Close Call Stories

[ekrupa2]

The winter blues have me thinking back to the summer Cobra days...which in turn reminded me of a close call I had with mine. Driving to the Woodward Dream Cruise in a caravan of three cars... Cobra ahead...then me...and a Viper behind. Driving under posted speed to the gas station prior to heading for the cruise...one lane north...one south...and a middle turn lane. We were heading south...a mid-size SUV was heading north. At full speed she must have decided she wanted to hit the strip mall on our side. Rather then putting her turn signal on and decelerating to move in the middle turn lane she cut it hard and basically cut in front of me...the SPF's brakes worked flawlessly and I had no choice but to decelerate hard in the turn lane...didn’t lock them up just stopped quick. Missed her by less than three feet. I didn’t even have time to have my life flash before my eyes. Now here is Karma at its best. Police cruiser was behind my neighbors Viper...he immediately shot into the strip mall and my neighbor advised me at the gas station the officer did stop her. We didn’t circle back but I do hope she was at least given a warning about her recklessness.

Any other close call stories out there?

[Ron61]

Not quite as dangerous as yours, but once when I took mine down town and was leaving, some woman in a SUV just kept coming over into my lane and we were on a bridge and I was against the side and finally had to completely stop and was waving and yelling at her to get back in her lane. Dumb fool had a camera phone and was trying to lean across the seat of that tank and take pictures. No cop around unfortunately but some guy behind her in a pick up was just as good. I don't know what happened as he chased her on up the strip and I saw him just force her off the road and as I went by he was on his way back to the SUV and he had that really ticked off look on his face, He saw me go by and waved. Maybe one of the off duty police.

Ron

[PatBuckley]

During a trip to LA with Turk and Jamo in our Cobras we decided to go to the local Starbucks - it was a divided road and we had to do a u-turn right at the Starbucks so I decided to make it a smoky u-turn....sure as hell there were two CHP officers sitting outside the Starbucks drinking coffee...watching.

After we arrived I walked up to them with my arms outstretched as if to get the cuffs put on but they both just laughed.

[mdross1]

The one that comes to mind for me happened a few years ago after having the car scaled.Getting used to the handling, it being incredible,found the traction limits of the BFG's through the twisties.First thought was going out through the woods,but last ditch effort to save it worked.Heart was pounding pretty good,decided to aggressively go through the gears going into to 3rd approx 60mph in a 35 mph zone,looked way down the road only to see a Sheriff looking back at me.Was my lucky day he gave me the slow down gesture.Went home parked the car and popped a top.

[mpanten]

Once while on a cruise I went to pass a slower car. I was accelerating hard when my hat started to blow off. Like an Idiot I took on hand off the wheel to grab my hat. At the same time I hit a grove in the road that shot part way off the road. I saved it, barely, but it scared the crap out of me. From now on I will sacrafice the hat if need be.

[bobcowan]

As I was entering The ***** at Hallet, I had an AI car coming up behind me. I entered the turn slower than normal, because I wanted him to cactch up, and pass me as soon as we exited the corner. He did.

As soon as he passed me, I nailed it. You have to get on it pretty quick, because it's a long uphill climb to the next corner. So I was on it pretty hard, and right behind the AI car. That corner is a left hander, so we were all the way on the right side of the track.

Suddenly the AI car was sideways. Directly in front of me, moveing from left to right. Backwards. I had to get off the gas and traverse the entire width of the trck to get around him. Scared the poo out of me. I was sure I was going to T-bone him. That would have been a bad thing.

Later in the day, we were in the exact same position. I let him pass like before. But this time I waited. I planned to let him get 3-4 car lengths ahead before I got on the gas. Good thing, since he did it again. No big deal the second time. I had plenty of room, and the suspension was well settled for the avoidance manouver.

[D-CEL]

So I went for a drive with my local Cobra guys up to Ojai for lunch. On the way back we got stuck behind a slow moving truck on a long, straight, two lane road. Unfortunately I was the last car in a 7-8 car line. We rumbled along for what seem like an eternity (20-30 seconds? Lol)until I couldn't take it anymore. I stepped out, pulled it into second gear and dropped the hammer.
The big block roared, as I accelerated furiously past the line of my fellow cobra enthusiasts. Thinking confidently to myself "IM SO FREAKIN COOL!"
I roared toward the front of the pack, visions of trophy girls and checkered flags filled the remaining volume of my obviously pea sized brain.
Then it happened, Mr. Slow-poke, the leader of our little Cobra convoy decided he'd had enough too and stepped out to pass. Having no clue that I was coming up behind him hard at 80-90 mph.
With nowhere to go, I lifted out of the throttle and dropped the right side of the car onto the heavily crowned, dirt shoulder.
Bad plan #2:
As soon as the rear tire hit the dirt, the whole ass-end swung out.
Sideways, in the dirt at 85mph next to a line of guys that used to be my friends.
"Son of a ......
"If you don’t get back in it, it's gonna snap and then its all over"
So I matted the loud pedal again and did my very best Steve Kinser. The motor screamed as the car settled into nice gentle drift, passing Mr. Slow-poke and the rolling road block that started the fiasco, and right back onto the pavement just like a planned the whole thing.
"Holy crap! I can be any cooler!!"
Yea, not so much..
Except..... for the giant, brown cloud of freshly tilled soil now blowing over the line of my ex-friends.
Again, sorry to all that were there that day!

Some days, you're just plain lucky, in spiteof your own stupidity.


D-cel

[PatBuckley]

I guess we are pretty much all guilty of doing something totally boneheaded at least once in our lives!

[khansmith]

Mine is all on me. Got my car back from paint and had it mostly put together. My fad comes to town and I want to show off the car by taking him on a ride. Now I didn't do anything stupid during the drive. Pull onto the driveway and go to help my oldman out of the car. I looked at the front wheel and I notice he knockoff is almost completely OFF! Now I am to blame but the painter took off the wheel, put it back on but didn't tell me. Now I havv saftey wire one each wheel and I checked every bolt and I am havin a race shop do another look. Just think of the damage if that wheel came off!

[48ford]

I left work one day in a hurray to follow a fellow hot rodder. He drove straight out onto the street without stopping. I was about fifty feet behind him so I rolled on out my self. When I was about 2/3 of a car length out I heard an air horn. (lots of semi's in the area) I imediately mashed the throttle to the floor. It got real exciting then. The good ole posi did its job as i was already in a right turn. I did a full 360 in a heart beat and got it straightened out down the road just as I heard tires skidding towards me.
All I could do was keep it straight and suck the seat up my back side as I prepared to get tagged. As luck would have it I just out run the truck by a few feet. The next day at work people told me I had really big ones to put on a show like that. It scared me so bad I traded my posi for an open unit to make sure that never happened again.