Have ever done anything dumb while showing off

I was in my 72 long bed chevy at a left turn light going to make a u-turn and decided to do some doughnuts and about 5 in I drifted towards the curb and smacked my rear tire putting a baseball size dent in the rim and a 3" gash in the side wall. I felt pretty dumb. I was 28 at the time still acting like a kid

 

The more I read, the more stupid things I remember doing! It's hard to pick the dumbest! About 1970 I was taking my "then" girlfriend to her senior prom. My current DD at the time was a '48 Chevy panel truck, and my mom generously offered up her '63 Buick LeSabre convertible to use. On the way to my "cuties" house I decided to nail the 401 nailhead from a dead stop, going uphill! There was a huge BANG and I swear the hood lifted up about an inch/inch and a half and flames shot out both sides of the hood! I pulled it to the side of the road (it was still running/driving) threw up the hood and discovered the hood liner on fire! There I was, on the side of the road, in a white tux, throwing dirt on the underside of the hood! Needless to say, the dirt fell all over the engine. It turned out that I broke both motor mounts. The car still ran and drove OK so I picked up my sweetie and proceeded to the prom. As long as I didn't nail it the engine would settle back into it's motor mounts. Somehow at an after-prom party later that night I also managed to tear the muffler off, but that's another story! I don't think my mom ever let me borrow another one of her cars...

 

This was about 1975 out in the mall parking lot with my dirt bike showing off doing wheelies in front of everyone, I fell off.

 

Yeah haven't we all done that....... And funny enough most of those incidents start out with: "Hold my beer and watch this"

Klaus

 

Anybody ever run themselves over push starting a Baja bug? Suprisingly easy to do, short wheel base and all... Next question - Anybody ever run themselves over push starting a Baja bug in front of everybody in their high school just as the days classes are letting out?! So much for the cool car guy/ hot rodder/ skater mystique...

 

Ummm, yeah and there is video to prove how STUPID i was!!!

 

Ok i wasnt really showing off, but i was dragging this shopping cart around and then im doing donuts at the end of this road and then i said watch this and tried to swing the cart into the curb. well i hit the curb full throttle, that dam shopping cart flew around and wedged under the truck. I couldnt get out of there fast enough with the whole neighborhood laughing at me.

 

Not in a car, but I had just aquired a 90 Mach 1 snowmobile. It's not a rocket like today's stuff but it's also not for a novice rider. We roll up to creek. The guys leading just left us behind with no idea how deep it was. From my prior experience and instruction I was told how to water-skip a creek or a river so I tell the 2 behind me to wait. I get a 20' running start at it and ran through it with skis dangling in an impressive fashion. When the skis landed I had no steering. It was solid ice on the other side. Officially in "oh fuck!" territory I straighten the skis and try to avoid a 40' tall tree trunk. Now mind you, I had launched across at full throttle and the brakes worked as good as the skis on the ice. I got some snow, got some steering, and almost missed the tree...ALMOST. I hit it hard enough to raise the ass end off the ground a couple feet and landed back down hard. Feeling as stupid as I must've looked I just sat there for a second thinking the worst. All of a sudden I hear creaking and breaking wood. I can't look up too high due to the helmet and gear I was wearing but I can see the tree falling toward me! I put my arm up and caught the trunk and pushed it over with all the fear and adreneline I could muster. When it landed next to me I actually felt the sled jump just a bit. The guys behind say "Damn dude that looked cool as fuck!" "Not from here! Holy shit!" I put the tree across the water and they walked across to help me free the sled. Toward the end along comes a mom n dad n kids on 2 little sleds, looking at us like we're a buncha fuckin idiots. The 2 guys skip theirs across and get mud and slop all over em. The family's really freakin now. We move the tree and clear the trail and across they went...the water was only like 8" deep. We were a buncha fuckin idiots! I look over my sled for damage and I got a small scuff on the hood and nothing else. Don't ask me how it wasn't worse. I grabbed the rope and it started right back up, looked at the rest of the crew and said "Engineered like no other sled..." and away we went. The tree was dead and hollowed out about 8' up which is why it broke when I hit it. Today I still think about water-skipping. There's a place in the Manistee River in northern MI that has my name on it...someday.

 

OK - Here goes it .

1985, I'm 19, in the 1965 'Vette my parents got as a wedding present, passed down to me. I know, a lucky little fart ! 350/ 4 speed / 4:11 rear. (Dad cooked the 327 years ago ! )
My buddy and I are comin' home, 2 lane 30 mph residential road, about a mile from my parents house. Some old fart in a MG is going like 10 mph, follow about 5 blocks and know this 'SHORTCUT.' So, as we approach side road to right, I drop into 2nd, turn rt and stand on it, knowing that the back's comin' around. ( By this point in my 'driving career' I was well familiar with 'drifting' as they call it now ! )
There's a short SHORT (60 feet or so) run to a dead end/STOP sign/ turn right or left and make a loop around a small pond, and go back straight again ( I know, hard to visualize ). Houses all around the pond.
Any -whoo, as I turn right at the stop sign, (still driftin') I hits me some nice Fla. pine needles at which point the drift becomes a little more tense, and I start to see what little life I had used before this day flash through my brain. Knowing not to lift, I stayed in it, it came back around, a little to far back around, but now I'm well into the loop and turning back to the left. OH SHIT says me, my buddy who had been to hell and back several times in this car has yet to utter a sound, dang near breaks the door pull off holdin' on (of course we weren't wearing seat belts in 1985, who was ?).
Then IT happened. as it hooks up I had just committed to stomping on the 4 wheel disc brakes that worked VERY well, went off the road towards (left) the pond (no curb ) and it came to a stop between two LARGE pine trees, front wheels at the water, so close to the trees niether of us could get out to clean our now soiled pants. The car's frame had drug slightly on the 'hump' of dirt goin into the pond. However the back wheels were still on the edge of the road so I had enough traction to get it backed out OK.
Both the car and I are still doin' fine (my buddy still shakes and pisses his pants every time he passes that road) but we BOTH (car and I ) came VERY close to the end that night. I say the END 'cause even if the car hadn't of made it, my Dad would have buried me, I'm certain.

 

Actually, my younger brother did some thing infinitely "stupider" just a couple of years later in that same parking lot, and once again, in front of everybody... Out spinning donuts in the back of the lot - starts to lose it - getting it back... Staightened it out just in time to hit the vice principal who was on foot yelling at him to shut it down!!!

 

Back around 1971 I had a Ford Supervan it was about 4 ft longer than a regular van and had a large rear overhang. Well I was bringing my buddy home from his girls house,and decided to take a short cut down this narrow dirt road in farm country.As I came around a turn I hit the gas and let the rear end drift out.Maybe 20 mph,no problem down the road I go.Now the truck starts to slow up,so I give it more gas.The farther I go the more gas I have to give it to keep going.About a 1/4 mile from the turn the truck stops dead and stalls the motor.I push in the clutch and start the motor,ok.I try to go forward,it won't move.I back up about a foot.Wheels all move.Forward a foot and it stops dead.WTF! Now I get out of the truck and see the lights in the farmhouse I just passed come on.As I come around the back of the truck {holy shit} there is a 4 strand barbwire fence hooked in my bumper and as far down the road as I can see are fence and fence posts. When I slid around the corner, the end of the bumper caught fence and I had pulled a 1/4 mile of fence down.Well we got it unhooked and beat feet out of there.I bet that farmer would have killed me.

PHP:

 

Now that's funny !

 

Someday I'll tell the stories about the 3 times my motorcycle knocked me out but those are for another day.

In '68 I was in the Navy in south Texas (NAS Kingsville.) My buddies and I had some all-business, unlicensed 250 flat-trackers but that didn't stop us from riding them in town. Occasionally the local millitia chased us but radios weren't so good back in the day because we never got caught even though, with mine painted bright yellow, I was easy to spot.

I went to pick up my date one night at Texas A & I and in order to get to the girls dorm you had to take a one-way street West for a block, go around the library 180 degrees and then back East about a half a block. Well, I get there about 7 PM and everybody else was also picking up their dates, Oh no, an audience! I lift the front wheel for most of the block going West and set it down for the trip around the library. I'm in my element now. flat-track, only difference is the asphalt instead of dirt. No problem. I grab a handful of throttle and slip the back tire out about 45 degrees, Manm this is fun! When the frond wheel hit that rock everything happened in slow motion. I laid the bike down on it's left side and slid my ass over to sit on the ether side. I'm now sliding about 30 mph sitting on the side of the bike. . . . I think I'm gonna' be ok. Oh oh, parked car. Wham! As I laid there under the gas tank thinking I'm not in any pain for as had as I hit this thing my first thought was to get me and the bike into escape mode. Unfortunately, my right pant leg was caught on something (I thought.) As I looked down to se what had me snagged I realized that I was looking at the BOTTOM of my right foot, the ankle was broken and bent back 180 degrees! By now all the college kids were crowded around me and the Kingsville Police were trying to get through to me. The short cop says, "Can you see who it is?" The tall cop says, "Yeah, it's the kid on the YELLOW bike!"

 

How do you bend a crankshaft by dropping the drive shaft out of the car,,,come on,,get real man!

 

I don't think Ida told that brutha.

Just tryin' to help larry out here.

Any time I have ever decided to show off I did something dumb. No need to tell about any of it, just think of the absolute dimmest things you have ever done and change the exponent to 3. That would be dumb cubed for the mathematically challenged.

 

IS it me or am I the only one laughing my ass off 1/4mi of fence with the post ,stuck between two trees with the fron tires in the pond ,almost blowing off the hood on prom night man yall are killing me lol lol lol...........

 

I laugh now, but not THAT night !!

 

Did the water skipping deal on an indy..wow..what a rush..the legs of my snow suit was all soaked after that.
just stay in the throttle..never let up..they act like a sluggish jet ski

oh and yeah..the 5th for me too

 

I hear ya!

 

Theres a post on it. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=395069

 

Does a genuine, both wheels belly high wheelstand next to a marked State Trooper car count? I never took my eyes off the tach. He laughed the whole time he was writing me up. Momma always said look BOTH ways.

 

Summer afternoon in '65. I'm hangin with da boys at the local gas station when I decide to leave and lay a little rubber with my 56 Olds ragtop. Wait for a break in traffic, power brake it up and let fly, turning left onto the street. Left motor mount lets go, engine and trans lift up on the left side, changing the shift linkage directly into reverse at full throttle.
BANG! Never did find another tranny for that Olds. Put the 245 horse engine in a $20 cherry-pie 50 ford.

 

Yes!

 

I was at the races riding my four wheel ATV in the pits showing off doing donuts and high sided. It hurt when the bike came over on top of me. All this was right after I had driven in a World of Outlaws feature without incident.

 

I was sophmore in high school, school got out and i jumped in my buddies car as he let me drive it that day( iwas by myself) i decided it would be a good idea to do doughnuts in the school parking lot ( the lot was made of peat gravel) i didnt see the cheif of police sitting there in his car until it was too late. he drove over to me with his lights and sirens blazing and asked me what the hell i was doing? i simply told him i was in a good mood and he said i'd hate to see you in a bad mood and explained to me that he could get me for reckless driving so on and so forth. he gave me a verbal warning and i was on my way.

 

Was lucky enough to get to attend Defensive Driving School to avoid points on my driving record. I was 16 at the time. During the 3 evening class I met Dianne, whom I considered WAY out of my league. After three nights of classes we hit it off. As we are leaving the last class she lays one on me and tells me to call her, her parents will be out of town this weekend. (Its Friday) I'm so excited as we are leaving I lay on it, roll a stop sign, smoke em up, and cross the center median in a smokey haze. Mister John Q Law witnessed the entire thing. I walked in the garage that evening where my dad was working on one of his hot rod projects "How was it son?', I said "They liked me so much they gave me 3 more tickets!" I just laid the tickets and my keys on the counter and didnt ask for so much as a drink of water for 3 weeks. At least I learned at a young age that thinking with 2 heads almost never works out in your favor. Yeah yeah, I said almost never...

 

Not that I haven't done any thing stupid, but my buddies got me beat all to hell.

My buddy Don picked up a '66 GTO, 389, 4 bbl, 4 spd, 4.11 posi rear. Took us a couple of weeks to get it going. The people that bought it new had let it set for about 15 years. Got it fired up, throttle return spring breaks, goes ballistic on the tach. Got it shut off, fix spring and fire it up again. Now it has a slight knock to it. So now he wants to go for a ride. Pick up Mike and Rick to go over to Eric's place. Eric lives on 66th in Tacoma next to the high school, fortunately it on a Sunday.

Don proceeds to take a whole car load on a blast up the street. Bangs all 4 gears, then turns around to do it again.

The 4 spd is unusual, it has a tall first, but very close ratio for the other 3 gears. Finally Eric says I want to go just by ourselves. Don says OK. Blast up 66th again. They turn around, you hear first, second, third, then when you expect to hear fourth, there is dead silence. They coast back to the house. Then proceed to take the hood off. It has never been bolted down at this point, just held on by the hood latch. Set the hood in front of the GTO a couple of feet. Then Mike shows his brilliance by saying "What the f--- happened?". He then proceeds to pop the radiator cap totally off the neck. Coolant shoots up about 20-30 feet, Mike does a backwards standing broad jump and totally clears the hood!

When we pulled the engine apart it broke 4 of the rods, cracked the block in a bunch of places, cracked both heads, broke the cam, exploded some of the lifters, and I don't remember what all.

I still wonder how we all managed to live through all of the crap that happened.

And believe me, this is only some of it.

 

I had a 59 chevy 2 dr sedan 283 auto,no low end but after a while it would do about 110.So one night this kid shows up with his sisters boyfriends 69 Z28 and he thinks he's king shit.Sisters parents are away and boyfriend gives up the Z to get rid of little brother.Now the kid is being an ass and wants to race,So I say ok,and lay out the track. 5 miles out of town on a straight 2 lane,then left turn up a winding hill for 2 miles,another left,2 more miles of back rd.Turn left on a state 2 lane back into town,and we end at the local bar. Off we go he's alone I have two guys with me. He blasts away,but 3 miles out he runs out of gear and I catch and pass him. I turn left and he is about a 1/2 mile behind,comming quick.Around a blind corner I shut off the lights and shoot into a corn field with the emergancy brake locked up.Now the corn is six feet high and the ears are beatting on the poor car.Now around the corner he comes and you can hear him all the way up the hill grabbing gears,I back out on the road and go back to town,We parked in front of the bar and get a beer just in time to hear him comming.We are standing out buy the car when he pulls in.So I say did you get lost? He can't say anything he's sitting in the car shaking.He finaly calms down ,and he telling everyone how fast my car is and what a pice of shit the Z is. We never told him.He still thinks that 59 was somekind of rocket.

 

This sums up my position on this subject


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I plead the 5th