Thanks Warren. Yes the damage is fixable and the car will be better than before. My pride though, is more of a long term project. Thanks again

 

Tarek,

As you know, you and I are cool on the whole situation and I am so very happy you and Wendy are OK. When I saw your car from a distance down the straight I feared the worse and my heart stopped. By the time I got out of the car I was shaking all over and started to calm down after I saw both of you standing there unharmed.

If anyone has any doubts as to Tarek's driving skills he is lucky he can drive as great as he does. From my perspective and what little I know first hand, what he attempted was never gonna happen when doing it at a split second's notice behind someone who had a little more time to prepare for such a maneuver (even traveling at or below the speed limit). Hats off to you for keeping it under control as much as you did.. I don't think I could have. I also don't think you and others are fully aware of just how severe a turn that is ( I know it well).

Just to give a little insight as to what you were up against attempting that turn here is an aerial view of the "fork" in the Parkway (dirt/gravel Forest Service Road). blue line is Parkway, red line is "fork". Untouched photo is below that.

 

Ill add to this and set the story straight as well. I was sitting NEXT to the messenger. We came upon the "scene" after it occured. How long?? I dont know but the ranger was there, Tarek was walking along side of him ,i believe his GF was out of the car and there were 928s parked all over the place. We slowed down as to be cautious and to perhaps stop. As we got by the car and looked we could see the hood was crumpled up and things didnt look too good for the car. At that point i told Andrew, "lets just keep going it looks like its all under control", I figured they (the ranger and those involved) dont want any more cars around the scene. About a mile down the road Andrew and I were talking an i then realized "$hit, that was Randys old car, he loved that thing, he served drinks out of the trunk.". I figured Andrew may have Randys phone number as he met him SD a while back and well, Randy being the moderator and Andrew being Andrew I said we should give Randy a call and let him know his car "just hit a tree"! With all the pictures being uploaded of SITM and commentary made nearly live, i felt a phone call to Randy about this event wouldnt be out of the ordinary or distasteful.
Andrew called and left a message simply stating were were having a great time but some bad news about his old car. "it had smacked a tree and didnt looked too good". THAT WAS THE EXTENT of it , he barely had a signal on his phone and got that much out.

Perhaps that was HIS exageration?

How the running from the Ranger etc etc and anything else got out is beyond me?

I still am in touch with my previous owner after 5 years and he emails me now and then asking about his old car. Many folks have sentimental attatchments to these things. I do and perhaps Randy does also.

No harm was intented or meant by either Andrew or myself.

Dont shoot the messenger.
Everyone felt bad about what happend and were relieved to see and hear that you were both OK

 

Your PMs are still full. I'll check on the shipping cost, but I need your ZIP code.

-Dave

 

Sorry it seems that my membership expired at a bad moment. That is apparently why I cannot send or receive PMs. I'll be looking to fix that. In th emean time, please feel free to use Tarek.chbeir@l-3com.com

My zip code is 33767

Thanks!!!

 

DR,

Thanks again for the support you've showed through this and for your understanding of the situation, and the extent to which you're going for helping, clarifying, and supporting. As you well know, I never for one moment provided excuses or denied being wrong and foolish and thank you for accepting it without question and without adding to the fire. I do hope this does not severly affect your ability and that of fellow owners to enjoy these roads in the future, and especially during SITM07. This will hopefully blow over soon and we continue being thankful it wasn't worse. May be great things will continue to come out, as it did recently, when everyone drove a lot less aggressively following my accident.

 

Yes, Tony and thought it would be fun to call Randy and rib him a bit as it used to be his car. However, when we came upon the accident, both Tony and I said at the exact same moment, "Oh no!" and that was not for fear of loss of the car. I certainly was very concerned for your health and well being. But seeing you and your girlfriend walking around when we drove by (and seeing the Ranger there) prompted us to believe that you were ok and that it was simply an accident.

Tarek, I didn't get a chance to talk to you 1-on-1 afterward to express my sympathy for your loss. I was very concerned for you and your GF's well being, but was very occupied with the SC installation, so didn't have a chance to seek you out - otherwise I would have.

I guess whenever you're faced with a difficult situation, it's nice to be able to find a bit of humor in it.

 

@ your avatar, Andrew

 

He has a little Captain in him!

 

I realize and appreciate that many are posting and clarifying the situation, but since there is a little more to be clarified, I thought you should hear it directly from me. People will generally believe what they want anyway, and part of life's experiences is to live with others perception and judgment.

But if you're interested in the facts, here are some:

Fact #1: In the mountains, I generally drive faster than “most” people I know, regardless of the car they're driving or the one I'm driving. I said “most”. Don’t mean to offend or insult anyone. There are many I never got the chance to drive in close group with. That doesn't make me a great driver or a driver with good judgment. It's just a fact....and in a way also a reputation. So yes I’m admitting I’m an idiot street racer/driver.

Fact #2: Another reputation I have is that I tailgate in the mountains at speed. I guess I used to do it because I could. No pride in my judgment or driving there either. Although that was no longer the case a while ago, the reputation remained, and continued to make for fun conversation when folks ran out of better subjects. Consider it another admission of a flaw, although again, I haven’t done it in a couple of years.

Fact #3: I started driving at the age of 11 in the mountains and consider myself a terrible driver on flat roads, and rarely had a desire or interest in highway speed. I’m really not attracted by straight line speeds, so I don’t usually do it.

Fact #4: I’m very uncomfortable driving fast if someone is in the passenger seat. That is why I never brought a girlfriend or date with me to SITM or the old Fall Drive we used to do in previous years. This year was an exception, and that is why I drove very conservatively, about 50% of what I would otherwise do. That might still be considered fast by some, but it does put things in perspective.

Fact #5: MANY drove faster and more often than I did this year. Just go through the posts and you’ll see for yourself. Some had to pull over the side of the road due to brake fade. And if you heard the discussions and stories shared at SITM over a beer, you’d know that many 928’s were tearing up the roads. I don’t mind taking a hit for the team by law enforcement. A little recognition of that, however, would go a long way. The criticism by those who are twice as guilty of speeding is hypocritical.

Fact #6: I was in a group of cars going fast, but not very fast. I did not have a radar detector and had no way of knowing if that SUV coming from the opposite direction was a police officer or PArk Ranger. I used the radio repeatedly asking everyone else and had no response. (Later on I was told that they did respond). I never heard a response, so I slowed down anyway just to be on the safe side. I started dropping far behind the car in front because of my low speed, while the cars piled up behind me. I felt I was holding everyone up and decided at some point to resume my speed to catch up with the lead car, since everyone else seems ok with it. They have radar detectors so I assumed we were clear.

Fact #7: We came to a sharp fork in the road that I didn’t see in time or anticipate making. Afterall, I was following blindly, but NOT tailgating. Since I was in catch-up mode, I was carrying a lot more speed than the lead car, which by the time it got to that fork, made a sudden turn into it. Like an idiot, I didn’t realize the difference between the lead car’s speed and mine…and I just didn’t see the dirt and soft gravel until it was too late. Had I seen it, I would have continued straight on the paved road where there would be no reason to slow down or take any risk in changing direction or doing a U-turn to rejoin others.

Fact #8: I lost traction over soft dust/gravel, and therefore steering and braking were gone. Car went straight into the dirt and tree.

Fact #9: I never knew the SUV was a Park Ranger and that he turned around and was chasing the back of the group. All I could see was 928’s in my rear view mirror. No one on the radio said anything about it – at least I didn’t hear it.

Fact #10: Just like you, I was similarly told that I was evading a law enforcement officer in that maneuver!!!! If I was evading him, I’d be going 90mph not 40mph, and I would have wanted to stay on the clean paved road, knowing he can’t catch me in his SUV. And that’s assuming I wanted to. Actually I would not even have been able to see the opportunity to make a right, as it was behind a crest, and the turn would have been blind to the right. Think blind driveway. I’m stupid and an idiot as demonstrated so far, but not to the point of wanting to outrun law officers and their radios. I’ve had speeding tickets before so it’s not the end of the world if I was to get one and be on my way to enjoy the rest of the weekend. It happened before, so yes I would have had the instinct to just slow down or pull over had I known a law enforcement officer is trying to catch up with me or the group.

Fact # 11: The Park Ranger told me he wasn’t trying to catch me specifically. He only saw me after the crash, and could only remember the lead car when he passed us from the opposite direction. He did scream at first assuming I was eluding him. He was eventually persuaded by my explanation. He pressured me to give him names of those in the lead cars and those behind me, and at some point told me I would have to pay the price of speeding and eluding by others and that he was convinced EVERYBODY was speeding and SOMEBODY was eluding. In the end, he dropped the eluding part but still wrote up a $525.00 citation for careless driving and speeding.

Fact #12: The damage on the car is repairable

Fact # 13: Just because there is an explanation to most things doesn’t mean my pride is not wrinkled

Fact #14: You don’t know who your friends are until something like this happens to you

Fact # 15: I will buy a radar detector

Fact #16: I will fix the car. It will be better than new

Fact #17: I will strive to use better judgment

 

As Tony indicates, that pretty much was the extent of Andrew's message. I called him back a few minutes after he left it, inquiring about your condition.

The 'mid-engine' remark was a bit of hyperbole on my part - I apologize if it seemed flippant at the time, but the important thing to me was that you and your passanger were unharmed, hence my attempt at levity.

Cars, including this one (it is truly his after all the work and love he's put into it), can be replaced.

 

DANG...quite a bit has happened since I had posted that question. I hope that I didn't ruffle any feathers among frineds!

Seems as though a lot has been said and explained since then and most of all, Tarek, I am glad you and your passenger are OK.

Things happen (period) Can they be avoided?...in most cases yes! I know the feeling of watching another 928 slip off the road. I drive quite spiritedly as well and tend to end up leading on most runs. However, there comes the responsibility of "being the leader" to ensure that the followers are NOT driving beyond their, the cars or the roads capabilities. I had the unfortunate opportunity of watching a 928 Euro make every effort to stay in my tracks atop the Angeles Crest Highway a couple of years ago. I simply pushed it too hard for the group to stay with me. A driver being in the middle has the pressure of keeping up and not driving too slow for the folks behind them. I rounded a tight radius corner and immediately heard slight tire screaching. I looked in my rear view and watched this Euro slide off the road into the side of a rock faced cliff. The car had become airborn and rode the rocks and gravel at a 45 degree angle. My heart sunk as I zipped around another turn while seeing the sparks, smoke and dust. I immediately tunred around to render help. When I got there he was out of the car with no injuries though the car was crippled and had to be flatbedded off the mountain. It was a damn good thing it was a turn that turned away from the moutnain than around it. Losing control off that cliff would have surely been death hundreds of feet below!

That was a great lesson to me. I now always take the responsibility of finding out the limits of the driver/car behind me regardless of who they are. If I see road conditions may be questionable or had just missed a turn, I KNOW that my actions are going to certainly cause REactions. Hopefully, this will help others in the future from being a statistic to that guy just cussing at you as to what a bonehead you are for missing the turn or plain out driving too slow.

 

TAREK,

Glad to hear you are ok, and thanks for shutting down the rumor mill!

 

Am I reading DR's comments correctly...the turn was from the Parkway onto a dirt/gravel service road? No wonder the ranger thought you guys were evading arrest!

 

Tarek,

We only met shortly at DR's but I agree with you completely. Just because I didn't get a ticket didn't mean I wasn't driving too fast. I also have been driving since I was 12 and know exactly how you feel. I always give thanks when someone else takes one for the team (here's my thanks ) and am more than glad that you are okay. I have pretty much the whole front end from an 82 (black) except the passenger fender. If there is something I can do to help let me know and I will get you the parts you need.

you can email me at rod.kubis'at'rogers.com