When I was an adolescent, it was the fall of 1967, and the new Corvette for 1968 had just been released. The excitement that profile caused was like Christmas for an 8 year-old, but it was giving the stimulus to anyone who cared about hot cars and the unveiling of the models in the fall. One of those "lookit that, there goes one, now! Wow!" moments.
A guy in town (western NY) had purchased one, and was a local habitue' at a lounge on the outskirts of town. Like the Ace Cafe' someone had made a bet with him about making it to a point in an adjoining town and back to the pub, in a set time. A local woman volunteered to ride 'shotgun,' the time was set, and there they went.
On a sweeping curve just-before entering the outskirts of where he was to turn-around, he lost control. The road at that point had a steep descent off the shoulder of the road. The car went airborne as it veered out-of-control, and it center-punched a tree on the outside of that curve.
The driver was dead at the scene. The woman lived, but it cost her a leg amputation. The tree fared best of-all. It lost some bark about five feet above the ground, the amount of the drop to the ground from the grade of the road at that point.
The car was disintegrated. I went to the wrecking yard/garage where the car was stored. There was only one body panel left that was recognizable, the passenger door. Everything-else was a pile of broken fiberglass, steel, blood-soaked upholstery, and shattered glass.
The survivor of the accident is still around the village.
About a year after that, three guys from the high school, all recent alumni, were on the side of a Barge Canal (Erie Canal) roadway, working on a Tri-Five Chevy hot rod that belonged to one of them. It had encountered mechanical difficulties, and was pulled to the side swale. The three guys were working on it. The car was a familiar vehicle in the community, everyone knew all-three of the guys. The car was I think a '56, and was most-frequently seen running-around without a front bumper, nose in the air, and glass-packs being 'flow-tested' frequently, much to the consternation of the local PD. The three guys were just 'gearheads,' trying to have fun on a budget. And now their hot-rod car was broken-down on the side of the road.
Here comes Mr. Drinker, toasted to the gills. It's evening, the broken-down car had chosen to expire at a fateful spot. Mr. Drinker approaches the three guys next to the car, sideswipes all of them, and keeps-going. All three were killed on the scene, and all of them were closed-casket, rumor has it there were "only pieces left."
So in the space of about a year, four guys from my western NY community died in auto accidents, and that was my first experience where someone I knew was killed on the road.
On the water (here in Florida we've got a lot of coastline, canals, and lakes) or on the ground, vehicles or vessels can be deadly. You have to be vigilant all the time. Don't operate machinery impaired, and watch-out for those who do, and be prepared to escape.
R.I.P. Gary, Neil, and Guerino
