yes

same sh#t is going down here in north antarctica which is what i was sayin'
its a kind of madness.
down here a lot of it is definitely chemically enhanced.
things are not quite normal.

take care on the roads.
either side of the equator.

So sad for these young folks and their families.

So often we hear of legalizing so-called victimless crimes. Then our cities go to hell, our streets become as said in the original Mad Max, "on the roads it was a white-line nightmare.... and in this maelstrom of decay ordinary men were battered and smashed". So that's how it goes unfortunately. Not for any need, but for lack of virtues. The story above about someone losing their nerve just because you didn't launch off the line, I remember this sort of thing when my 914 was running a tired 1.7 liter. Punks with no patience would ride my tail. You give them a little tap on the brakes but learn not to do that because they pass you and slam of their brakes, wanting you to crash. Some dangerous types out there, and I have personally lost family due to drug induced behavior. What will it be like when these types are driving EV's with 1,000 lbs excess battery mass, and lighting fast acceleration.

100% true. How do we as American's stop the decay of our cities?

Matt

Haven't been online in a while, just saw this thread.

Been a rough couple of weeks

Had an extended trip out of town a day after it happened which gave a nice distraction from the situation for a bit but came right back into it a couple days ago and still processing it all.

Just got back from the service and hanging out with his family all night.

Rodney was probably the friendliest guy you could ever meet, but i guess you probably have to be to put up with me for ~20 years. He was my car/camping/concert/anything my wife wasn't interested in doing with me buddy. You couldn't find a more genuine and sincere person.

Just absolutely sickened and incredibly angry over the whole thing.

He had sent me the invite to that drive but i just didn't feel like getting out of bed that morning and im torn on if it was a good thing I wasnt there to see it, or if maybe I was he would have been somewhere else in line and this never would have happened. But then it just would have been someone else, or even me. Its just a situation all around and nothing can fix it.

Been helping his family get an inventory and status of all his cars as they were unaware the depth of his collection (he had 12) and the whole thing has me reflecting a lot on the future of my car hobby. Dealing with a large number of vintage cars isnt easy for non enthusiasts and not something I want to leave my wife and daughter to deal with should something happen to me as I have about the same number.
That, and when you lose the person you spent the most time with enjoying the hobby it just winds up taking a lot of the fun out of it. In a way we were sort of enablers of each other when it came to cars, always pumping up the excitement in each other when there was a new prospect vehicle out there and driving hours out to the middle of nowhere to check them out.

Definitely going to be reflecting on this for a while.


News coverage of the service today:

https://kutv.com/news/local/community-celeb...a-himmelberger#

The name of the driver of the truck became public record once he checked into his new state run residence. Thankfully he is facing 2 homicide charges among other things, but i have little faith in the Utah justice system and even the worst case punishment wouldn't be enough in my mind. I am at a complete loss though as to why the other driver in the Nissan isnt being charged as well as the exchange between the two had been going on for over 2 miles before the crash. Utah doesn't have any road rage laws but you would think at least reckless driving would apply.

https://kutv.com/news/local/suspect-in-fata...ning-himself-in


Anyways...Keeping it 914 related, here is a picture of Rodney's Black 3.2 along with one of my 914s and another one of our buddies white car. Rodney had a 71 914 for a little while but it was pretty beat so he didnt keep it long. Was always looking for another one but couldn't find the right deal (he was a bit of a frugal SOB)

Click to view attachment




We had some good times in our vans as well! Going to miss him.


Click to view attachment

I am really hoping his prison time rectifies this deficiency of ass beatings.

I have to agree with the assessment though. Without straying off to much into the political or religious aspects behind it Utah has a very strange culture with an very prominent personal entitlement element. Not coincidently Utah is also #1 in the country for road rage incidents. The population here is young, the drivers are awful, and a large percentage of people here believe by birthright they are superior to all others.

Its not a good combination.

I suspect its the "Me first!" attitude applied to driving style around here that drives the high incidents of road rage. For instance, if you approach a stop light in the right lane with no one in front of you, but 2 cars already stopped at the left lane the 2nd driver on the left will almost always without fail pull quickly to the right lane to ensure that they are not behind a 2nd person, which then forces the approaching driver to have to abruptly brake much harder to avoid rear ending them. What's really strange to me is that they only jump over IF someone approaches. People refuse to allow merging when multiple lanes condense down to one. People will speed up if you signal you are about to change lanes in front of them. People pull out in front of you on roads despite the fact that there are zero cars behind you if they would have just waited a 1/4 of a second. They just cant handle not being first. Its absolutely bizarre. Moved here from California and had to adjust my driving style pretty significantly to accommodate all the BS that occurs on the roads here. My Utah born wife is always amazed when we go back to California at how easy it is to drive on the freeways there, specifically in that people actually "zipper" merge properly when getting on rather than having to force your way in.

If you don't adjust your driving here and anticipate that in every situation someone is going to do the dumbest possible than i could see how people get easily aggravated. Still though its no excuse for some asshat to turn a public highway into his own personal Mad Max re-enactment. Especially when it kills my friend who had nothing to do with the situation at all.


Seriously though, don't understand how the Nissan driver doesn't have any related charges. Per their own statement to the police they were upset when the pickup pulled in front of them at an intersection MILES before the accident location yet when the accident occurred it was the Nissan in front of the pickup and the pickup rammed them while trying to pass on the shoulder. Witnesses stated the back and forth was going on for miles and one of the lead cars in my buddies party had the interactions on dashcam. Yes, the pickup driver did multiple epically stupid things that ultimately resulted in the crash but it was the reaction of the Nissan driver being upset over someone pulling in front of them in the first place that escalated the whole situation and obviously was involved in aggressive passing given they wound up in front by the time of the accident.

The whole thing is just stupid.

So Sad. A Couple just enjoying a Drive.. ...