the other side and drove
seven miles to the next control. Found out I'd torn the left front strut
tower away from the fender, and we'd been drifting through corners with the
wheel held on by the lower arm and the tie rod. Had to be towed 50 miles
home at 3am. One of my roommates welded the strut tower back in place, and
I sold the beast for $300.
1984. Had a '79 Rabbit (my first autocross car) catch fire at an
intersection in Evansville (IN), on my way to my first duty station.
Extinguished the fire (1 halon extinguisher + 1 Evansville FD pumper truck)
and convinced the insurance company to fix it rather than totalling it.
Flew back from California two months later to pick it up, found parts under
the hood never seen before or since on a VW. Started driving back anyhow,
dodged tornadoes all the way across Oklahoma, only to have the damn car
catch fire again outside of Amarillo -- bailed out of the flaming car and
sat on the side of I-40 to watch it burn back to the rear axle. (The
windows really make a loud "pop" when the heat gets to them!) Dumped the
carcass at a junkyard in Vega, and for all I know, it's still there. Took
my first and last cross-country bus ride from Vega to Albequrque -- never,
never again!
1999. An almost-wreck in the second Prelude, the day after Halloween -- a
deer jumped out in front of me, and rather than hit it, I took the
agricultural option. Almost got away clean, but ran over two sapling stumps
on the shoulder, which caught the lower radiator support and punched
radiator into an engine mount. Drove 15 miles home with no coolant by
accelerating hard for 10 seconds, then coasting as far as possible -- I was
paranoid about the cylinder head for a month afterwards, but it appears I
got away with it.
I've been good, since.
Jamie
'92 Prelude Si (on its second radiator)
Speed Demon Racing
http://www.mindspring.com/~jsculerati/sdr
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