Fast Cars
posted October 26, 2009 - 10:59pm
I think it was in 1967, my brother Lyle and I were out partying one Saturday night. Actually it was early Sunday morning, probably about two o'clock. Lyle and I decided to stop at the Dixie Inn before going home. The Dixie Inn was a truck stop in Conway, Arkansas, until it burned down several years ago. While we were there, someone begain bragging about how fast his car was. I can't remember if it was Lyle or the other guy that began talking about how fast the car was first. That really doesn't matter much to the story anyway. The boys or young men is actually what most of us were by then decided to go out on the Cadron flats to prove which of the two cars were faster. I can't remember who won the race, and it really doesn't matter anyway. Both cars were plenty fast, and Lyle and I were on our way back to town when we came upon a curve that we tried to take to fast. We topped a hill and there the curve was. It was sharper than Lyle remembered and he didn't get slowed down soon enough and couldn't make all the way around.
I waw that we were going to wreck, so I whirled around and grabbed the back of the seat then held on for dear life. Lyle's car was a two door 1965 Ford, and in those days they didn't have seat belts. When he hit the first tree, I flew forward and hit the dash with my thigh which turned me around more, and I went through the windshield back first. I saw my entire life flash before my eyes just the way people say a person does before he/she does before dieing. Because of that I knew that when I hit the ground I was going to have the car on top of me or have a broken neck or something that would cause me to die. God only knows if I hadn't landed the way I did I may have died. When I landed I hit on the back of one shoulder and the back of my neck and rolled several times. When I stood up and looked around I could see the car about 12 to 15 feet away from me--back the way I had come from. If I hadn't rolled like I did that car may have been right on top of me and crushed me to death. The State Trooper measured and the car was sixty-one feet from the highway. Lyle had to get five stitches in his forehead where he hit above the windshield in the ER. I didn't even go to the doctor and only had a couple of scratches on my back, but about two or three weeks later one of those scratches began itching. I just couldn't stop scratching it, and after awhile a piece of glass out of it.
Afther the wreck there is no doubt as to whose car was the faster one. Lyle totaled his car that night, and it wouldn't run at all. My brother had some fast cars after that, but he told me once that he never hd any desire to race anyone else. That night it seems had taught him that if he wasnted to keep his fast cars, he better keep his foot off the gas.
Update to this story. Bobby Sublett was following us back to town and realized after rounding that curve that we couldn't have gotten so far ahead of him, so he backed up to be sure then gave us a ride to town. Bobby also met his demise several years later in Conway when he was run over by a train there.
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Comments
I have a feeling...
I have a feeling that they aren't really gone. Another generation is probably carrying them on, but then again the cars now days are so much different that they might not be.
I miss those days--I think. It might just be that I miss the people rather than the days.
Thanks for commenting my friend.
Johnny
We used a bridge for a drag
We used a bridge for a drag strip back in the day. It was exactly one quarter mile. Had flag wavers and all LOL! What a great time! Those days are gone for good.
Thanks Hannah
I believe that Stamps is in Southern Arkansas, but I have never been to it; therefore, I'm not positive. It's just a small place from what I have heard. I think I have heard before that Maya was from that area--seems like I remember seeing her on a late night TV show, and she said that one time. Thanks for commenting Hannah. Johnny
Wow!
You're lucky to be alive! Sorry about Bobby, how sad. I was wondering if you know where Stamps, Arkansas is. I just posted a movie review about the life of Maya Angelou, and that's where she grew up.
Hannah
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