I only ever did this twice (I was crazy, but not that crazy usually... LOL). The first time was in '67 when I owned a stone-stock '58 Anglia. Flathead 4, three-on-the-floor, definitely no rocket. But it was small. I'm blasting through a residential neighborhood at about 1 am when a set of flashing lights appear in the distance behind me. Just in front of me is a long, narrow, barely-wide-enough-for-a-car alley, I whip into that. I'm sure the cop thought he had me as it was also a dead-end. But I knew there was a foot path at the end leading to a main road, just wide enough for my car. I waited until I knew the LEO was well down the alley, then exited via the footpath. By the time he backed up the 1/4 mile length of the alley, I was long gone.... The second time was years later, the mid-80s. I had gone to one of my local parts houses on my XS110 Yamaha in a shall-remain-un-named small town. I did my business, was on my way out of town and hammered the throttle. As I'm approaching 90 MPH, I spot the police car and see him hit his lights in anticipation and figure I'm screwed. But then I realized what he was in; the town, in a money-saving mode, had bought 6-cylinder-powered Ford Fairmont patrol cars so I gave more throttle. The local cop also realized his disadvantage, as soon as I sped up more he turned off the lights and watched me leave town... I've always been lucky about speeding tickets. Not that I didn't deserve them, but they never got a clocking on me. Did get lots of 'other' tickets though when I did get pulled over, some of them were pretty imaginative on the LEOs part. Got most of them dismissed in court, but it was a hassle... The last speeding ticket I got (must be 25 years now) was on a road that I had used to go to work for about a year several years before but hadn't been on lately. Come around a corner, there's a LEO coming towards me. I check the speedo, looks OK, but he turns around and lights me up. Seems they had lowered the limit from 50 to 35 since I'd last driven the road and I'd missed the new sign... That explanation carried no weight....
I only had 2 adventures in running. Technically, one was not actually "running" because the cop didn't turn around and pursue because me at 100 and he at 50, our combined closing speed was 150 when we crested the hill and had line-of-sight for a moment. He lit up the lights but the math was pretty simple for him and he knew I was gone. I don't think he ever touched his brakes. The other time was a classic, bonified "running". Skipping the back-story, I was squared off against a stockish Hemi-something and I'm in my well-sorted, street/strip 350. I wasn't skeered of the Hemi because I could spank any big block in the county off the line. They could pass me in the top half of the quarter if they didn't believe their eyes and stayed on the pedal because I had nothing left for the next 8th. Okay, so he beeped 3 times and out-fudged me by a car length. He surprised me with a good show of traction and I only gained a couple of inches when we passed the cop in the dark between 2 buildings at the end of 1st gear. The cop hit the lights and pulled out to chase. I instinctively lifted but didn't touch the brakes and right away noted that the Hemi stayed in it and didn't lift. My lizard brain, with no mental processing. re-mashed the gas and told me we weren't punking. It was a 1/2 mile to a major intersection and I could see in my rearview that the cop was never going to be a player. The Hemi took a right and I went straight and across the city limits into the next town Now the plot thickens; My girlfriend's brother was partners in a speed shop in the same town and I had gotten to know the partners both as friends and as a customer. Me or one of them were often under my car working on something and the reverse light switch had gotten jostled so the backup lights were constant on, plus one bulb was out at the time of the "running". 5 minutes later, I had pulled the bulbs so I wouldn't be pulled over and pistol-whipped any time soon. Meanwhile, the next day, back at the speed shop, the cop was still majorly steamed and running his mouth about how when he caught Mr one-light, he was going to lie, exaggerate, and nail the perp to the wall. Fast forward a few months and the cop and I happened to both be hanging out at the speed shop and he needed a ride to the next town. Well, my girlfriend's brother thought it was super funny to volunteer me to be the one to drive him. I'm fairly sure the cop made the connection because of the grinning and giggling but he was cool and never brought up the subject during the drive. And........ my last story; On a road trip, from Texas, with my girlfriend, to her hometown in Lousiana, she wanted to take a short side trip to a little town where most of her deceased relatives are buried. Now the "town" is one of those with a cluster of buildings and a half-mile wide perimeter of cow pasture out to the city limits. So the "still in town" posted speed limit was super slow. Because the cows are safely behind barbwire I tended to drive a tad over the limit leaving town and got stopped and written up for my wicked ways. My girlfriend lets me know that her cousin was the parish prosecutor (DA) and she would call him later to see what can be done about the ticket. So a few days later she contacts her cousin and he asks, "How badly does he want to fight it?" He goes on to tell her that a day later the cop was killed in a high-speed chase and that meant the county no longer had the officer/witness against me. He also offered a reduced charge to a non-mover and a small fine. I told her to call him back and tell him that I didn't feel like dancing on a dead man's grave and that I would take the non-mover. I guess I was okay with the ending but I can also say I was not exactly "happy" by any stretch. It gave me a creepy feeling for a while. Not all high-speed chases turn out to be entertaining stories.
Never myself and I know your looking for stories from the past. Today is much different though. Everything is on camera and it’s crazy to think you tubers will pay people 50$ cash for unseen police chase footage. YouTube channels such as fnf entertainment and another YouTube channel socalsupers upload absolutely wild police chases. I think fnf entertainment on YouTube is on his 80th bikes vs cops video compilation.
Yeah, the vast majority of this stuff wouldn't fly these days what with everyone being able to video and all the surveillance cameras.
it is actually a lot easier for people today and they enjoy filming it for YouTube. I talked about it on the comment above yours.
I got away from the cops one time on a homemade 3.5 HP minibike. They couldn't drive between the trees and through the yards like I could.
Riding with my brother in his GTX at 1 in the morning we are blasting down Livingston Parkway in Short hills N J at a lovely 120mhh and pass a cop sitting on the side of the road. Out he came lights flashing and my brother laughed and kicked it up to 150 and we were gone. As we crazy asses were blasting down that road Dave my brother sees a traffic signal change from green to red up ahead and starts winding the car down an stops the car at the light! I was going are you crazy !! Yes the cop pulls up and walks up an goes what the hell kid? why did you stop? Dave said what if someone had been coming the other way and I hit them at the speed I was going? we would have all been killed. TH]he cop looked at us an said slow it down an go home please an got back in his car and drove away
Growing up in a small town in Nebraska everyone new everyone and we had a town Marshall named Frank. His 53 Ford family car was also the local police car. (kinda like Mayberry) When it got later on Saturday night and most of the locals had went home we would begin to screw with Frank. One of us would speed up main street and just as that would happen another car would come speeding by in the opposite direction. This game of Merry Go Round would go on for a time until we tired of doing it and Frank gave up and went home. We did this off and on for months.
Years ago, before there were "Hot Pursuit" laws on the books, my mother talked about being chased by Oakland PD and eluding same by crossing the bridge into Alameda, where Oakland PD had no jurisdiction. True? Recently, a local PD told me that their cruisers are slow, and they call off pursuits once they reach dangerous speeds. I did it once, while riding a motorcycle, many years ago. I got clean away, until found lying on the side of the road. I was young, reckless, and stupid. Anyone attempting to do the same has a total lack of regard for public safety and should have their license revoked (if they have one). Hit-and-runs involving both vehicles and pedestrians are on the rise in our state capital, and probably in many other cities nationwide. Engaging in such behavior is not my idea of making a contribution to society.
Statue of limitations isn't up on my story yet, and details would certainly screw me if they happened to read it, lol, so I gotta pass on this one. And mine was on FOOT, not in a car, lol....
This is what is weird. Society in general finally lives in a 24/7 digital panopticon - the perfect police state basically. Cameras everywhere, facial recognition software, tracking devices, license plate readers, the whole nine yards. Right on the cusp of all this, at the same time there is a move to let crooks get away with just about anything. Steal only $998 worth of stuff at the Rexall? No problem! Driving 120 mph down the street? No pursuit. Too dangerous, someone might get hurt. Kinda wacky.
Well OK... point taken. I meant up to that point it didn't feel illegal. Depends on what the definition of "is" is, too, or so I've heard.
Never run from the cops. Very rarely done anything that would justify then actually wanting to stop me... Except for having been followed for a few miles by a riot van full of cops, headed into town. Last intersection before they'd have turned to go to the station, I caught slippery asphalt on one rear wheel and the combination of that and a little too much gas put the car in a very rapid 270° spin, leaving me facing the van full of cops, turn signal blinking the wrong way. Luckily I didn't hit anything, so pulled off the intersection down the street, pulled over and sat with my license and insurance between my fingers out the window, waiting for the inevitable "Well, what the hell what that all about, then?" They were surprised I stopped. I told them after that I was pretty certain they'd want to have a word. They laughed and told me to take a little more care in the wet. They didn't even light their van up. Man, I'm a wuss. Ha! Phil
Twice. First time in the little country town i grew up in. I was going home on a Sunday afternoon, driving through town in a OT (253 LX Torana) and having fun stepping the rear out at every round about. As i get out of town and cross the river i see a cop coming up behind me at speed but no lights, i panic and gun it. I was never going to get away, i only got half a mile before he was all over me. So i pull over. The cop walks up to the window, "Afternoon Officer" me looking all sheepish and as dumb as a 17yr old can look. For some bizarre reason this cop is an American, I'd only seen Americans on TV and here is one dressed as a cop in my town. I think i must've smirked or grinned or some shit. Anyway he proceeds to tear me a new arsehole, threatens to haul me down to the station, you name it. At one point i actually thought he was going pull me out of the car and beat me up. I was shitting myself. Then lets me go. I don't think i got out of second gear all the way home. And i never fanged it through town again. The second time i was on the back my mates Honda CBR1000 Fireblade travelling between Sydney and Canberra. We overtook a cop on the freeway who promptly hit the lights and came after us. My mate tapped me on the leg to say " Hang the fuck on" and gunned it. Well we left that cop like he was standing still. My mate said he topped 230kmh and i believe it. I've never been so scared in my life and never got on a bike with him again. I was glad to walk away (on jelly legs)
I've ALWAYS been on the right side of the Law... I've NEVER been a part of the heinous shenanigan's portrayed in this thread, you Hooligan's should all be ashamed of yourselves! That being said, I have a REALLY nice bridge for sale if any of you are interested... It was built in 1933, so its HAMB friendly. Maybe I should Put this in the classified's too! LOL!!!
I owned a Lowrider in Highschool. Low and Slow. Never did this sort of thing. It did have, and still has a big block 427. Drove it today to celebrate a 21 year olds birthday party. We released balloons in her honor. She was 5 when she was killed in a car wreck. My daughter and her were best friends. Life is short.
I was cruising down the highway late to pick up a pretty young thing in my '61 Chrysler. I was trying to make time so I was going too fast, and a coupla cops pulled out behind me. I floored it, all six barrels opened, and I took off down the road! They disappeared completely and I heard this loud crash from behind me. Huh-what was that? So I turned around and headed back. There was the cop car-wrapped around a tree. But the cops weren't in it. They weren't near it-where were they? I found 'em a little further back, both lying in the road, all bloody and torn up. "What happened to you two!?!" "Well....you took off so fast back there.....that we figured we had stopped, so we got out to see what was wrong."
Being from the hood, you'll know this area. In the early 80's, my old Cobra buddies moved their shop from Vallejo to the point where Market and San Pablo come together in Oakland- right by the old burger stand that used to be on the point. It was genius in a way, as they had about 15 genuine Cobras stashed in there, behind the bullet holes in the door, with no security system other than putting out the rumor it was a low-rent hooker place of business, so OPD kept an eye on the place. So at the time, there was a local legend of a guy with a hopped-up Honda 750 with an open 4-in-1 pipe on it, who would come out in the evening until he lured Da Fuzz out to give chase, and knew every street and back alley by heart, and would lead them on a spirited chase a couple times a week. Got to the point that folks would hear that pipe, and set up their lawn chairs by the curb to watch. Took them about a month to catch him, boxed him in with a few cars and he went down under a car trunk. So one of the Cobra boys kept his own 427 at his folks' place down the street from me in Napa (CSX 3193). Not actually a chase, but he did get what has to be the slowest speeding ticket ever in a gennie 427 Cobra- 40 in a 35 zone, on Saturday afternoon, right in front of Courtesy Ford- drew quite a crowd. Cop would not let him off with a warning, wrote him up
Well I can't say that my brother had all the fun running from cops. I had my night of driving on the Interstate an was going a nice pace of 130 when out came the flashing lights annnd I decide to just leave him behind. The young lady with me looks down at the speedometer and goes how about you slow down Mario A. At that point we leave the ground do to a bump in the road at 155 no cop in sight , I slowed down an exited the highway an parked under some trees. We waited and saw the cop go screaming past an decided to stay there for a bit, that was the first wife
Lost a Clarksville, AR deputy one night while actually going 5mph UNDER the speed limit...an O/T blacked out gremlin with a V8 swap, I could have done it at a higher speed, but nah... ...there was another time in a HAMB friendly car I had just traded for, but...I wasn't really proud of hiding like I did, some of those guys were actually friends of mine and I felt bad for 'em. After having been constable in my township for a while and actually figuring out just what a former ASP CVPI could do, ain't nothin' but supercars or drag cars and maybe some off-road type rigs gonna get away for more than just a little bit, and that hurt my pride because I don't like to admit modern stuff can sometimes spank a real, honest to goodness Hot Rod. (sigh)
I never ran from the cops but I was going to one night when fate stepped in. In the late 70's I was managing a motorcycle shop called Track N' Trail in Sioux Falls, SD. I had worked at the two Honda/Kawasaki and Honda/Suzuki dealers for about five years before this. As a motorcycle racer it was a natural job for me and I also had two fast street bikes around that time, a KZ1000 Eddie Lawson replica and a Suzuki GS1000 Sport. About that time the KZ900P Police bikes were released and all the local cops all had them, the Sioux Falls Police, Minnehaha County Sheriffs and the South Dakota Highway Patrol. They soon started crashing them because Kawasakis were never known for being good handling bikes and once they were loaded down with a windshield, bags, radio and siren they were even worse. The dealers couldn't help them so they came to us to try to cure the the high speed wobble that would develop which would eventually turn into a full on tank slapper, eventually throwing the officer off the bike. We started with different tires, preloading the front springs and a few other modifications to enhance the high speed handling. I was doing the test riding of course, because why not? I would head for Interstate 229 to do my testing because it had some bridges, dips and other stuff to try make it wobble. Of course once I hit the interstate I would turn on the lights and siren and run that sucker flat out! The speed limit was 55 mph back then so it was a real hoot to be flying down the interstate at about 100 mph with cars pulling over so a long haired dude could fly by them on a cop bike. Luckily I never ran into the Highway Patrol or I would have had some splaining to do! We did cure their problems so they were thankful. Not long after that I was doing some moonlighting working on a friends KZ900. He had bought some Andrews cams for it from our shop and I was putting them in one night. Once I had them installed I headed out for test ride near my house on Interstate 29 between 12th street and 41st street and then back again to 12th street. I had stopped to put a bucks worth of premium in it for the test ride before hitting the interstate. The bike had been sitting so it wasn't running on all four on the first run to 41st street and I was only doing about 75 mph or so when I got off at 41st street to come back. When I hit the on ramp on the way back it cleaned out and I ran it up to about 125 mph. This was a extremely stupid thing to do because that stretch of interstate had the Sioux River crossing under it with a golf course on each side so it was common to see dead deer from crossing there! My test ride confirmed the bike ran like a raped ape, but when I hit the 12th street exit I saw I had company behind me with all their lights flashing and siren wailing. I was ready to run for it when the bike died when it ran out of gas and I had to switch to reserve and get it started again. By the time I got it started again, the Minnehaha County Sheriff's car was right behind me so I killed it and waited for my punishment. Up walks Deputy Daggett, who I knew well because I had been the one who fixed his KZ900C Police Bike. He says "Oh, hell it's you!" I told him what I was doing and he said if it was just him he would let me go but he had already called it in. He said he had the Highway Patrol waiting up ahead on the interstate and the city cops were coming up 12th street to nab me, so it was a good thing I didn't try to run. He said when he had met me he had clocked me on radar on my first run at 78 mph and turned around and started chasing me. By then I had turned around and met him again coming the other way and he clocked me a 117 mph that time. So I got my ticket for 117 in a 55 mph and had to go for a mandatory court appearance. The judge wasn't happy and asked me if I was crazy, but I can't remember how I answered that. Back then the fines weren't that bad, so it was $100 plus court costs and I had to go to safe driving school. As it turned out, the gal giving the class was a girlfriend of one of my best friends and fellow motorcycle racer so we had fun. We had our Sioux Valley Cycle Club yearly banquet the next night so I got to show off my prize ticket that night. Even though I was 28 back then, I was still young and dumb. I'm damn lucky to still be alive with all the stupid things I've done!
Just once...We'd been out partying and wound up the night by going to the local late night restaurant for some "sobering up food".....Afterward I go out to my freshly painted black 64 'vette. The rest of the group follows me outside and starts chiding me....."Hey, show us some rubber man!" I lined that car up in the center of the 2 lane street and totally busted it off. Crooked in first, slips a little sideways in 2nd , banged third and shifted it into 4th as I passed the post office at the end of town. I see the city cop sitting in that post office parking lot. I stayed on it all the way out of town, looking in the mirror to see him pull out onto the street. He's chasing me! He lit the lights and just as quick he turned 'em off and pulled into the next entrance to the parking lot. I snuck home and thanked my lucky stars....next evening I was stylin around in the corvette and went up to the city park that overlooks my little Oregon town...a gathering place to plan parties, meet chicks etc. I'd just shut the car off when officer Kurtz pulls up and asks me where I was last night. "I was over at my Grandmother's house all night" I lied. He said. "I clocked a black corvette like yours at 115 mph going past the post office but it appeared to have California plates..." Never again,
I very much understood you didn't get away with running from the cops, Dad told me, and I knew several others that had first hand experiences. I was doing my car thing in the70s & 80s and knew quite well you couldn't outrun their radios, in our town. My wife has 5 younger brothers, I bailed two of them out after their experiences of attempting to out run the local Police. That as not to say I didn't do things with my cars I shouldn't have, but run was never an option. In the early 80s I had a pretty hot Road Runner, did some street racing, and the car had somewhat of a reputation. It was also my daily driver through most of the summer. At the time of the story I'm telling, I worked at the gas station yet, that was a 5-10 minute drive from home. I got off work at 5pm and was home by 10 after, and by 5:30 my family was usually eating supper, which we were doing on that nice summer evening when the two local law enforcement officers were knocking pretty hard on my door. Pretty abruptly they were telling my I was going to be under arrest for having out run them in a high speed chase with my Road Runner parked on the street in front of my house. They were telling my what streets I'd turned on, and which streets I gone the wrong way on the one way street on. I interrupted them and ask when all this stuff had supposedly taken place? "Not 5 minutes ago!" "I think I can solve this pretty quickly." I told them, and invited them to come to the front of my car. I popped the hood and quickly removed the radiator cap from my car, and handed it to one of the cops. Again, I asked "When did this chase happened? " The looks on their faces when they realized I was removing the radiator cap on a car they were sure had just outran them was priceless, both were turning their back, sure they were going to get scalded. "Anything else officers?" Both were pretty apologetic now, "Do you know if there is anyone else in town with a car like this?" as the cop handed me back my radiator cap. I told them there was a GTX that was a lot rougher then my car, and I told them where he lived. He was an azz. That thanked me and left. I'm not sure how these cops thought they were going to arrest me for running from them, even if it had been me, they obviously didn't have any plate numbers, and I sure wouldn't have volunteered any answers. I went down to pull my radiator cap to eliminate any doubts on their part. I sure didn't want those boys watching for me. Gene
While stationed in the Mojave desert back in the early 60s a buddy of mine wanted to calibrate his speedometer after changing gears. So the only thing we could come up with is for me to follow and hold up my hand with fingers showing how fast we are going. So we drive straight out the front gate towards the next town then a u turn back towards the base. I hold up 6 then 7 then 9 fingers while only 10 feet off his rear bumper. By this time all the civilians were getting off work and a line of traffic bumper to bumper in the on coming lanes. Well, a CHP cop was in the parade and when he saw us doing 90 mph only 10 feet apart he pulls off to the shoulder and puts on the lights. Lucky for us he could not get turned around and we headed into town and split up. Met at the A&W about a half hour later. This was in Ridgecrest Cailifornia outside of China Lake Weapons testing center. Close one, but we got away with it. Only time i ever outran the CHP
The Jalopy Journal
