Sadly, a couple young guys were racing a truck, on July 7th 1978, and contact between them at high speed caused the car to flip up and out, and wrap all the way around a telephone pole, still embedded. The roof touches the floor, the hood and trunk lid touch each other.
the story on the 69:
Rivals at Central High went to go race. A 56 Chevy truck that hadn't been beat and the other was this 69 Z/28 , with two boys 16 and 15 years old, the driver lived in Hixson and the passenger lived near the lake off Kings Point Rd
They started at Germantown headed East on South Terrace.
They were followed by a guy in a Road Runner, his story:
As we topped the hill, I backed out of it because of the traffic light ahead. The Camaro was slightly ahead and hit his brakes just as the truck was changing lanes. (the road is said to have a bump in it) The truck clipped the bumper of the Z-28 and it simply went into the air sideways. I estimate they were going around 90-95 mph because I was still doing 80 and slowing down.
The car slid on it's passenger side right into the pole instantly knocking out the power in the area. The sound was like a sonic boom. The truck slid just off the road onto the sidewalk.
The driver was hanging half out of the car and the passenger was bunched up in the floor, they were both removed and taken to East Ridge Hospital. Other than being bloody, they were intact and really did not look that bad.
The headlights were still on and the radio was playing and that made it kind of spooky.
The fire department pried open the trunk and tore into the back seat to see if anyone was in the back seat in spite of us telling them nobody else was in the car. The wrecker tried several times to pull the car off the pole with no luck.
They cut it top and bottom.
The driver of the truck was brought up on charges of vehicular homicide. The police began a major crackdown on drag racing after this ending an era that had gone on since the 60's.
In those days Brainerd road was the place to be on Friday night. We would cruise all night, park in Jubilee parking lot and drink beer, do burn outs, head over to the drive in and check out the cars, go to the Cotton Patch... just had a lot of fun.
East Ridge Tn, South Terrace, intersection of Belvoir Rd and South Terrace and that was the 2nd pole before the on ramp to I-75.
One of the kid's mom said this:
As the mother of one of the boys, I can tell you what really happened.
On July 8, 1978, several boys had gotten together in East Ridge and when it was time to go home, they all left and went down South Terrace.
In the Camaro were 2 boys, the driver being 16 ( going to Hixson High) and the passenger being 15 (going to Tyner). They had gone to school together at Ooltewah in the past.
The truck and the Camaro, got their bumpers tangled on South Terrace right at Bacon Trail. The Camaro spun and went airborne and hit the telephone pole top first and wrapped around it - tail lights to head lights.
They got the boys out by 2 wreckers pulling the cars apart and they were taken to Erlanger ER. They were both dead at the scene.
The car was taken to Mosteller's garage and placed in their lot. There were so many teens who knew them both that went to see the car that they pushed the fence down twice, so Mostellers put the car on top of the building to keep their fence in tact.
They just buried this car after the 34th anniversary of the crash, in 2012 buried the whole car.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/stiffspeed/permalink/1480013125478632/
http://sceniccity.proboards.com/thread/26916
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/street-race-stories.324021/
http://nastyz28.com/threads/home-town-car-urban-legend.54197/page-11
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/street-race-stories.324021/page-10
I've seen a lot of cars wrapped around telephone poles in my day but that one tops them all. Holy shit, they had to be cranking big time!
ReplyDeleteWow. That one beats the '67 R/T I got the Hemi out of. It supposedly took out a phone pole too, but nothing like this.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I've seen come close to this is after a tornado.
ReplyDeleteThats not a Z/28. It has a Turbo 400 and Zs only came with 302s and sticks. Well it was 1978 and it might have had a BBC swap.
ReplyDeleteI has a 69 Z28 back then and it appears it was a Z28 copy, of which there were many at that time. The wheels were definitely not Z28 wheels. And it is correct that 69 Z's only came with a Hurst 4 speed stick. That was a perfect drag strip back then. Quarter mile from Belvoir to the entry sign at the I-75 entry ramp. Street racing was scary stuff and all came down to pride. Pride comes before a fall.
DeleteThe front fender plainly says Z/28. That's why it got labled as one.
ReplyDeleteyup, 5th photo down, grill and fender has Z/28 badges
DeleteI see the Z what what comes after u Reilly can't tell
Delete? "the Z what what " umm, huh? What linguistic turn of phrase is that? and did you expect me to understand it? Reilly? Who the hell is Reilly?
DeleteHow about you stick to English, no quicky cutesy funny funny stuff?
It was 1978...the car was obviously repainted and modified. The rear bumper guards are a good indication it's a real Z/28. The automatic probably replaced a damaged M21 or M22 years prior.
Deletehow did they remove the boys bodys without cutting the car up
ReplyDeleteOne piece at a time, I suppose.
DeleteMaybe they poured them out
DeleteIt took to wreckers pulling the car, if you read the description above one of the mothers explain how the boys were removed
ReplyDeleteBastards, tear up the back seat? What if he wanted fix it. Now the seat is toast
ReplyDeleteI was attending a local summer school in 1978 and we heard about it, walked down to see it. It was still on the ground at that time. The drivers area smelled of blood and you could see it on the seat. The steering wheel had to have smashed the driver's chest, it was almost touching the seat. The worst of the worst wrecks I've ever seen. They hoisted it up on top of building shortly thereafter.
ReplyDeleteI knew Eddies dad, yes that was a original z28 but the motor and transmission was from from another car .
ReplyDeletethe hood didnt look right
ReplyDeleteTragic accident and I hope the two boys died instantly. The impact is at its weakest point. The roof has no support, the camaro only has a subframe, meaning it two frames in one. Most cars has one solid frame from front to back. You can see the transmission in one of the pictures and the trans pan looks like a turbo 400 pan. I would assume the guy had a bbc engine in the car since the family was into racing.
ReplyDeleteI lived on Claremont ave when this happen heard the wreck from my house me and a friend had just stepped out of my truck jumped back in when we heard it was the first people there me and him both were on the rescue service at the time
ReplyDeleteI noticed the T400 also and thought the same thing. The wheels are not correct also, but they're not 1969 at all. They're from an early 70's Chevy.
ReplyDeleteAwful situation for sure
ReplyDeleteMy brother-in-law worked at Mostellers and made the statement that they washed most of the boys out of the car
ReplyDeleteWashed?
DeleteThe driver of the Camaro was my cousin. I ran across this page today while trying to show a friend what the car looked like on top of the building. When commenting on the death of two young boys, remember that their family members are coming across these pages too. Who gives a crap about the back seat... and comments on how they were taken out of the car? Maybe their parents' tears were of some assistance. RIP Eddie.
ReplyDeletethat happened about 44 years ago. I expect that the family members are not going to get too offended by what is said here, when the car was on display for 34 years. Context, ok? Sure, you're all offended, but you're a woman. It's easier than whistling to offend women, hell it's easier than breathing. In fact, men breathing offends women. You think we men were born yesterday and aren't used to this by now?
DeleteSo, take a minute to ignore everything I'm saying, huh, yeah, that's like asking a fish to drink water, and realize, if you can, that this is a car guy blog.
This isn't the snowflake academy.
More than that, if I thought something someone said was too much for publishing, I wouldn't publish their comment. But, unlike you, I don't believe in censorship.
I believe that if you don't like something, YOU can move along.
It sucks that the guys died in that car, and it's not too cool top say what was said in the comments here, but, life sucks and kills every fucking one of us one way or another, and along the way, we all have shit on our hands, blood on our face, and wear diapers.... some only go through that at birth, others get more during combat, some during skinning furry critters for the pelt, others while working a farm.
So, yeah, you're about as snowflake as I run into here on my blog.
You came to see the car that CRUSHED your cousin to death.
Maybe, the comment someone else left here isn't the most fucked up thing I can think of when talking to you, who wanted to look at the car their cousin died in, by compaction.
Well said, Jesse.
Deletestrange the wheels still inflated after so many years
ReplyDeleteR there any photos of the truck that they were racing?What were the kids names.I got outta high-school 1 ye ar B 4 that.
ReplyDelete