# A Close Call......A Mini Adventure From My Youth



## DoctorZ (Oct 28, 2018)

This took place before the days of cell phones when teenagers all took their cars out on Main Street and drove up and down looking for girls to pick up, another car to Drag Race, or just to hang out and show off their cars. Our form of communication in our cars was a CB Radio, and we all had "Handles" we used instead of our real names. The location was the suburban City of Hopkins, Minnesota.

A CLOSE CALL.....

Back when I was 19 years old and cruising Hopkins regularly I used to meet a lot of girls on the CB radio. I remember this one girl in particular who was 14 or 15. Her Handle was Speed Queen, and for some reason she had this big crush on me. Whenever I was in town she always wanted to ride around with me. She lived in Hopkins so walking along Excelsior Boulevard was no big deal to her. I would drive down there and she would hop in my car when ever she saw me. After awhile, we exchanged phone numbers and started talking on the phone. I was not really interested in her as a girlfriend, she really wasn't my type, but it was nice to have her as a friend.

One day while she was talking to me on the phone, her dad got on the phone and started asking me questions. Apparently she had kept me a secret. Her dad found out how old I was and blew a fuse. He was very nice to me on the phone though. He politely told me that I was not to come near his daughter anymore. He said that he was not angry with me, because he knew how wild his daughter could be and figured she had lied to me about her age or something. I really didn't care how old the girls were, but I was always careful around them. Anyway, I agreed to stay away from his daughter. This proved to be very hard to do. Speed Queen wouldn't take no for an answer and kept running up to my car and jumping in whenever I was in town.

One day she jumped in my car while I was cruising Hopkins, and I got a call on my CB radio from my friend California Fox. He was on his way into town and had broke down out on Highway 7, in St. Louis Park. He wanted me to drive out and help him. I took off like a bat out of hell to help my friend. I drove up to Highway 7, and as I entered the Highway, I floored it. I was zooming along in excess of 80 miles per hour (in a 45 MPH zone when) about 1/4 mile ahead, the stop light started to change. There was a car in the left turn lane waiting to turn, and another car slowing down in the right lane ahead of me. There was also a car waiting to cross the intersection from the left.

Speed Queen was really having a lot of fun racing down the highway at dangerous speeds, so I decided that I was going to run the stop light. I figured I could make it thru on the yellow because I was going so fast. As I approached the intersection the car in the right lane started to change lanes over to the left lane which I was in! I started to slow down, but was traveling so fast that I would have rear-ended him if I had just jammed on the brakes. I decided that I would inch over and squeeze between the car in the left-turn lane, and the one moving over into my lane. I was praying that maybe the driver changing lanes would see me and get back in his lane. I then realized that Speed Queen didn't have her seat belt on and would probably be killed if I rear-ended any of the cars.

I had visions of her dad putting me in prison for being around his daughter and killing her after he had warned me to stay away! I reasoned that there was only one thing to do. To lessen the impact of the collision, I would position my car to squeeze between both cars on there sides. That way I would probably just rip off the quarter panels on all our cars and Speed Queen wouldn't go through the windshield.

As I arrived at the intersection I was still traveling about 70 miles per hour and the merging car had completely entered the left lane, MY LANE! The stop light had changed to red; because I had slowed down, it had changed the timing of my arrival. The car waiting to cross the intersection had begun to accelerate. I braced for the collision! I said goodbye to Speed Queen as we flew between the two cars! I must have missed those cars by less than a centimeter on each side! The suction of my car passing so close, and at such a high rate of speed, must have violently shook the two cars! The car coming through the intersection had to screech to a stop to avoid broadsiding me while at the same time I veered to the right to get away from him. I let out a sigh of relief as Speed Queen put her hand on my shoulder and said, "You are a REALLY GOOD driver!" I told her that it must have been two Angels sent from Heaven that saved us, because there was no way my car could have fit between those two cars.

I arrived at California Fox's car a few minutes later and told him about our death defying feat. I was shaking so bad I could barely stand up. I was useless to Ca. Fox as a helper when I arrived.

I hope you never have a close call like that when you start driving, or rather, if you have been driving.


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## Tadaa (Oct 28, 2018)

no way. hahaha

i just watched this video a few days ago

_Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfXD6bmsjL0&t=54s_​


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## DoctorZ (Oct 28, 2018)

Tadaa said:


> no way. hahaha
> 
> i just watched this video a few days ago
> 
> ...




Yes, I was actually down there the night that news story was filmed. I asked them when it would be aired and set my BETAMAX VCR to record it. The video was then digitized back in the 1990's, and finally uploaded to YouTube. 

The most interesting thing is the girl getting the ticket. She was sighted for DWI/DUI and was only 16-years old. Back then drunk driving, even by a minor, was just a misdemeanor and didn't make the news, nor got you arrested. It was simply a traffic violation about as serious as Careless Driving is today.

You can even hear the Interviewer ask the cops, "You deal with these kids when they're DRUNK and disorderly, do you throw them in the can?" Cops says, "No! We just give them a ticket and they go on their way."


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