Old timers?

[gearhead]

Anyone heard from Javi or trucker Lou?

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by gearhead

Anyone heard from Javi or trucker Lou?

I reached out to Javi in January and didn’t get a response …I noticed he was silent for a few months..hope all is well

[sourdough]

I haven't heard or seen any comments from him for quite some time. He had some previous medical issues and I hope that nothing has happened.

[xrated]

It shows that he hasn't been logged in on the forum since 2/5/2023.

[wiredgeorge]

bsmith404 hasn't been around in some time either.

[trucker LOU]

Hi All, Alive and well, visiting friend in Philo IL. we were returning from Speed Week at Bonneville Salt Flats and got hit&run side swiped in Lincoln NE. some damage to truck, trailer ok

[gearhead]

Originally Posted by trucker LOU

Hi All, Alive and well, visiting friend in Philo IL. we were returning from Speed Week at Bonneville Salt Flats and got hit&run side swiped in Lincoln NE. some damage to truck, trailer ok

Good to hear from you!
I was reading about John Mecom and Lola cars and you came to mind.
I’ve sorta been “in the ditch”. I had a detached retina and had emergency surgery to correct it. I had to cancel trips for 2 sprint car races…Husets Speedway in Brandon SD and Eldora Speedway in New Weston IN.
You still following vintage racing?

[trucker LOU]

our team raced at Road America in July, 2 Formula Fords.1st & 2nd in class .01sec between. great weekend

[gearhead]

There were several years I thought I wanted a Formula Ford.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by gearhead

There were several years I thought I wanted a Formula Ford.

Why? When we're young and "full of it" yeah, I owned hot rods, did crazy things and threw caution to the wind - almost killed myself and ended up in ICU for a long time, but now...why?

I had every intention of buying the new Corvette C8 Z06. Just went and sat in a regular C8....why? What am I going to do at this age with just me and DW....act like a 16 year old trying to show out on some square, an interstate etc? All of it putting us in not only jeopardy of deadly injuries but also stiff, stiff citations....why?

I'm a grown up guy; I like fast cars, modified 4x4s etc. I had one too many times of me and DW being left in the middle of nowhere because we wanted thrills when we were too old... I can afford these toys ...I do not want something to show out in and put us, at this late time in life, in danger to have some sort of perceived fun.....that was fun 50 years ago. JMO. I like quiet, cooking, people leaving me along, nature etc. etc. JMO

[gearhead]

Originally Posted by sourdough

Why? When we're young and "full of it" yeah, I owned hot rods, did crazy things and threw caution to the wind - almost killed myself and ended up in ICU for a long time, but now...why?

I had every intention of buying the new Corvette C8 Z06. Just went and sat in a regular C8....why? What am I going to do at this age with just me and DW....act like a 16 year old trying to show out on some square, an interstate etc? All of it putting us in not only jeopardy of deadly injuries but also stiff, stiff citations....why?

I'm a grown up guy; I like fast cars, modified 4x4s etc. I had one too many times of me and DW being left in the middle of nowhere because we wanted thrills when we were too old... I can afford these toys ...I do not want something to show out in and put us, at this late time in life, in danger to have some sort of perceived fun.....that was fun 50 years ago. JMO. I like quiet, cooking, people leaving me along, nature etc. etc. JMO

Oh I don’t want a race car now, but when I was 25 oh yeah.
Go get that Corvette. My 2008 was a great car, very dependable. It had one minor reall. I could get around 30 mpg on a level road, if I could keep my foot out of it. I did take it out occasionally and air it out. I’ll just say at 165mph the fence posts are a blur. I had an isolated road with almost no traffic to do that. No way I would endanger someone on a freeway.
I got rid of it when I bought a new truck. Something was going to have to be parked outside the garage. Not Betty’s car, not the boat, either the Corvette or the new truck. Corvette lost and got sold. The other factor was possible car jacking. No sense inviting it.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by gearhead

Oh I don’t want a race car now, but when I was 25 oh yeah.
Go get that Corvette. My 2008 was a great car, very dependable. It had one minor reall. I could get around 30 mpg on a level road, if I could keep my foot out of it. I did take it out occasionally and air it out. I’ll just say at 165mph the fence posts are a blur. I had an isolated road with almost no traffic to do that. No way I would endanger someone on a freeway.
I got rid of it when I bought a new truck. Something was going to have to be parked outside the garage. Not Betty’s car, not the boat, either the Corvette or the new truck. Corvette lost and got sold. The other factor was possible car jacking. No sense inviting it.

LOL. My son trashed the 350 in a Z28 so I rebuilt it. It already had some performance parts on it and I just pumped it up some more. Was getting if all tuned it, finished under the hood, slammed it I thought and headed out to that road you mentioned and I highlighted.

Turned on the road; empty, 2-3 miles long and straight as an arrow. Let the Z start to unwind and was well over 100 (lyrics from Hot Rod Lincoln come to mind; They said "slow down, I see spots", the lines on the road just looked like dots) really liking the way that engine sounded. All of a sudden BAM and the world was black - couldn't see a thing and speeding right along. Locked the wheel straight and started pulling it down slowly. I hadn't slammed the hood tight, it came loose and whacked right over the windshield! That led to even more work....sigh.

Sorry for the diversion, just kind of came to mind. Yes, it got sold as well.

[chuckster57]

Want to talk about the days we thought we owned the world and were invincible?

1976(?) I had a Suzuki T500, buddy had a Honda 400. We lived in Pleasanton, ca. rule was you had to hit 100 mph on ANY street long enough. Of course there was no helmet law so we made sure it was strapped to the seat, LOL!!

We went over a set of high railroad tracks and instantly yanked the throttle. 1/4 mile and we are both at about 80, PD is on the other side and decides we are his next tickets. We hit the on-ramp at 80+ and gone!!! Go north to the next highway and stay on the throttle for 5 miles. Get off in Livermore, and figure “we win”. Cruise back into town and pull into the local drive in for a well deserved burger.

As we sat there recounting our adventure, we hear from the next booth “that was you guys?”, it was the cop that flipped a uturn. Of course we owned up to it and all he said was “ when you hit the on-ramp and didn’t dump your bikes, I said to myself let ‘em go”.

It did slow us down…..for about a week LOL.

[gearhead]

I’ve always had a low grade fever for motorcycles. I wanted a Honda 4 cylinder 350 when they came out. A co-worker got one then got ran over at the red light in front of the plant. No bad injuries but that cooled me off for awhile. Then getting married cooled me off more. When we retired I was shopping BMW bikes but never pulled the trigger.
Now I occasionally look at the Honda trail or their small dual sports. Looks good for buzzing around town and putting on a front rack on my truck for travelling.
What will I do? Probably nothing.

[flybouy]

Sense this thread has "turned" I'll write about my experience that did slow me down. Apologize for the length of this in advance.

It was 1974, I was 22 yrs of age, driving a 1972 Grand Torinio, thinking I was "in control and invincible". Took a drive into WV to scope out some hunting sights with my cousin for the upcoming deer season. Driving home I was feeling the "need for speed" with a Lead Zeppelin 8 track blasting away. I was driving over 5 mountains that crossed the Allegany Front.

Crossed the first mountain and at the crest a long straight descent, cross a river and a long straight ascent up the next mountain. As I flew across the there was LEO setting on the opposite shoulder with radar. I braked as hard as possible without locking up the brakes before passing him. I looked in the mirror, didn't see him turn around so I just proceeded to let gravity help me regain my velocity lost. Climbed up the next hill and when I made the first curve there was a 1940 something Chevy truck chugging up the hill. NP, no one in the opposing lane so I passed him, crossing the double yellow line. Keeping an eye in my rear view mirror I merrily motored on.

About 30 miles disappeared behind me as I approached the crest of the last mountain. There was a tractor trailer struggling up the steep grade with about 5 cars behind him, nowhere to pass. As I checked my mirror I see a state police car come wheeling around the curve with siren and lights going. I initially thought no, can't be, but it was. As soon as I could find a place to pull over I stopped and he pulled behind me. My initial thoughts were " I hope my cousin will bail me out of jail".

So I walk back and the officer, let's call him "Everycarr" (his name had the same meaning every but shorter 3 letter word) told me set in the front seat of his car. It was a different world then, no cage, no floor mount shotgun, etc. I sheepishly asked "what's the issue" and he said " I clocked you doing 77 mph in a 55 zone, THAT WAS AFTER YOU SLOWED DOWN!" OOPS, sorry about that.

So after signing that ticket he flips to the next blank citation and gets ready to write. I thought here comes a ticket for alluding so I said "Sir, I wasn't running from you, I had no idea you were chasing me." He responded that it wasn't for eluding but for passing the old truck in a no passing zone he said "Because I had to pass him to chase you!" Thinking quickly I said " You mean that old red truck that pulled over and let me go by?" The trooper knew he didn't witness me passing so he didn't cite me for that.

After a brief discussion on how to pay the fine(that's an interesting story in itself) he said I was free to go. I said "Can I ask you why you didn't pull me over sooner?" He said "I couldn't catch you!" OOPS, wrong question. He told me that as he would come out of one curve he would just cath my taillights ahead as I turned into the next curve. He told me he knew I wasn't running from him as I couldn't see him behind me.

Long setup but hopefully you'll understand the relevance if you're still reading this.

So deer season came and we were out in an unusually warm day for fall in the mountains. It was so warm I had shed my warm layers and was in jeans and a T shirt. We were headed back to my cousins house, he was driving his 1964 Mercury Comet and I was riding shotgun. As we crested a hill there was a car stopped with 3 cars stopped behing him. We were only going about 45 mph. My cousin hit the brakes and the LF wheel locked and jerked the car sideways going down an 8% grade. My immediate concern was the possibility of hitting that last stopped car.

Well we stopped without touching anything. I looked into the opposing lane and a truck his coming straight for us doing about 40 mph, and he's not letting of the gas! So I prepare for impact in the seconds we had and he hit us and still was on the accelerator pushing us sideways for about 90'. I had never felt such pain in my life. The door I was setting beside was now in the middle of the car and my right foot was pinned between the door hing and the transmission hump. Steam from the radiator of the truck now inches from my face. I started frantically pulling on my boot until freed. I exited out the drivers door and my cousin panicking asked if I was OK. I said I was and he then focused on his BIL in the back seat.

Adrenalin is a powerful drug. I started feeling back/leg pain and thought I likely pulled a muscle, I'll just walk it off. Well, I turned around, walked about 8' and fell to the road, still conscious but by body refused to remain standing. As I laid there my back and hip began transmitting the damage that was incurred to my brain, I wished I had passed out then. So calling for help (no cell phones or 911 back then) meant someone finding a phone and calling the SP. It took about 20 min. for the LEO to arrive and during this time my right leg is going numb.

The first trooper arrives and he says "Close your eyes son" to which I replied "He'll no, I'm not going to die!". He assured me that he only wanted to brush the glass of my face so it didn't get in my eyes. I opened my eyes and there he was, bent over me and I see his name badge glistening in the sun...TFC "Everycarr"! I seriously thought for a moment that I died and went to hell with this guy as my punishment. The pain reminded me of my earthly bounds.

Another 10 min or so and the ambulance arrived and loads 3 of in, and we are on our way to a little hospital about 25 miles away. After some x-rays the general surgeon ( they had no orthopedic surgeon) came in and said that my right pelvis was broken into 3 separate pieces, my lobar spine was crushed at
L1-3, and they had no idea if I had any internal damage. He informed me that they were monitoring me for a possibility ofruptured spleen. Fortunately that didn't didn't happen but my kidney was severe bruised.

So the point of this lengthy tome is this, I had to be taken to surgry, given anesthesia and the general surgeon set my pelvis. They put me in traction with 69 lbs pulling on my right leg. After 10 days I was stable enough for an ambulance ride to a hospital in Baltimore the specialized in orthopedic surgery some 225 miles away. I spent nearly a month there and after a huge metal brace to hold my back together and a set of cruthes I went home on Christmas eve.

I was on crutches for about 3 months, walked with a cane for about 6 months so I had a lot of time to reflect. Although the accident wasn't my fault I couldn't stop thing I this was what can happen with "slow speed" impact what could happen at the speeds I was accustomed to driving? My cousin is an excellent, highly skilled driver, if this happened to him it could happen to me. The experience changed my thought process on risk taking on the highways. This was my experience, YMMV

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by gearhead

I’ve always had a low grade fever for motorcycles. I wanted a Honda 4 cylinder 350 when they came out. A co-worker got one then got ran over at the red light in front of the plant. No bad injuries but that cooled me off for awhile. Then getting married cooled me off more. When we retired I was shopping BMW bikes but never pulled the trigger.
Now I occasionally look at the Honda trail or their small dual sports. Looks good for buzzing around town and putting on a front rack on my truck for travelling.
What will I do? Probably nothing.

And we're on a roll!

A bike almost killed me once. It didn't faze me but everyone said "you gotta get back on so the accident won't make you afraid". So, I got a dirt bike and began to ride off road; enduros and motocross. Buddy had a flat track bike and I tried that but just not my cup of tea. Bought several bikes; Yamaha, Suzuki, Harley, Triumph - some off road, some road bikes. Traveled all around the S and midwest. Lots of fun tales, stupid stunts and forgotten LEOs but not another bike wreck (other than off road spills/tumbles). I always wanted a BMW for touring but never got one. Saw too many, and knew too many, that got hurt.

Then a friend of mine who loved bikes transferred to CA and bought himself a new bike (Harley IIRC). Next thing I heard is that a guy cut him off, he tried to lay it down but hit the back of the car and cut his leg off mid thigh - ended up with an artificial leg. I talked to him a little later and the accident had turned him into a very bitter person, nothing like the guy I knew - it was startling. He was divorced without a wife.

I pondered that for about 6 mos., decided I had too many things yet to do, sold the bikes (I had 2 at the time) and started playing with off road 4x4s. I tried hot rodding cars for a while but I ended up feeling about that like I did about bikes - ain't gonna have enough time here anyway, no need to just pull the rip cord early acting crazy.

[gearhead]

I lost 2 friends on bikes. One was on that crazy fast 3 cylinder 750 Kawasaki. He pulled onto I-10 near the Budweiser brewery. The road was wet from rain and he lost it.

[sourdough]

They called that 750 triple (the H2) the widowmaker. I knew the owner of a cycle dealer ship back in 1969. The new H1 (500 triple) came out and we took it for a ride; it was the fastest bike around at the time. That front end would pop up literally any time you rolled the throttle on handled like it had about 20 hinges in the frame....it was kind of scary. I passed on that one.

[Badbart56]

Oh yeah, the fast cars and fast bikes I've had! Don't get me wrong, I still love that horsepower. But having had so many fast cars and bikes, and knowing that as I've gotten older that the need for speed just doesn't really make sense anymore.

Lots more people on the roads now too, and so many of them don't know how to drive from what we see daily. I don't think anyone will argue that point. And I found out along the way that you will never have the fastest car (or bike). Someone always comes along that is just a little bit faster. My buddies at the cycle shop used to ask people that came in looking to make more power, "How fast do you want to spend?"

Honda 750F's, a 79 Honda CBX (6 cylinder), 83 Suzuki GS1100ES. I got to experience what fork shake is at 145 mph on that Suzuki one day! That was fun (not)! I raced a Suzuki Pro Stock bike in Jacksonville, Florida for my buddies at the motorcycle shop (Cycle Parts in Mayport) and held the record at 5.25@142mph on the eighth mile track. I only weighed 172 pounds back then and the two owners of the shop were both over 200 so.....

I had many cars but one of my favorites was a 78 Z/28 with a 500 hp big block. When my best friend got killed on his Honda 750 by a drunk driver I sold my bikes. We had raced the Pro/Am division at Daytona on the high banks and infield. The impact it had on his family was just more than I could deal with.

I do still love the seat of the pants power and torque though. My F-350 makes 510 hp and 1065 ft/lbs via a Banks programmer and my personal car is a 2004 Cadillac CTS V, which was built by the GM Performance Division with a Corvette Z06 engine and 6 speed Tremec transmission. It was the first year model built and was billed as the fastest 4 door sedan in the world in 2004. Only 2461 were built. I don't really baby it but I do keep it pretty close to the speed limit. It really sounds sweet going through the gears!

Heck, even my wife's Escalade makes 420 horsepower!

I was usually able to get my fix for speed when I was a law enforcement officer, between running code for emergency calls and the occasional high speed pursuits. In later years that was frowned upon unless it was deemed totally necessary.

And now the wife and I drive a Peterbilt around the southeast with 500 hp and 1650 ft/lbs of torque that tops out at 75 mph.(governed)
And we watch all the crazy drivers weaving in and out of traffic nearly (and sometimes) causing crashes.

No. I can't do that anymore. But it's nice to remember the good old days. Back when we were young and bullet proof.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by sourdough

They called that 750 triple (the H2) the widowmaker. I knew the owner of a cycle dealer ship back in 1969. The new H1 (500 triple) came out and we took it for a ride; it was the fastest bike around at the time. That front end would pop up literally any time you rolled the throttle on handled like it had about 20 hinges in the frame....it was kind of scary. I passed on that one.

I ran a KZ 1000 MKII for a few years. Only bike I owned with an accelerator pump mounted on #2 carb. You held on THEN yanked the throttle.