I just witnessed the gnarliest accident front row center!!

[450knotOffice]

And the guy lived! Un-friggin believable!

Here's the story.

I had just gotten back from a drive through Santiago Canyon, which is a beautiful drive with nice long radius sweepers. A Porsche could easily do 120 MPH on the entire road if the driver chose to, but I chose to drive most of it at about 75 while I followed a nice BMW M3 and dragged a fellow Pelican behind.

Anyway, ever since I got new SO-3's in back to replace my old ones the car has felt a little bit squirmier than it used to with the old, almost bald SO-3's. Therefore, after my drive, I decided to stop by a buddy's place to ask him if I could borrow his '74 911 for a bit to test drive it and compare it to mine. Of course, he said no problem at all, so I hopped in and was gone. I was only going to drive it for about 15 minutes.

I finally get through heavy traffic and finally get the car out onto Trabuco Canyon Road, which is a really nice, tight, climbing tree lined canyon road about three miles long, at most. It's a great drive for the Porsche and really showcases its talents. I was lucky and had the whole road to myself. Excellent! I picked up the pace a bit, but not too much because my friend's car feels slightly different than mine and I'm not quite used to it (the old, non boosted brakes mostly) and, most importantly, the car's not mine!

I'm making a nice pace up the road and I start to see a big dually pickup truck a few turns ahead. He's moving fairly quickly but I close to within 40 to 50 yards in short order. The next thing I know, he shoots off like a rocket and takes off! I'm thinking, "Wow, that guy's really moving pretty quickly in this truck!"

Not for long! Within two turns he started to lose it and to my amazement he started to drop his right rear tires off the side of the road and into a ditch. A split second later he clipped a huge wooden telephone pole with the right rear and then all hell broke loose. He instantly tore off his right rear fender and had the back end kick out almost 90 degrees to the left, facing into the near vertical dirt wall. The front of his truck hooked the dirt wall and began to climb up the wall; all the while his truck was moving sideways. It almost instantly skipped on its tires and then flipped over and landed on the passenger's side, slid for a second or so and then flipped over onto its roof. Almost instantly the roof crushed in on the passenger's side almost all the way down to the window frame. Just before it stopped, a little 25 pound dog dropped out of the upside down pickup bed and limped away.

The truck finally stopped and I thought to myself that whoever had been driving it had to be in very bad shape. I pulled up alongside the now upside-down truck and parked crosswise across the road to block any on-coming traffic. My wife's a nurse and I remember thinking, "Damn, I wish Dawn were here right now, we need her." About that time, a couple of drivers that had seen and heard the accident after passing the other way turned around, came back, and had already gotten out of their car to assist. I looked into the passenger side and saw no one, and immediately told some other bystanders to call the 911 and then ran back to the truck. I came around the back side to see the two guys standing next to the driver, who was sitting on the side of the road, slightly bloody and very dazed, with his dog alongside him.

After talking with the guy for a minute or so we realized that the power was still on in the truck because his radio was still playing the CD he was listening to. So I crawled into the cab to shut it off and get his keys and was shocked to find that most of the cab had been crushed. How the heck did that guy make it through that accident!

Drunks have away of doing that because we started checking out the scene and noticed empty liquor bottles, some broken, some intact, strewn all over the place. OK, now everything was beginning to become clear. We had a drunk driver on our hands. A little while later, the guy actually started to kick a few of the bottles over into the creek bed below while we waited for the Fire trucks, paramedics, and CHP to arrive.

Of course, because I was the only real witness to the scene, I had to stick around and wait for the police to arrive so I could give a report of what I'd seen. All the while, I've had my friend's car now for over an hour and he's probably wondering what the heck has happened. Of course, wouldn't you know it; I left my cell phone in my other car at his shop, so I couldn't call him to let him know what had just happened. You should have seen the look on his face when I finally pulled up into his garage an hour and a half after I took the car from him. I told him "You are not going to believe what I just witnessed."

Anyway, that guy is now in serious trouble and his dog has been taken by animal services - and his truck is scrap metal. The guy is lucky to be alive and we're all lucky he didn't take someone out coming the other way on that tiny two lane road.

Drunken idiot.

[Sonic dB]

Good story. Glad that you are OK.

It always pisses me off when I see Bubba fly by in his pick up truck with a cool dog chained in the back of it. The idiot behind the wheel is responsible for that dog in the back. I feel sorry for the dog for having such a stupid owner like that.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Glad that you're OK...but this story only adds another data point to the "true" column on Blue's Theory: People drive like f*cktards when they see a Porsche coming up behind them.

[dtw]

I had to clean up after a drunk that tried to pass a telephone pole at 60 mph. Big hole in the windshield where the dog went through, it landed in the woods a few dozen yards ahead, fortunately killed instantly. Prick driver was in the ICU for months...too bad no one crimped his respirator tube.

[84porsche]

Wow. After I got your PM, I went searching the different threads to make sure it wasn't you. Glad you are alright but what a lucky guy that guy was. I can't believe he survived considering the cab was crushed. And the worse part that gets me upset, is that he was drunk. I hope they take away his license forever but unfortunately that will never happen. Also, glad he didn't take anyone with him.

[KNS]

Drunk driver. He'll go out and do it again. And again...

[jorian]

Glad to hear everyone was OK including your buds' 911. You never did say how his compared to yours. As you know this thread is useless without pics....

[450knotOffice]

I'd love to have pics, but I didn't have a camera or my cell phone with me. Suffice to say that the truck was upside down spread out across both lanes with the cab mostly crushed in. There was destroyed bodywork all over the road along with glass shards, dirt (from the hill), and wood splinters (from the pole) everywhere. The truck's toolbox and tools were laying all over the road and there were a few hard liquor bottles strewn about. The scene was pretty much a disaster. I keep re-playing that accident in my mind and I still can't believe that guy wasn't gravely injured or killed. Lucky dude is all I can say.

That dog is one tough mutt. The truck was almost stopped and upside down and the dog just drops out of the upside down bed onto his feet and scampers away. He limped around for a while but eventually he started using all four legs with no apparent ill effects. He was running around all over the place and was pretty confused and scared. He kept running over to the driver and sitting next to him nervously. Poor dog. I felt so bad for him. He had no idea what was going on but knew it was bad. I was glad to see that he seemed OK, though. I'm guessing he must have been sleeping under one of the big toolboxes that span the bed and bounced around between it and the bed like a beach ball until the truck almost stopped.

As for the other Porsche, it drove nicely. It's a basic '74 911 with 150 HP and has fairly nice pull. I was really more interested in the handling feel as compared to mine. My car is an '84 with Bilstein sports all around and 22/28 torsion bars so the ride is considerably stiffer than his.

[yellowline]

I don't get it entirely. Did you try to resume your pace and go after the truck? Or did you settle down into a pace that was semi-legal?

[Jims5543]

Drunk driving aside. I am tired of these guys in their turbo deisels trying to play sports car in them. Yes, with a chip they are fast, in a straight line. I cannot count how many times a big truck sees me coming up and nails it like we are in a race or something.

I would imagine this is what you witnessed on the road that day. He saw you coming and decided to school you on the brute speed of his big bad truck. Unfortunatly for him there were turns and he was probably drunk.

[/rant]

[yellowline]

Originally posted by Jim Cesiro
I am tired of these guys in their turbo deisels trying to play sports car in them.

Think they're tired of us trying to play Walter Rorhl? Let's face it, we have track opportunities (I'm already excited for next season). The truck guys don't. We don't need to act like we have some kind of exclusive right to the streets. I love a fast drive, but never around others.

[450knotOffice]

As for pace, I just kept on what I was doing. Maybe 45 or so, but the road is tight and tree lined and not the place for a speeding work truck. The whole episode lasted maybe 15 seconds, tops. I came up on the truck, got to within maybe 50 yards and then he just shot out of there, accelerated to a speed that was slightly faster than mine, began to pull away, made it through one turn and lost it on the next one and crashed. Two turns and it was over. Just like that.

And yes, it was a turbo diesel. I don't know what it is with these guys. I've had more turbo diesel trucks try to drag race me, which I don't take part in. Too old and too wise for that crap. Besides, 911's aren't drag racers. They're sports cars designed for twisty roads and can carry a nice pace on those roads. Those trucks aren't. A while back, coming back from Big Bear with my wife, some guy driving a full size pickup behind me seemed to be trying to push me down the mountain. The guy was crazy. What is it with these morons? I have a big Chevy Tahoe that I take to the mountains and I would never drive that top heavy beast like that. Anyone who does is just asking for trouble.

Alcohol and machismo were the primary players in this wreck, as usual.

[Jims5543]

Originally posted by yellowline
Think they're tired of us trying to play Walter Rorhl? Let's face it, we have track opportunities (I'm already excited for next season). The truck guys don't. We don't need to act like we have some kind of exclusive right to the streets. I love a fast drive, but never around others.

I never said I was driving fast on the street. I mearly have to go near a truck on the street and he is pounding on the fast pedal.

Go to the local 1/4 mile strip. I was watching lifted trucks run high 12 and low 13 second 1/4 miles while a tech inspector crawled around my RX-7 looking for a reason to fail me.

I go to DE's to get the speed out of my system. My problem is with the trucks that go buck wild on the street at the mere sight of a sports car or muscle car.

[450knotOffice]

Jim, I agree 100% with you on this. We have the opportunity to take our cars to the tracks if we want to and so do they. If they want to drag race with those quick trucks, then they have every opportunity to bring them to the drag strip and have a go at it. Heck, they could take their trucks to Willow Springs if they wanted to but it would probably not be the smartest thing to with a high CG heavy truck.

What amazes me is when these guys try to play sports car with these beasts just at the mere sight of a little European sports car. This guy saw me in his rear view mirror, was drunk and therefore stupid, and punched it. Two turns later he was upside down. I did not chase him down, I just kept my speed as it was. He pulled slightly away from me and then lost it. I tell you what, I'm glad I wasn't that close to him or he would've ended up on top of my car.

[Jeff Higgins]

Sounds like he should have let the dog drive. It had its ***** together more than the owner it's stuck with.

I had a similar experince last summer when out for a drive with a buddy, both of us in our '72's. We caught up to a turbo diesel Dodge with dulies on it. It had a lawn mower, a Big Wheel, some garden tools, and all kinds of other crap in the back. His dog was in the extra cab and we could see the poor thing flying back and forth accross the window as this idiot flew around the corners trying to stay in front of us.

Yes we were playing Walter Rohrl. We do that alot. So sue us. So was he. No, we did not back off after feeling any sort of guilty pangs of conscious, thinking it was our responsibility not to encourage this idiot to continue. He was actually pretty good, and it was great good fun to watch him absolutely thrash his truck like that. He damn near lost it several times. Would I have felt responsible in some way? No; he's a big kid too, perfectly capable of making his own decisions. I'm sure he got home, cracked a Bud, and told his ol' lady how he just spanked a couple "Poorsh's" in the twisties. Good for him; he had fun, and so did we.

[speeder]

The truck......, it wasn't a '99-'03 Ford w/ the 7.3 Powerstroke by any chance, was it?

I need the motor.

[450knotOffice]

I think it was a Dodge...

[yellowline]

Originally posted by Jeff Higgins

Yes we were playing Walter Rohrl. We do that alot. So sue us. So was he. No, we did not back off after feeling any sort of guilty pangs of conscious, thinking it was our responsibility not to encourage this idiot to continue. He was actually pretty good, and it was great good fun to watch him absolutely thrash his truck like that. He damn near lost it several times. Would I have felt responsible in some way? No; he's a big kid too, perfectly capable of making his own decisions.

By that logic, if you're an accessory to a robbery, do you blame it on your partner, and say it was his decision? No, you're an accessory to the crime. I'd consider you an accessory to reckless driving/endangerment if you pursued someone to the point where they lost control like in the accident above.

[Tervuren]

The only kind of vehichles of ever try to race my P-car have always been Trucks/SUV's. I've had some Mustangs wave they wanted to race, but as the two P-car's never responded they eventualygave up.

its amazing though just how much power those Turbo Deisels have.

My brother's Land Rover was hit by a giant red pickup with a drunk driver at the wheel who hit and ran. My P-car was totaled by a gray toyota pickup.(Not drunk, and did not hit and run).

[450knotOffice]

If I were pushing the guy, I'd probably agree with you, but I wasn't. I came up on him. He saw me. He accelerated away, and within two turns lost control and crashed. That was not US playing around. That was HIM being an idiot and crashing because he decided that he wanted to show me something.

If you are minding your own business and driving your own pace and come up on traffic, and then the traffic speeds up and crashes shortly thereafter, who's fault is that? I didn't egg him on and I didn't crash his truck for him. I simply caught the guy and he decided to show me something.

Well, he did show me something all right.

By the way, had the guy not dropped his rear wheels (it was a dually) into the ditch about 100 feet prior to the telephone pole, he probably wouldn't have hit it in the first place. He was going fast but not as fast as I've seen other trucks move on these roads. He was simply stone-faced drunk and was driving very sloppy, resulting in him dropping a couple of wheels into the ditch and then losing it from there.

CHP agreed with me, btw.