Post: Post Reply: heh speeding is part of the best tradition of the American Way... by LateForLunch

Original Message: heh speeding is part of the best tradition of the American Way...
...but you beat my fastest (about 110 on a surface street in my hometown Monterey Park, California, in a Super Bee). No, I wasn't driving - an older brother's bud took me for a spin one day. I was about 10-11. Monterey Park has a wide road running through a little valley with industrial parks (Monterey Pass Road) where locals could wind out their muscle-cars without much chance of being ID'd or chased by LEOs before escaping into surrounding residential back streets. The cops didn't even bother chasing anyone 'cause they knew it was impossible to catch or I.D. them. We hit a straightaway, he floored it and the speedometer hit 110. I remember feeling...pensive. I had a similar feeling when I went to the batting cage and stood in front of an 85-MPH fastball for the first time - I intuitively understood there was a quantum difference between what I was used to as a youngster and what was possible for adults. I have a movie/T.V. electrician friend (named Ed) who likes to go fast - he 'bought a 280 "Z" back when it was one of the fastest stock cars you could get. Early one Sunday morning when there were no other cars on the road, he decided to test the limits by accelerating downhill on the southbound Hollywood Freeway (in what is known as the Cahuenga Pass). He was up at what he thought was 150+ when he suddenly realized he was still going the same direction at 150 MPH, but was now upside down. The car had flipped over and he naturally thought, "Well, this is it - I'm dead," but even after spinning around a few times, he eventually came to rest completely unharmed. Not only was he lucky to survive but was not arrested. Unknown to him, that year the "Z" had a design flaw that made it prone to flipping over unexpectedly, so when he submitted the insurance claim, even though they knew he was probably speeding, there was no way to prove how fast he was going (no skid marks). So, because of the design-flaw issue, they didn't want a lawsuit, and just offered him a new car. He chose not to reproduce the experiment with the new one.

We hit a straightaway, he floored it and the speedometer hit 110. I remember feeling...pensive. I had a similar feeling when I went to the batting cage and stood in front of an 85-MPH fastball for the first time - I intuitively understood there was a quantum difference between what I was used to as a youngster and what was possible for adults.

I have a movie/T.V. electrician friend (named Ed) who likes to go fast - he 'bought a 280 "Z" back when it was one of the fastest stock cars you could get. Early one Sunday morning when there were no other cars on the road, he decided to test the limits by accelerating downhill on the southbound Hollywood Freeway (in what is known as the Cahuenga Pass). He was up at what he thought was 150+ when he suddenly realized he was still going the same direction at 150 MPH, but was now upside down. The car had flipped over and he naturally thought, "Well, this is it - I'm dead," but even after spinning around a few times, he eventually came to rest completely unharmed.

Not only was he lucky to survive but was not arrested. Unknown to him, that year the "Z" had a design flaw that made it prone to flipping over unexpectedly, so when he submitted the insurance claim, even though they knew he was probably speeding, there was no way to prove how fast he was going (no skid marks). So, because of the design-flaw issue, they didn't want a lawsuit, and just offered him a new car.

He chose not to reproduce the experiment with the new one.