Just a memory:

[BillyGman]

Here's what was left of my older brother's car after it split in half, which BTW proved to be his death bed. Not too pretty, huh? It was a long time ago, but somehow that just doesn't matter. It might look like the tree was damaged, but I was there, and I can assure you, that the tree didn't move one bit, nor was there even any damage on it. That's the driver's door that's wrapped around the tree trunk, and not damage to the tree. I wish that I was able to say the same for my brother, but unfortunately he's gone.

No I'm not preaching to anyone since I'm in no position to do so. This is just a pic that I pull out every once in awhile to remind myself to be a little more careful, and to remember what happened to Mike. Can you tell what kind of car it was?

[Krytin]

Here's what was left of my older brother's car after it split in half, which BTW proved to be his death bed. Not too pretty, huh? It was a long time ago, but somehow that just doesn't matter. It might look like the tree was damaged, but I was there, and I can assure you, that the tree didn't move one bit, nor was there even any damage on it. That's the driver's door that's wrapped around the tree trunk, and not damage to the tree. I wish that I was able to say the same for my brother, but unfortunately he's gone.

No I'm not preaching to anyone since I'm in no position to do so. This is just a pic that I pull out every once in awhile to remind myself to be a little more careful, and to remember what happened to Mike. Can you tell what kind of car it was? Sorry for your loss Billy.
Looks like a Porsche - what's left of it. Not good!

[Petrograde]

wow Billy,... that's sobering.

I have had a similar experience. I know where you're coming from.

Looks like it was a Porsche.

[Tallboy]

Billy-I'm sorry for your loss, but it's good to remember your brother this way. We all need a reality check now and then. I had the closest call of my life in a Trans Am on Rte. 34 just across Stevenson Dam. I still get chills when I think about it.

What year was your brother's Porsche?

[BillyGman]

Sorry for your loss Billy.
Looks like a Porsche - what's left of it. Not good!Yep, that's correct. It was a 69 Porsche 911T with some low mileage. I drove it. The manual transmission on it shifted so smoothly. I was able to lay down some pretty mean shifts with that thing.

[jstevens]

Wow. Well Billy, thanks for posting that.

It will make me check my driving a little more closely. I'm sure everyone will think a little more after viewing that picture.

Sorry for your loss even if it was awhile ago.

[sailsmen]

Sorry for your loss, lost my younger brother in 5-2-88. I will never forget it, it's as though it was today!

[ROADWARRIORSVT]

BillyG,
At least you don't forget, not letting his passing go in vain. Hopefully by sharing this terrible memory, someone will drive just a little more safely. Thanks for sharing brother.

[BillyGman]

Thanks for the thoughtfull comments, and I feel your pain Sailsmen. my brother Mike was 32 yrs. old, and left two kids behind who lived with him (his son and daughter). He was racing someone else doing 100+ MPH. The real bad thing was that it was on a weekday during 5:00 traffic!!!! What was he thinking?!! But that's just it, he wasn't thinking about anything but beating that other guy in the other car, I'm sure.


The skid marks from his car, and from the other car were both hundreds of feet long, and clearly indicated how fast they were both going. And I can tell that the way the shape of his skid marks changed right before his car went off the road, that his car began to skid sideways, and he went sideways into that tree at an incredible speed. There was nothing he could do but sit there in the driver's seat and await the massive impact that ended his life. His Aorta was collapsed by the impact and it was over. What's even worse was that the guy racing him kept on going and didn't even bother to stop at a pay phone to call for police. He must have been more worried about geting a ticket for racing than he was about another person's life!!!!!

okay, okay, sorry for the rant, but maybe this will get someone to think alittle bit, like it does for me from time to time.

[MarauderMark]

It might look like the tree was damaged, but I was there, and I can assure you, that the tree didn't move one bit,


Lol your were worried about the tree?Who cares about the tree ..Sorry to hear of your loss buddy.was he your older or younger brother?Also do you have any other brothers or sisters?

[DEFYANT]

:( Hang in there... a loss like this never gets better. "Funny" thing about death. It never gets better.

[BillyGman]

Lol your were worried about the tree?Who cares about the tree ..Sorry to hear of your loss buddy.was he your older or younger brother?Also do you have any other brothers or sisters?
It's quite okay to see some humor here. Maybe it helps us sometimes to keep our sanity. but what I meant about the tree was, that it's amazing how 3,000 LBS of metal on wheels can be hurled into a tree at close to 100 MPH with such great impact that it literally cuts the car in half as it did in this scenario, and the tree which was about the same diamter as a telephone poll didn't move at all!!! it's just a sobering thought for me, and one that I hope will make other people think alittle bit too, since we drive on roads that have trees on the side of them every single day while in our cars.

As for my late brother Mike, he was my oldest brother, and one of four that I had ( I'm left eith three of them, along wityh my two older sisters). But Mike and I were the closest, and were very much alike (that's what scares me sometimes when I think about what happened!!!). And nobody else in my family was like Mike, or me. I'm more like he was in all ways than even my twin brother.

[RoyLPita]

I'm sorry for your loss, Billy.

[jgc61sr2002]

Billy - Words cannot express my sorrow. Sorry for your loss.

[Bluerauder]

Here's what was left of my older brother's car after it split in half, which BTW proved to be his death bed.
Sorry to hear about the loss of your older brother in that accident. Very unfortunate. :( How long ago did this happen??

[BillyGman]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your older brother in that accident. Very unfortunate. :( How long ago did this happen??Oh, it was along time ago like I had stated in my first post. Infact it was in 1981. So it isn't like I'm still trying to get over the initial shock or anything like that. it is still sad, and I still do miss Mike, but this picture serves to slow me down alittle bit, so I figured that I'd share it with you guys since I'm sure that some of you drive like I sometimes do.

So I guess that now is a good time to mention that last friday night I got into two races, and afterwards I felt very foolish even though I had won both of them. The fact that I won didn't matter to me as much as knowing that I was stupid for doing that. And to be more specific, there wasn't any traffic like there always is at 5:00 on a weekday afternoon like there was when my brother died, since it was late at night during my craziness on Friday, but what bothers me the most is that I broke a personal rule that I have for myself....and that is NOT to drive fast when the temperatures are below 40 degrees.

And last Friday night the temp was 26 degrees out!!!! I should know bettrer than that, and I do know better!!! There could've easily been black ice at any point on the road just waiting there for me, and I would've been done!!! So knowing all of this, I decided to get out this old newspaper clipping of what happened to my brother, and try and take it to heart all over again. So I thought that it might also serve to make someone else here think a little bit too. But make no mistake about it, this is primarily to make myself think a little more while I'm behind the wheel!!!!

[mpearce]

Billy, I've driven the Merritt Parkway several times back when I used to live in Westchester Co. NY. I had a friend that lived in Norwalk CT that I used to visit on occasion. What a beautiful stretch of highway. It doesn't even really look like a normal freeway does. Tall trees in the median, wooden guard rails, and beautiful scenery. Thinking back on that, I never would have thought I'd meet someone who's brother lost their life on that same stretch of road. I'm sorry to hear of your loss Billy. I don't have any brothers or sisters, so I guess I'll never really know what it's like. What a reminder to be careful. Good post.

-Mat

[Sully008]

Billy,

I'm sorry for your loss too. I've got an older and a younger brother and I wouldn't know what to do if I lost either of them. Scary thing is, my younger brother still drives like a maniac sometimes. And now he'll be behind the wheel of a new Mustang GT. I might have to show him that picture. Definately makes you think twice.

[BillyGman]

Billy, I've driven the Merritt Parkway several times back when I used to live in Westchester Co. NY. I had a friend that lived in Norwalk CT that I used to visit on occasion. What a beautiful stretch of highway. It doesn't even really look like a normal freeway does. Tall trees in the median, wooden guard rails, and beautiful scenery. Thinking back on that, I never would have thought I'd meet someone who's brother lost their life on that same stretch of road. I'm sorry to hear of your loss Billy. I don't have any brothers or sisters, so I guess I'll never really know what it's like. What a reminder to be careful. Good post.

-MatMat, this^ is exactly what I was hoping for...to make somebody else think too. I don't think that any of us can honestly say that we never drive our marauders fast on the public roads. especially those of us who have spent thousands of dollars to make our cars go FASTER. So I'm not preaching to anyone about that, nor am i trying to since I'm certainly in no position to do so anyway.

I just think that each of us should pause, and take a moment to look at this picture of my late brother's car, and make atleast a short list of lines that we draw for ourselves that should NOT be crossed over while we're behind the wheel. This thread should not become all about finger pointing, but rahter an encouragement for eachother to make atleast a few personal rules for ourselves. For me it's such things as not driving fast when there 's any chance of black ice, not passing other cars around a blind turn, or while nearing a crest of a hill, and not passing on the shoulder either!! I've seen guys do that even at night, and it's just
plain crazy!!!

Ofcourse there are other personal rules too, but it isn't my intention to dictate here to anyone else, nor would I wish for anyone else to try and dictate for us either. it's something that has to be a personal goal for all of us. the specifics and limits might be slightly different for each one of us, but atleast something should be decided on and observed by eack individual. And let me repeat, that I am not about to point a finger since I'm in no position to do so even if I wanted to. Take it for what it's worth friends.

[BillyGman]

Billy,

. And now he'll be behind the wheel of a new Mustang GT. I might have to show him that picture. Definately makes you think twice.Yes!! that would be great!! show him the pic, and let him know that this happened while racing on the street, and that the other driver didn't even stop to help. and left my brother to die. It might not have made much difference if he did atleast call, but the point is that he had no idea of that since he only learned of the outcome by reading the newspaper the next day if he even bothered to pick it up. So please, e-mail it to your brother, or show it to him.

[the_pack_rat]

Sorry to hear of your loss Billy.

I'm sure we are all having a moment of silence & we'll all think twice if we should we start to forget & push the envelope a bit too far.

[Ross]

Thanks for sharing this, Billy. I can tell how real it still is to you after all of this time. A pic like that kind of makes you think twice.

[Patrick]

Glad you shared that with us Billy. I hope it serves as a reminder for us all. Thanks!!

[Bradley G]

Thanks Billy,

I know not of your pain.I have no brothers.
Your brother is proud of your efforts to share his life.Few can say they have a brother like you.God Bless!
Bradley G

[rayjay]

Billy, sorry for your loss. I lost my little brother the same way, only to a utility pole. Its been many years, but you never forget.

[wesman]

Wow that is sobering Billy.

On a personal note, I used to be somewhat of an animal on the street. Until I went to a real racetrack. It was there that I learned two things:
1) I had never driven fast before
2) You could never approach that level of speed out there in the real world, so why bother?

And I have been pursuing a hobby ever since that is hard to describe how much fun it is, despite being ridiculously expensive.

We should look into a trackday at Limerock, I think you would like it.

[BillyGman]

We should look into a trackday at Limerock, I think you would like it. Even thugh I'm not into the spectators side of circle track, nor road course racing, yes, I think that I would like driving on a circle track or road course very much. However, i think I'll stay with drag racing, because not only is circle track tougher on a street car engine than drag racing is, there's also a much higher probability of you cracking up your car on a circle track or road course than there is on the drag strip. And because my Marauder is my daily driver, I'm staying away from that.

[Lowell]

The wound may heal, the scar may never go away.

[BillyGman]

The wound may heal, the scar may never go away.Yeah, it's just such a waste.......I never could get over the fact that he was driving like that in 5:00 traffic!!!!! ....and with two narrow lanes, a gaurd rail on one side of him only 8feet away, and a bunch of trees merely 20 feet away on the other side!!!