Dumb kids....

[Classicvette63]

My step son's prom was last weekend. After the prom two of his friends went and did a "dirty mary, crazy larry" into the side of a train. Seems they had been drinking. The really stupid thing was, the train was stopped. I'm very familar with that very long and very straight stretch of road from my misspent youth and cannot fathom how they couldn't see a frigging TRAIN. So instead of celebrating graduation next week everyone is attending vigils and just generally bummed out. What a shame.

[Dom]

Condolences to the families Classic. It seems to happen somewhere every year -- maybe not hitting a train, but accidents that take seniors out just before gradution. My class, back in '74 (ooops, am I that old already?) lost one, 3 injured, when passing and hit another vehicle head on. I dunno, life's too short to take chances, but it happens anyway, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

[fabsroman]

I have absolutely no idea what a dirty mary, crazy larry is, but I will assume that it is something stupid involving the use of a car.

At night, it is really easy to out drive the range of your headlights (i.e., once you see something you do not have the ability to stop in time). For instance, if a car is going 100 mph and needs 350 ft. to go from 100 to 0, but the headlights only shine out to 200 ft., you will be in big trouble when you see that train at 200 ft. Essentially, you will be 150 ft. short of stopping when you hit the train. With greater speed comes greater stopping distances and higher impact speeds at night.

When we are young, we tend to think we are invincible. I did things with my Mustang when I first got it that I wouldn't even attempt to do now. Heck, I did things with my first car, a 1980 V-8 Cougar that I wouldn't do now. Luckily I survived the incidents. Sad thing is that not everybody does. I almost believe it is a matter of luck. For me, I got lucky a couple of times, but it might have involved a slight bit of skill too.

[Classicvette63]

Fabs, you ever see the beginning to the show "The Fall Guy" with Lee Majors some years ago? There is a scene of a yellow '69 Dodge Charger slamming into a train. That is from the movie "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry. Pretty good car chase movie with Peter Fonda and Vic Morrow. That is actually my first memory of a movie. I was 4 when my parents went to see it at the drive-inn. Back then they use to have cartoons on before the movie and they figured I would be asleep by the time the movie came on. They found out at an early age that I liked to stay up late. The end of the movie definetly left an impression on a 4 yr old.

[fabsroman]

I remember the Fall Guy with Lee Majors. If I am not mistaken, he was a bounty hunter and Heather Lockleer was also on the show. However, I have no recollection of the yellow Dodge Charger slamming into the train, but now I know what the phrase means.