the roll bar that saved my life(no Flip Over)

[stanger66]

Back in april of 2003 my brother in law just got the saleen SR and I challenged him to a road race on Georgetown pike Rt 193 in Great Falls, VA. I was driving my 03 cobra and we racing on a 2 lane road about 10:30am from I495 to Rt. 7 Leesburg Pike and see who would be first. My car was pushing about 625 rwhp and I beefed up the suspension and added nos. so I fiqured I could beat him with no problem so we are driving between 40 and 160mph down this old twisty road and it rained for 3 days straight and sun finally came out and it was the day to race the road was mostly dry.

But we had raced about 3 1/2 miles and hit this stretch of road that is straight with no turns but has these hills that you can get air off them if you are going fast enough. On this stretch he got ahead of me and was pushing my car to catch up with him and the road finally flatten out right before the turn.

We I hit this stretch I started the brake and down shift for it the safety speed sign 15mph and I was going about 145mph but when I went to downshift it sent me into a spin. I thought I spun about 4 times but my brother in law said I spun about 6 times. And the reason he knows that is because passed with nos on that straight of way prior to this.

I finally got it going straight but it was in reverse at about 140mph.
All I know is that I looked in my rear view mirror and saw this tree coming towards me so I dropped it into 2nd gear and slammed the gas to try to slow down some. I think I was doing about 130mph when I hit the 2ft thick tree down the center of my car.

When my brother in law finally got me to wake up (out for 20mins.) He and I had to peel the conv. roof back for me to get out. I got out and looked at my car and it looked like it had wings with a tree in middle.

The ambulance showed up and checked me out I had my right arm broken and broken collar bone, 2 fingers broken, and concusion.
The cobra was cut down the middle (hit at the license plate).

The damage consisted of split gas tank, rear end snapped in half, driveshaft looked like a curly fry, trans snapped, engine pushed about 6 inches forward, and I even bent the steering wheel. The only things I could save were the rims and tires, the hood, r/f fender, head unit and front speakers.

The medict told that if the roll bar wasnt there I would probably be dead. The tree ended up about 1 1/2 inches from behind my seat.

ross