Yeah, I've been very fortunate. Of all the years, and thousands of miles (well over 100K now), I never wrecked a car, and only laid a bike down once.
I never really ran in any of the 'groups' up there; pretty much, like today, did my own thing. I had several cars I chased spinout, and when I started riding bikes; same thing; several riders I rode with went down. I decided fairly early on I would just drive/ride by myself so as not to push people too hard, and so I wouldn't be pushed into doing something stupid myself. There's always going to be someone faster on any given day. Fangio, Clark, Senna, Schumacher et al, didn't win EVERY race they entered. Ego's are probably the biggest reason people wreck. You gotta know when to back off, or when it just isn't your day...
As for Frank's comments, and if he'd been there in the day he'd know, the scene then isn't really all that different than it is today.
Just like the Snake, the press sensationalized what was going on, and always played fast-and-loose with the facts. I can't speak to what is was like prior to '79, and Charlie sounds like a real character, but I frequented both the Snake and the racecourse on a regular basis since '79, and the only real difference is that the Snake has always seen major action during the day, whereas the Racecourse saw it at night.
People tend to get a little crazier at night, and plenty of late night hooliganism goes on at the Snake, but you wouldn't know when you aren't there.
Frank has judged an entire group of people, and entire scene, at a different time, based on one sensationalized TV segment without realizing people could look at the videos of the Snake and come to the same conclusion of the people that hang out up there, including himself.
The videos of the Snake, like the sensationalized TV segments on the Racecourse, are a very small peek, of the very worse, of what really goes on there. Most, if not all of the stupid driving (lane crossing and drifting) and MC crashes on the Snake, are not 'regulars'.
In all honesty, IMHO, and I've been frequenting both for many, many years, the Snake has always been far more dangerous than the racecourse ever was... And that's primarily due to the shear volume of MC's and cars that go through the Snake in a single day. It's just a numbers game...
But yeah, Chris, it was a different time then, and a lot of fun! We certainly did things then that we wouldn't do today, but it
WAS a different time, AND we were kids...
I REALLY do miss those days. I remember skateboarding to Van Nuys Blvd on Wednesday nights to look at all the cars, and couldn't
WAIT to join in on the fun one day. There really hasn't been anything remotely close to that whole scene since...
Then, when I discovered Mulholland, my life changed forever... LOL! When you stop and think about it, that hill took a LOT of our time. Not just the time hanging out talking with friends, or the runs, but the countless hours working on the machines getting them just right. The testing. The fine tuning. The exhilaration went you got it all right. When you nailed a run from Sepulveda to Cahuenga, without seeing another car.
Yes, those were the days...
