[TimBer]

Another from my dad:
"It was the bean fields in Oxnard. [My GTO] had a full synchro 4 speed that would go in first gear. At 20-30 miles per hour you could put it in first gear, all the time without even thinking about it. It had good synchro’s. I didn’t see a reason why it wouldn’t go into first gear at any speed. For some reason that topic came up and I made a bet that I could put it in first gear at 80 or something like that. Maybe it was 65. My friend Terry Stevens in the Navy – I was at Point Magu – bet me I couldn’t do it. I was sure I could. In fact I did do it. We left the base and went down these deserted farm roads. He was right next to me and we got up to speed and he gave me the signal and I put it in first gear. It went right in. I heard like a little thump noise. I didn’t think anything of it. I took it out of first gear and put it back in fourth gear and let the clutch out because I had done it. We were going to pull over and he was going to pay me whatever it was. Except when I let the clutch out it didn’t drive anymore. It didn’t pull the car. It was like everything was disconnected. All I could assume was that the centrifugal force of that clutch spinning so fast which it had to spin in first gear at 60 miles per hour – you wouldn’t be able to drive it or ever get it that fast in first gear – that the clutch, this is what happened and when we took it apart the clutch facing disintegrated and flew off. Luckily, clutches do come apart like that in race cars and they can come right through the floor of the car. Luckily, nothing like that happened. So, I had to call my Dad and come and tow me. He was in his old tired 6 cylinder Plymouth Valiant with the chain. From Point Magu, there is a big grade between there and my Dad’s house. We got on the freeway and we were driving at freeway speeds with the chain. We were really good at this. We had about six feet between us. The idea with towing somebody like that is that the person behind has to do the breaking for the person in front too to keep the chain tight. So, you’re watching for a red light or anything ahead and you slow down. Its hard on the car behind’s breaks. Obviously the person in front can’t stop because the car behind will hit him. You want to keep that chain tight otherwise it bangs back and forth. At freeway speeds probably no more than six feet between us – that’s like real tailgating. The big grade was coming so my Dad started going faster and faster. We were probably going 75 when we hit the bottom of the grade – pretty fast for being that close to each other – hoping we would have enough speed to get over the top of the grade. And we did, that little Plymouth pulled us right to the top and over the other side. As I think of it now that my Dad would do that, I don’t visualize him as being that adventurous, but you do what you have to do and I guess he was at heart. He trusted me and figured it was no big deal."