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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 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 gotten hold of a JATO bottle (Jet Assisted Takeoff), which is actually a solid fuel rocket 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 as could be determined, are that the operator of the 1967 Impala hit the JATO ignition at a distance of approximately 3.0 miles from the crash site. These conclusions were established, by noting the prominent scorched and melted asphalt at the crash site 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, and soon to be pilot, most likely would have experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners, causing him to become insignificant for the remainder of the event. However, the automobile! le remained on the straight highway for about 2.5 miles (15-20 seconds) before the driver applied the brakes and completely melted them - blowing the tires and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface, then becoming airborne for an additional 1.4 miles and impacting the face of the cliff 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 remnants 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. It has been calculated that this moron nearly reached Mach One, attaining a ground speed of approximately 420 mph!
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You think his cheeks were flapping?? :D
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I heard this a few years ago, but it was a different car I think.
HBjet
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Urban Legend, disproved by the Darwin Awards a few years back, but still a fun read!
