Yeah, I've never run from the cops with the lights on and sirens blaring, shoulda been more clear. I wouldn't have done that then nor now. I've made myself very scarce when it was obvious they wanted to maybe have a "discussion" about something or other, and ... I just wasn't in a very talkative mood that day. "The cops don't need you, and man, they expect the same."
I was sitting at a red light in downtown Salt Lake City in a 1964 Chevy Belair. I was barely 17 years old. It was snowing hard with 4 inches of snow on the roads. As I was waiting for the light to change a cop knocked on my driver's side window. I rolled the window down and he proceeded to yell at me telling me I need new tires and was going to cite me. Just then the light changed green and I said, "What the hell is it to you?" and drove away leaving him standing there. My only experience of running from the cops..
After a recent motocross racing accident, I sold my race bike and bought an Enduro bike. Figured motocross wasn't as much fun as I thought after my third trip to the hospital. I also realized my skill wasn't as great as I had hoped. I do count myself as being blessed that I am still able to walk after some of the wrecks. Anyway, I could always do some pretty good wheelies. There are two types of wheelies. One is a power wheelie and the other is a balance wheelie. Power is when you accelerate and the wheel rises and then settles back to earth. A balance wheelie is when you get it up and continue to ride it for a distance. You can also turn a corner on the back wheel by making it drift to the side. On this particular day I had just left my brothers house. I was leaving the subdivision and sitting under an overpass, about the third or fourth vehicle in line.....facing East. The light changed and the cars on the intersecting street were stopping. They were going South. As the cars in front of me pulled away, I cracked the throttle and the bike jumped up on the rear wheel and I felt this one had good control.......so I stayed up and turned the corner ......heading North. As I proceded North, past the South facing traffic, I saw the police car. I went by them still on the back wheel.......... I forgot to mention that my new bike had a temporary tag and it was 2 days out of date. I knew if they caught me it would not just be a ticket. As I passed them their lite began its flashing. On the East side of the street there was a highschool. I lived in a subdivision behind the high school. There was an access road on the North end of the school going from this street to my subdivision.....a cut thru so to speak. I dropped the front wheel down and took off, turning into the cut thru. The police u-turned and pursued. Realizing that I might not be able to reach my house without being seen, I veered off the road into the dirt behind the school. There was a small ditch which I felt might stop the. The second thought was that this would lead me to an area that passed between the schools main building and an outlying building. There were two gates in the area between the buildings. One was a drive thru which was normally closed, and the other was a walk thru which was normally open. Ha, they would be stopped by the gate and I could pass thru the walk thru. BAD PLAN.......the drive thru was open. Too late to opt out now, so I flew thru the gate and across the basketball court. Vaguely remember kids scattering. Down a 15 ft hill and across a field heading back to the place where this all started. As I approached the busy street, I got my first stroke of luck. The light was changing and cars were stopping and I continued back across the street and under the overpass. My brothers subdivision had several streets shortly after passing under the overpass and I made a couple quick turns.........flew down the street to my brothers house and into his driveway and past his kitchen window about 40mph. Slid into his garage and pushed the bike into the space in front of his car. I ran into his house just as he was getting ready to eat supper. Ran past him and said "I'm not here" as I proceeded down the basement stairs. Cops lost me, so they ask some kids who had a motorcycle in the neighborhood. They directed them to my brothers house where they asked about his motorcycle. He pointed toward his "blue" motorcycle. (Mine was an unusual Burnt Orange color. They asked him who else in the neighborhood had a motorcycle, and he sent them to someone elses house. After a few hours, he gave me a ride home in his car. So, like a dummy, I didn't learn my lesson. A couple days later I'm out riding again and I stopped at a local drive in restaurant about a 1/2 mile from the first incident. As I sat on my Burnt Orange motorcycle eating my burger, a police car pulls in. They back up to the restaurant so they are facing me and start drinking coffee. I chew slowly............I chew more slowly.........I chew even more slowly. They aren't leaving, and I am getting paranoid. If its the same cops, they know its that Burnt Orange bike. So, a new plan. Back then they still had phone booths. There was one over on the side of the restaurant just out of the view of the cops. I called the police department and reported a domestic dispute closeby. By the time I went back around the building, the cops were gone. Now I was paranoid because I didn't know if they had answered the call or just pulled off somewhere else to watch for me to leave. I got home safely.........then I put the bike up for sale! Young/Dumb/and a slow learner.............bad combination. My apologies to the police.
I never “ out ran” the cops…. but did out smart them a few times. Maybe OT but there was a hill near my house in Muskogee on the Main Street. I like to top it on one wheel with the headlight of my bike shinning in the trees! The cops lit me up a couple of times, while they were coming the other way. I would go over the hill and turn South one block and then turn back the opposite way I was going and kill my machine. Worked every time! The cops will never look for you where they saw you the last! I would smoke a cigarette or two. Start up my machine and idle home! Bones
Years ago, in the LAR club we had 2 CHP, 2 sheriff's, 2 LA motor cops. One of the motor cops was riding with an older partner one night in a patrol car along Chevy chase blvd. when conversation developed about a few years earlier the older cop said he was chasing a hot rodder at full speed when he lost him. The younger cop said YEP! that was ME!!!!!!!!!!!
My 1st Road Runner was a 70, 383 auto with an air grabber hood scoop. One afternoon I was sitting at a traffic light waiting to make a left turn, long before the left turn lights came around. I sat through 3 red lights, mostly because the people in front of me were too nice to move when they had the chance. When I finally got through the light, I hammered the 383 pretty hard, and of course, the tires broke loose. As I was accelerating away from the light I saw a cop that was sitting in a parking lot on the other side of the street hit his lights and start to pull out, but then he shut his light off and stopped. I lifted on the gas a bit, but kept going because the cop had stopped. I thought the whole deal was pretty strange, but never gave it much thought until a few days later. My buddy Dan had just entered law enforcement about a month earlier. He stopped by the gas station I was working at and told me I owed him big time. I asked him what I did this time? He said "Remember the other day when you went through the light and lit up the tires, and that cop car turned on the lights and started after you, but then stopped? I was riding shotgun in the car on a training run. When you lit up the tires, I said to the Sergeant under my breath, "Damn Gene, that was pretty stupid!" The Sergeant said "Do you know that guy?" I told him "I've known him for years." The Sergeant told me the next time I see you that I was suppose to tell you "I saved you from a $100 ticket." He also said "Let him know it won't happen again." Thanks Dan. Gene
@Truck64 here is one that you will appreciate. When I first returned from Mexico I was living in a smaller burg north of KCMO. I was working swing shift so 2 seconds and 3 thirds a week. I guess my coming and goings became suspicious to the local constabulary. So one morning a la madrugada (around 2 or 3) I rolled into town from KC and noticed this cop following me. I slowed down and he slowed down then I squared the block and sure enough he squared the block. So in a fit of wisdom I decided that running the fella all over town before I went home was gonna be fun. He let me know that it was not nearly as much fun for him as it was for me when I pulled into my drive and got out of my old heap.
I was probably 17, headed home one night in my 327 powered 54 Chevy,about 1/2 mile before I had to turn off the main road,to my parent's house,and I thought ,I bet I can catch that car ahead of me before I have to turn off,gunned it and got up to maybe 90,before I could read the lettering on the back"Sheriff Patrol",they put their brake lights on but my turn was right then and they didn't come after me.Heartbeat slowed down after a couple minutes.
So there are these two dudes, one of which owned a slightly OT muscle car, won't say the name but if you add up the name it comes to ten, this was back in the day, late 60s. Out in the country, heading home after the bar closed when a car, suddenly behind starts acting suspiciously. The driver, let's call him Uncle Henry slowly adjusts his speed down toward the legal region but the car is now coming up faster; cop has made his decision. Just then, they top a hill and will shortly lose the lights behind. In a burst of soberish wisdom his buddy says "when you can't see his lights, grab a gear and let's get out of here." So Uncle Henry does just that and with the help of a few more hills and some curves the 283 two barrel or whatever copcar disappears. So they head home, a farmhouse some distance away. Into the driveway, even take the time to back the car into a spot out of sight of the road, then into the house into their respective sacks and douse the lights. All is cool for about 15-20 minutes then they see light reflected thru the window onto the wall, then they hear a vehicle. Then all is quiet, so quiet, in fact that they can hear their headers clinking and popping as they cool down. Then, the rap on the window, "come on out you boneheads" Seems the cops had been there before and knew the house layout.
That reminds me I was driving out West trying to get across South Dakota. Nice clear interstate, dry road. Bored. "I wonder how fast my car can go?" Well I found out. Pretty damn fast! I liked it. A lot. "Boy, THIS is the way to travel these big square states!" I wound it out for about 10 minutes, and then my internal "mind" radar triggered on something, and I slowed it down to 55 or whatever. Seemed slow enough I could get out and run alongside. I pulled off the interstate and got a real good case of the Stinkeye from somebody. They probably were watching me from two counties over. I liked Montana. I about had a heart attack (70 in a 55!!, the horror!) as a MST vehicle parked strategically in the median came into view. He didn't even glance up from reading his newspaper. When they (briefly) removed speed limits several years back, I would sometimes see unrecognizeable wreckage just a couple miles inside the state line from SD. Oops!
In 1966 our town police car was a 66 Rambler Ambassador 6cyl. automatic....you could outrun it with a bicycle....
About 10 years ago during the Sturgis Rally, Dad and rode over to see The Little Bighorn battle site on our Harleys. When we got there and looked around, we noticed a storm approaching. We left rather quickly and we’re running approximately 100 mph on US 212, and some other Harley went by past us like we were standing still. Fortunately for us, he found the BIA police officer before we did.
212 is a pretty good way to shave off a few miles from the Interstate, but it was pretty trashed for a long time. Have they re-paved it in this century?
The paving was quite good, but I haven’t been that way since that trip. I’m hoping to get to the Rally next year.
One night in about 1967 was out partying with 3 friends in Dads 63 Corvair. Going too fast. Got lit up. Trying to outrun them while throwing wine bottles out the windows. Ran over a bottle and got a flat. Pulled over and cop has his gun out and tells us not to move or he would shoot all of us with one bullet !!!! After a good chewing out, he let us go !!!! Got stopped 2 other times that night for driving while stupid. Let go all 3 times. Called it a night and never tried that shit again.
In '75, my roommate's dunderheaded but very hot GF (I dated her before him lol) called from Santa Rosa where she was supposedly going to night school, drunk as a skunk from bar flirting. Off we go to scoop her up in his 69 Boss 302, me driving. Never did find her, until we got home, there she was . So we came back thru Calistoga and St Helena, and went across Zinfandel Lane- y'know, where Pelosi has her palatial vineyard estate that we all paid for- to Silverado Trial, about 2:30 AM. Turn south and let 'er rip, 7K in all gears (3.91's in the rear) and start to coast down, he's happy and enjoying a little smoke, now we're at Yountville (7 miles) going about 65- and the red lights came on. Now buddy is paranoid, I pull over and get out, stick my arms out and laugh OK, I did it. Sheriff's Deputy starts laughing too, he says no problem, jeezus I was parked at Zinfandel and just caught up to you! Wanted to warn you that the bars just emptied out so it's a bad time to be driving fast- and I really just wanted to look at the car! He spent about 10 minutes, had me open the hood, and loved those "lazer" stripes that changed color as you walked around it. Shook hands, and he says thanks for letting me check it out! Off he went and so did we, my buddy was tweaked as he had a few more alternate cigarettes in his pocket, and it was 1975 then
I've pulled a trailer over it a number of times in the last 14 years and never found it as bad as you say. However about 3 years ago there was a lot of work and repaving done to it. Even a round-a-bout in Lame deer
My frend in the 50's had a 50 Chevy with a Corvette 3 carb 6 engine in it, I borrowed it and was at a light when a hopped up Olds pulled up next to me, I hit the gass hard when the light changed, the Olds had seen the cop behind me, I hadn't. I pulled over real fast, opened the hood jumped under there and started playing with the carb linkage, the cop came up and I said " my carburators stuck open, I'm trying to fix them, thanks for stoping to help" He let me go.
Yeah, in those days they would have pertinent suggestions "No, no no, you need a 3.5 power valve, make sure your valve timing isn't late!" Oh well
Two 15 year olds waited until pop was asleep one Friday night. Then they pushed the family '57 Olds out of the garage and down the alley. No driver's license, no problem. Case of Grain Belt in the trunk and ready for fun. Tooling along to meet the baby dolls in Minneapolis and then, the cops lit them up. Driver says, "I can out run that piggy 352 they have in their car." And true to his word, the 394 in the Olds pulled steadily away. "I'm gonna pull in an alley." They did and both ran like hell. Well there's no catching a scared 15 year old. Driver has bright idea to call home. Luckily, his brother answered. Driver tells his bro "Call the cops and tell them dad's car has been stolen." What a couple of criminal masterminds... until pops recovered his car and found the truck broken into and the beer and a transistor radio gone. "The car thieves must have done it." was the cops reply. They had seen this before. Never again?
Here is a fun one. I had this friend named Randy once. He seldom had a legal license because he drank, uh a lot. He learned lots of tricks to get around the laws in his state. He unfortunately never learned that running was not always his best option. I used to go his bail alot. One time he was driving this 327 powered '63 Impala that he got from me. The 327 was the best motor that we had and it had been rode hard and put up wet. Anyway Randy knew that one trick was that if you knew that you could not out run 'em you could possibly out drive 'em. So they got after him in this old wheezy Impala and he took a trip down a dirt road. According to the Sheriff's deputy that captured him he found himself high centered on a mound of dirt on a really sharp right hander on this road. The deputy said he was still driving his heart out when he walked up and suggested that he get out of the car.
actually the "dude" in question would have been on this bike and on the radio they called him "The Phantom Motorcycle". I don't know much about the song.
He has the right to remain silent, any pictures he has posted can and will be used against him. Crosspost to the HAMBers picture thread?
Some fifty odd years ago a bunch of us were goofing off in a little town. The town cop had a six cylinder pickup and everybody kind of taunted him. So on a dare I laid two long stripes down main street. When the smoke cleared I could see flashing lights in the mirror . I put my foot back in it as it was straight shot out of town. After about three miles he gave up. Fast forward quite a few years after the cops retirement all of us including the cop were BSing and the story of me outrunning him was brought up. He let out a laugh and said that I didn't out run him, he had just chased me out of town. I guess it's all in your perspective.
So, just a few minutes ago, some modern car broke something in the front suspension and laid the frame on the ground. The driver must have jumped out of the car and ran, leaving the car, with the door standing open, sitting in the middle of the street. I was alerted to the situation when I heard the dog barking. The County K9 unit was there and the dog was called in to look for the driver, but returned without finding him (or her). The roll back loaded up the car and took it away. There were plates on the car, but I suppose it could have been stolen. I guess the driver got away with running from the cops, at least for now.
The Jalopy Journal
