I just read this story and thought it was hilarious. Enjoy, and keep off the road when at all possible. These idiots are out there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- '67 Impala with a JATO unit bolted to the back of it. (Jet Assisted Take Off) The Arizona Highway Patrol came upon a pile of smoldering metal embedded into the side of a cliff rising above the road at the apex of a curve. The wreckage resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it was a car. The type of car was unidentifiable at the scene. The lab finally figured out what it was and what had happened. It seems that a guy had somehow obtained a JATO unit (Jet Assisted Take Off - actually a solid fuel rocket) that is used to give heavy military transport planes an extra "push" for taking off from short airfields. He had driven his Chevy Impala out into the desert and found a long, straight stretch of road. Then he attached the JATO unit to his car, jumped in, got up some speed and fired off the JATO! The facts as best could be determined are that the operator of the 1967 Impala hit JATO ignition at a distance of approximately 3.0 miles from the crash site. This was established by the prominent scorched and melted asphalt at that location. The JATO, if operating properly, would have reached maximum thrust within 5 seconds, causing the Chevy to reach speeds well in excess of 350 mph and continuing at full power for an additional 20-25 seconds. The driver, soon to be pilot, most likely would have experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog-fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners, basically causing him to become insignificant for the remainder of the event. However, the automobile remained on the straight highway for about 2.5 miles (15-20)seconds before the driver applied and completely melted the brakes, blowing the tires and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface, then becoming airborne for an additional 1.4 miles and impacting the cliff face at a height of 125 feet leaving a blackened crater 3 feet deep in the rock. Most of the driver's remains were not recoverable; however, small fragments of bone, teeth and hair were extracted from the crater and fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel. I love stupid people. They make for the best stories.
Like stupid people stories? Check out the Darwin Awards. Some really hillarious(albeit, tasteless) stuff!
Actually, I picked it up on Jim Rome's site. I've never heard it before, so if it is, in fact, an urban legend, it's a really new one.
You want to hear an urban legend? Go to: www.snopes.com Search "lobsters". It's about a 22-year old Maine girl. I hope I don't get banned for this.
rocketman.... sick. i'm wondering, though. what made you do a search on an urban legends page for LOBSTERS? just curious....
It was sent to me via e-mail. Someone else in my office knew about the page, and we were positive it wasn't real, so we searched. I'm not easy to disgust, but this did it.
I donot think that is real!! DUKE tried to soup up his car, 1971 Impala with doodads and gagets, but the Navy woun't sell me what I NEEDED: Nucular Powered Engine to make the DUKEMOBILE go way way way fast. DUKE checked on EBAY too, no nucular engines for sale. MY impala is still bad ass you know, DUKE would not hve it any other way?, but I still want to make that sucker NUCULAR. Please help. LOVE THE DUKE OF TRUTH!!!!
Thank you LHutz, now THAT was a great story about an idiot. ------------------ Finally the Frink has come back to Clutch City! dot net.
That story about the JATO unit is a couple of years old. If you want to see more "true" stories like that and laugh your butts off, go to www.darwinawards.com. The Darwin Awards are handed out each year to people who through stupidity kill themselves and rid the gene pool of at least one stupid person's genetic code. I'm not kiddin' folks, some of this stuff is hilarious whether true or not. ------------------ trade them all and fire the coach.
