Kelly pulled out of the parking lot just ahead of me, her ’05 GTO’s lights leading the way. We headed on down Market, winding our way through town. I had kicked on the stereo and was just about to scan the channels when a traffic light separated us – she made it through but I was a little too far behind her to make the caution. No biggie – I just slowed to a stop with Brandon and Stacy behind me. While I waited for the light to change I hit the ‘Scan’ button on the faceplate.
I glanced ahead and saw Kelly’s tail lights slowly fading in the distance. Then, I saw the brake lights come on along with the right turn signal as she was turning onto Arlington, the road that eventually took us out to near where we live.
Since the intersection was a four-lane with a turn lane, it took a couple of minutes for the lights to cycle through, obviously not having vehicle detection built in to the logic. I heard the radio skip through a couple of stations when I heard a loud engine noise to the rear and right of my car. Still waiting for the “Green”, I craned my neck around and back to see what it was that sounded like someone trying to blow their motor. I knew it wasn’t Brandon – his car was too new for him to be playing Rev-King games. When I glanced in the passenger’s side door mirror, I got my answer.
It was Ned who had just jumped out of an alleyway and was coming up to a stop beside me. Oddly, I felt a chill down my spine – not out of concern about a race but rather out of concern for Ned’s mental state. First of all, he was definitely abusing the crap out of the Shelby. It sounded like he even bounced the rev limiter when he bolted from the alleyway. And then, he downshifted it and dumped out the clutch as he came to a stop beside me, to my right. All of this was within 10 seconds or so.
He had his window down and I could see that he was smoking a cigarette; one of those ‘funny-looking’, hand rolled jobs. So, that explained a lot of the attitude tonight – alcohol and weed are a bad mix. He motioned furiously for me to roll down my window, continuing to rev his car as he did so.
I rolled it down.
“Let’s go, Buick Boy. Let’s go – right here, right now. There are no cops around, no traffic. Let’s run ‘em right NOW, funnyman! C’MON! LET”S GO!!!”
For just a second, I gave a thought to doing so but I also knew that I would regret it, either way. Sheesh… what a way for the night to end. I glanced in the rear view mirror and wondered what Brandon was thinking about this turn of events. I would find out a little later.
“Ned, settle down. I told you – I don’t race on the street. Go home and sleep it off. Tomorrow, you’ll be glad you didn’t do something so stupid.”
That only infuriated him more.
“F*ck you, pal! LET’S GO!” More revs, more sounds like he was trying to shoot the blown 5.4 out the hood of the gorgeous car. The motor sounded way too healthy to ignore and to assume it would be an easy race.
I said earlier that my GN was an 11 second ride. Well, that is true. It WAS an 11 second car – what it was now I didn’t know for sure. I hadn’t had it to the track since I had put the built Stage II in it. To be honest, I had yet to run the car for a full run so I just wasn’t sure.
But my car wasn’t 100% in Kill Mode either. I knew the alcohol tank was low but I didn’t think it was empty. The air pressure in the Nitto’s was probably in the low 20’s and not in the upper teens where I set it when I run. On a cold street, I doubted if adequate traction could be had. Of course, ol’ Ned would have the same problem so…
Why NOT?
I didn’t answer him. I first hit the switch to open the cutout – gotta love the solenoid operated cutout option I had installed. The sound and attitude of the Buick went from quietly powerful to serious business.
It was now officially “Go-time”….
I then hit the line-lock and set about doing a short burnout, right there on Market Street at one in the morning with no other traffic in sight. Looking over at Ned, I saw him grin and then yell something back over the noise of the engines and then roll his window back up but I couldn’t make out what he said exactly. I heard him rev and dump the clutch a couple of times to clean his tires. In my mirror I saw Brandon back up a bit, cut over around us and run the light to get down the road a ways to watch. Again – no cops in sight, no traffic in this part of town at the moment….
I released the line lock, pulled up a little closer to the intersection as did Ned…. I set the trans-brake… Ned picked up some revs…. I began to boost the Stage II, 2psi… 3 psi… 4 psi… 6 psi… lights are cycling… I’m pushing up against the 3200 rpm converter…
The Shelby is now screaming in my right ear. I have no idea what Ned has the rpms at but it is way up on the tach I’m sure. He’s going for a banzai launch… but so am I.
The Stage Motor hits 8psi of boost just as the opposing lane’s light goes from yellow to red. In a split second, our lane goes –
GREEN!
We both launch together, rocketing forward and I am absolutely crushed into the seat as I note the front end lift and the steering goes unbelievably light as the front tires nearly lose full contact with the pavement. Thanks to the suspension mods, there is no torque twist of the car – it shoots out straight and true, fender to fender with the radical Shelby.
But the Shelby is absolutely screaming in anger now and Ned grabs the gears better than Even Smith. The GT500 doesn’t miss a beat and we’re STILL as if welded together as I feel the 1-2 shift of my tranny, the front end bolting upward just a bit as it does.
Thankfully, we’ve now passed the last houses on that part of Market. I try to scan the gauges but am absolutely overwhelmed at the sheer, raw power and noise that both of these cars are making. It is too close to tell who – if either – is ahead; the Shelby is not giving an inch but neither is the Stage II. Everything seems to become a blur that is moving so fast it’s almost as if it’s in slow motion.
As the 2-3 shift comes up, I sense that the GN is ever-so-slowly inching ahead just by the slightest of margins. But then - I hear a LOUD bang to my right, catch a glimpse of what looked to be the hood flying up and off the car like a leaf in the wind, and see a flash of light as the Shelby suddenly drops behind as if an anchor was tossed out. I back out of the accelerator and look in the rear view mirror to see what happened.
Just as quickly, I wish I hadn’t.
In unbelievably slow motion, I see the Shelby’s striped hood floating back to earth while at the same time I see flames licking out of the GT500’s engine compartment. There is no way that Ned could see out the front window – it looks to be a massive fuel/oil fire.
But then, to make matters worse, the Shelby suddenly yaws left and then back right, as if the rear brakes had locked up and then it goes into a sideways skid, off the road to the right.
At what had to be still at least 60 mph if not more with the driver’s side leading the way…
My foot is on the brake hard as I watch the Red Mustang sliding in my rear view mirror…the front wheels hitting the stoned area just at the edge of the road… stones and dirt and dead grass flying up for a moment… enormous blue/red/yellow/white/orange flames dancing devilishly from the nose of the car… the rear end trying to pass the front end of the Shelby… I see the nose dip down as the forces of physics draw the car down into the ditch… more grass and dirt and debris being blown up and about… eerie lights and shadows playing about the roadway…
And then I witness the sickening sight of the Shelby hitting the power pole on its driver side – how near the door I could exactly see - with enough deadly force to wrap the car nearly around it. The dust and debris still fill the air but the flames are building even more….
I slam the GN into a power turn and race back there with Brandon and Stacy right with me… We bail out of the cars and run upward, me with the extinguisher I grabbed from the mount on the rear floorboard of the Buick…
I try to knock down the fire and have only enough success to slow it down for a bit as Brandon tries to rip the driver’s door open… Ned is slumped in the seat; a huge gash visible on the left side of his head… the flames beginning to build again as Brandon smashes the window of the door that unbelievably did not break in the crash… Stacy is screaming while she dials 911 on her cell…
It’s only going to be a matter of time before the Shelby explodes… fire is trying to work its way back underneath the car but thankfully, the fuel tank held – for now…
The extinguisher is empty… I run to the passenger’s side and that’s when I see the girl moving her mouth as if to scream but no sounds can be heard… she’s hysterical and blood is streaming from her mouth and nose… her eyes are huge with fear and she’s trying to loosen her seat belt but for some reason, it won’t release… I see that she’s got a five-point on and for some odd reason she’s feeling along the edge of the seat… I smash the window with the empty extinguisher…
In the distance, we can hear sirens begin to wail… possibly coming our way?
The heat is building… the flames are coming back stronger than ever…
Brandon is leaning in the driver’s window and is trying to free Ned from his five point but Ned is not moving. For all we know, he’s dead… we just can’t tell… seconds are going by… the heat is building…
I hit the release on the girl’s five point and suddenly she’s screaming loudly in my ear, begging me to pull her through the window – the door will NOT open due to the body damage… I grab her under her arms and pull but she only gets part of the way out…
The smell of burning plastic, paint, oil… insulation… it’s overwhelming now… I finally get the girl out of the car and surprisingly, she takes off running… Stacy goes after her as I race around to the other side of the car to try and help Brandon…
I see Brandon straining and straining and pulling and tugging, trying to extricate Ned from the Shelby… Ned’s head is just flopping about but Brandon does have him almost out of the car… I see foamy blood from his nostrils but it does appear that he’s breathing…
Finally, Ned is free… his feet slide down the side of the door… multiple siren sounds are getting louder and louder… Stacy catches the girl and holds her close, their silhouettes visible against the back light of the town we just left as she tries to bring her back and around the wreck… with Brandon carrying Ned’s torso and me lifting his legs/feet, we get Ned safely away from the Shelby and over onto the grass near where the GN is parked…
The Shelby doesn’t explode but it burns frantically, its headlights are still on and mysterious groans and hisses emanate from the burning hulk… the fire department and EMS services arrive… firemen attack the burning car… EMT’s and Paramedics run over to us with wheeled stretchers and orange emergency kits, asking us who is hurt… they see Ned is seriously hurt and two of them get to work on him immediately…
Police cars pull up, their blue and red lights swirling and dancing about the fields… reflecting off of street signs, the cars, our faces… life is blurring again… I realize that I’m exhausted and tears are in my eyes as the reality of what just happened hits me like a train from behind… I see the EMT’s doing CPR on Ned, intubating his airway… the defibrillator is pulled from the closest ambulance and ran over as the lead Paramedic rips Ned’s shirt open…
“CLEAR!” I hear the EMT yell as the paddles are rubbed together and then slapped onto Ned’s very white chest… I see Ned’s body jump as the jolt of electricity tries to get his heart out of ventricular fibrillation… Again, “CLEAR!”… ZAP!.... his body jumps again…
“I’ve got a pulse! Let’s load and go – NOW! We may not get him back if he goes again!”…
Cars are now coming from everywhere… ambulances and sirens are magnets to those who are curious… Stacy continues to hold the girl’s hand as a female EMT does a first assessment of her condition…
I realize that I am shaking… and that I miss my wife, Kelly… and that I wish this day had never started…
Brandon comes over and puts his arm around my shoulders… we just stand there, absorbing what has happened but not understanding it…
It was not turning out to be a very good day at all… and it was already two days long…
Just then, I heard, “STEVE! Are you ok?!” It was Kelly – she had seen the lights and since I had never made it home she came back…
She came running up, grabbed me around the waist and hugged me… it was about the best thing I could think of happening at that point in this very, very bad day…
And I didn’t even know or care how tomorrow might be…. Looking back, it was probably best that I didn’t…
More to come… (later this week)
I glanced ahead and saw Kelly’s tail lights slowly fading in the distance. Then, I saw the brake lights come on along with the right turn signal as she was turning onto Arlington, the road that eventually took us out to near where we live.
Since the intersection was a four-lane with a turn lane, it took a couple of minutes for the lights to cycle through, obviously not having vehicle detection built in to the logic. I heard the radio skip through a couple of stations when I heard a loud engine noise to the rear and right of my car. Still waiting for the “Green”, I craned my neck around and back to see what it was that sounded like someone trying to blow their motor. I knew it wasn’t Brandon – his car was too new for him to be playing Rev-King games. When I glanced in the passenger’s side door mirror, I got my answer.
It was Ned who had just jumped out of an alleyway and was coming up to a stop beside me. Oddly, I felt a chill down my spine – not out of concern about a race but rather out of concern for Ned’s mental state. First of all, he was definitely abusing the crap out of the Shelby. It sounded like he even bounced the rev limiter when he bolted from the alleyway. And then, he downshifted it and dumped out the clutch as he came to a stop beside me, to my right. All of this was within 10 seconds or so.
He had his window down and I could see that he was smoking a cigarette; one of those ‘funny-looking’, hand rolled jobs. So, that explained a lot of the attitude tonight – alcohol and weed are a bad mix. He motioned furiously for me to roll down my window, continuing to rev his car as he did so.
I rolled it down.
“Let’s go, Buick Boy. Let’s go – right here, right now. There are no cops around, no traffic. Let’s run ‘em right NOW, funnyman! C’MON! LET”S GO!!!”
For just a second, I gave a thought to doing so but I also knew that I would regret it, either way. Sheesh… what a way for the night to end. I glanced in the rear view mirror and wondered what Brandon was thinking about this turn of events. I would find out a little later.
“Ned, settle down. I told you – I don’t race on the street. Go home and sleep it off. Tomorrow, you’ll be glad you didn’t do something so stupid.”
That only infuriated him more.
“F*ck you, pal! LET’S GO!” More revs, more sounds like he was trying to shoot the blown 5.4 out the hood of the gorgeous car. The motor sounded way too healthy to ignore and to assume it would be an easy race.
I said earlier that my GN was an 11 second ride. Well, that is true. It WAS an 11 second car – what it was now I didn’t know for sure. I hadn’t had it to the track since I had put the built Stage II in it. To be honest, I had yet to run the car for a full run so I just wasn’t sure.
But my car wasn’t 100% in Kill Mode either. I knew the alcohol tank was low but I didn’t think it was empty. The air pressure in the Nitto’s was probably in the low 20’s and not in the upper teens where I set it when I run. On a cold street, I doubted if adequate traction could be had. Of course, ol’ Ned would have the same problem so…
Why NOT?
I didn’t answer him. I first hit the switch to open the cutout – gotta love the solenoid operated cutout option I had installed. The sound and attitude of the Buick went from quietly powerful to serious business.
It was now officially “Go-time”….
I then hit the line-lock and set about doing a short burnout, right there on Market Street at one in the morning with no other traffic in sight. Looking over at Ned, I saw him grin and then yell something back over the noise of the engines and then roll his window back up but I couldn’t make out what he said exactly. I heard him rev and dump the clutch a couple of times to clean his tires. In my mirror I saw Brandon back up a bit, cut over around us and run the light to get down the road a ways to watch. Again – no cops in sight, no traffic in this part of town at the moment….
I released the line lock, pulled up a little closer to the intersection as did Ned…. I set the trans-brake… Ned picked up some revs…. I began to boost the Stage II, 2psi… 3 psi… 4 psi… 6 psi… lights are cycling… I’m pushing up against the 3200 rpm converter…
The Shelby is now screaming in my right ear. I have no idea what Ned has the rpms at but it is way up on the tach I’m sure. He’s going for a banzai launch… but so am I.
The Stage Motor hits 8psi of boost just as the opposing lane’s light goes from yellow to red. In a split second, our lane goes –
GREEN!
We both launch together, rocketing forward and I am absolutely crushed into the seat as I note the front end lift and the steering goes unbelievably light as the front tires nearly lose full contact with the pavement. Thanks to the suspension mods, there is no torque twist of the car – it shoots out straight and true, fender to fender with the radical Shelby.
But the Shelby is absolutely screaming in anger now and Ned grabs the gears better than Even Smith. The GT500 doesn’t miss a beat and we’re STILL as if welded together as I feel the 1-2 shift of my tranny, the front end bolting upward just a bit as it does.
Thankfully, we’ve now passed the last houses on that part of Market. I try to scan the gauges but am absolutely overwhelmed at the sheer, raw power and noise that both of these cars are making. It is too close to tell who – if either – is ahead; the Shelby is not giving an inch but neither is the Stage II. Everything seems to become a blur that is moving so fast it’s almost as if it’s in slow motion.
As the 2-3 shift comes up, I sense that the GN is ever-so-slowly inching ahead just by the slightest of margins. But then - I hear a LOUD bang to my right, catch a glimpse of what looked to be the hood flying up and off the car like a leaf in the wind, and see a flash of light as the Shelby suddenly drops behind as if an anchor was tossed out. I back out of the accelerator and look in the rear view mirror to see what happened.
Just as quickly, I wish I hadn’t.
In unbelievably slow motion, I see the Shelby’s striped hood floating back to earth while at the same time I see flames licking out of the GT500’s engine compartment. There is no way that Ned could see out the front window – it looks to be a massive fuel/oil fire.
But then, to make matters worse, the Shelby suddenly yaws left and then back right, as if the rear brakes had locked up and then it goes into a sideways skid, off the road to the right.
At what had to be still at least 60 mph if not more with the driver’s side leading the way…
My foot is on the brake hard as I watch the Red Mustang sliding in my rear view mirror…the front wheels hitting the stoned area just at the edge of the road… stones and dirt and dead grass flying up for a moment… enormous blue/red/yellow/white/orange flames dancing devilishly from the nose of the car… the rear end trying to pass the front end of the Shelby… I see the nose dip down as the forces of physics draw the car down into the ditch… more grass and dirt and debris being blown up and about… eerie lights and shadows playing about the roadway…
And then I witness the sickening sight of the Shelby hitting the power pole on its driver side – how near the door I could exactly see - with enough deadly force to wrap the car nearly around it. The dust and debris still fill the air but the flames are building even more….
I slam the GN into a power turn and race back there with Brandon and Stacy right with me… We bail out of the cars and run upward, me with the extinguisher I grabbed from the mount on the rear floorboard of the Buick…
I try to knock down the fire and have only enough success to slow it down for a bit as Brandon tries to rip the driver’s door open… Ned is slumped in the seat; a huge gash visible on the left side of his head… the flames beginning to build again as Brandon smashes the window of the door that unbelievably did not break in the crash… Stacy is screaming while she dials 911 on her cell…
It’s only going to be a matter of time before the Shelby explodes… fire is trying to work its way back underneath the car but thankfully, the fuel tank held – for now…
The extinguisher is empty… I run to the passenger’s side and that’s when I see the girl moving her mouth as if to scream but no sounds can be heard… she’s hysterical and blood is streaming from her mouth and nose… her eyes are huge with fear and she’s trying to loosen her seat belt but for some reason, it won’t release… I see that she’s got a five-point on and for some odd reason she’s feeling along the edge of the seat… I smash the window with the empty extinguisher…
In the distance, we can hear sirens begin to wail… possibly coming our way?
The heat is building… the flames are coming back stronger than ever…
Brandon is leaning in the driver’s window and is trying to free Ned from his five point but Ned is not moving. For all we know, he’s dead… we just can’t tell… seconds are going by… the heat is building…
I hit the release on the girl’s five point and suddenly she’s screaming loudly in my ear, begging me to pull her through the window – the door will NOT open due to the body damage… I grab her under her arms and pull but she only gets part of the way out…
The smell of burning plastic, paint, oil… insulation… it’s overwhelming now… I finally get the girl out of the car and surprisingly, she takes off running… Stacy goes after her as I race around to the other side of the car to try and help Brandon…
I see Brandon straining and straining and pulling and tugging, trying to extricate Ned from the Shelby… Ned’s head is just flopping about but Brandon does have him almost out of the car… I see foamy blood from his nostrils but it does appear that he’s breathing…
Finally, Ned is free… his feet slide down the side of the door… multiple siren sounds are getting louder and louder… Stacy catches the girl and holds her close, their silhouettes visible against the back light of the town we just left as she tries to bring her back and around the wreck… with Brandon carrying Ned’s torso and me lifting his legs/feet, we get Ned safely away from the Shelby and over onto the grass near where the GN is parked…
The Shelby doesn’t explode but it burns frantically, its headlights are still on and mysterious groans and hisses emanate from the burning hulk… the fire department and EMS services arrive… firemen attack the burning car… EMT’s and Paramedics run over to us with wheeled stretchers and orange emergency kits, asking us who is hurt… they see Ned is seriously hurt and two of them get to work on him immediately…
Police cars pull up, their blue and red lights swirling and dancing about the fields… reflecting off of street signs, the cars, our faces… life is blurring again… I realize that I’m exhausted and tears are in my eyes as the reality of what just happened hits me like a train from behind… I see the EMT’s doing CPR on Ned, intubating his airway… the defibrillator is pulled from the closest ambulance and ran over as the lead Paramedic rips Ned’s shirt open…
“CLEAR!” I hear the EMT yell as the paddles are rubbed together and then slapped onto Ned’s very white chest… I see Ned’s body jump as the jolt of electricity tries to get his heart out of ventricular fibrillation… Again, “CLEAR!”… ZAP!.... his body jumps again…
“I’ve got a pulse! Let’s load and go – NOW! We may not get him back if he goes again!”…
Cars are now coming from everywhere… ambulances and sirens are magnets to those who are curious… Stacy continues to hold the girl’s hand as a female EMT does a first assessment of her condition…
I realize that I am shaking… and that I miss my wife, Kelly… and that I wish this day had never started…
Brandon comes over and puts his arm around my shoulders… we just stand there, absorbing what has happened but not understanding it…
It was not turning out to be a very good day at all… and it was already two days long…
Just then, I heard, “STEVE! Are you ok?!” It was Kelly – she had seen the lights and since I had never made it home she came back…
She came running up, grabbed me around the waist and hugged me… it was about the best thing I could think of happening at that point in this very, very bad day…
And I didn’t even know or care how tomorrow might be…. Looking back, it was probably best that I didn’t…
More to come… (later this week)
