Another moment of silence

Several things trouble me about this story.

"Boynton Beach -- Stephen V. wasn't going to drive away like a punk, friends
said. So he accepted the challenge to race the silver Ford Mustang that had
beat his Dodge Neon SRT-4 before. V., 18, thought he would win this time. He
knew how to speed up his car, recently modified with a wastegate and
blow-off valve. He'd gotten up to 145 mph in the car.

"But shortly after hitting a curb about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday west of West
Palm Beach, V. spun out of control, knocked over a bus stop sign, hit a gate
and flipped several times, the Florida Highway Patrol said. V., of Boynton
Beach, didn't like seat belts, friends said.

"'He doesn't like being tied down,' said his girlfriend, Marybeth.

"V. was ejected from the car and died in a vacant lot near Forest Hill
Boulevard west of Anderson Lane, the FHP said." (Jerome Burdi, South Florida
Sun-Sentinel)

1) A Mustang racing a Neon. And please don't tell me, well, it was an SRT-4.
It's still rather like picking on your younger brother.

2) The Neon exceeded the operator's ability to control the vehicle. Did he
really have it up to 145mph at any point previously, or was that just
boasting?

3) Seat belt. How the hell can anyone consider themselves to be a "driver"
and NOT strap in? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

When I drive, the vehicle doesn't move until all occupants click in.

dwight
www.tfrog93.com

dwight wrote:
> Several things trouble me about this story.
>
> "Boynton Beach -- Stephen V. wasn't going to drive away like a punk, friends
> said. So he accepted the challenge to race the silver Ford Mustang that had
> beat his Dodge Neon SRT-4 before. V., 18, thought he would win this time. He
> knew how to speed up his car, recently modified with a wastegate and
> blow-off valve. He'd gotten up to 145 mph in the car.
>
> "But shortly after hitting a curb about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday west of West
> Palm Beach, V. spun out of control, knocked over a bus stop sign, hit a gate
> and flipped several times, the Florida Highway Patrol said. V., of Boynton
> Beach, didn't like seat belts, friends said.
>
> "'He doesn't like being tied down,' said his girlfriend, Marybeth.
>
> "V. was ejected from the car and died in a vacant lot near Forest Hill
> Boulevard west of Anderson Lane, the FHP said." (Jerome Burdi, South Florida
> Sun-Sentinel)
>
> 1) A Mustang racing a Neon. And please don't tell me, well, it was an SRT-4.
> It's still rather like picking on your younger brother.
>
> 2) The Neon exceeded the operator's ability to control the vehicle. Did he
> really have it up to 145mph at any point previously, or was that just
> boasting?
>
> 3) Seat belt. How the hell can anyone consider themselves to be a "driver"
> and NOT strap in? Stupid, stupid, stupid.
>
> When I drive, the vehicle doesn't move until all occupants click in.
>
> dwight
> www.tfrog93.com
>
>
Having bent a steering wheel with my upper lip before, I always click.
Street racings bad umkay?

"dwight" > wrote in
:

> Several things trouble me about this story.
>
> "Boynton Beach -- Stephen V. wasn't going to drive away like a punk,
> friends said. So he accepted the challenge to race the silver Ford
> Mustang that had beat his Dodge Neon SRT-4 before. V., 18, thought he
> would win this time. He knew how to speed up his car, recently
> modified with a wastegate and blow-off valve. He'd gotten up to 145
> mph in the car.
>
> "But shortly after hitting a curb about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday west of
> West Palm Beach, V. spun out of control, knocked over a bus stop sign,
> hit a gate and flipped several times, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
> V., of Boynton Beach, didn't like seat belts, friends said.
>
> "'He doesn't like being tied down,' said his girlfriend, Marybeth.
>
> "V. was ejected from the car and died in a vacant lot near Forest Hill
> Boulevard west of Anderson Lane, the FHP said." (Jerome Burdi, South
> Florida Sun-Sentinel)
>
> 1) A Mustang racing a Neon. And please don't tell me, well, it was an
> SRT-4. It's still rather like picking on your younger brother.
>
> 2) The Neon exceeded the operator's ability to control the vehicle.
> Did he really have it up to 145mph at any point previously, or was
> that just boasting?
>
> 3) Seat belt. How the hell can anyone consider themselves to be a
> "driver" and NOT strap in? Stupid, stupid, stupid.
>
> When I drive, the vehicle doesn't move until all occupants click in.
>
> dwight
> www.tfrog93.com

This story was in last Thursday's paper:
http://tinyurl.com/2wcpw5

The kid was an idiot, which makes sense, because his mother is one too.
After reading the story you get a feel for the attitude of the kid, his
friends, and his mother. Truly sad.

From the story...
"I was very involved in my son's life, but I also had to let him be a
teenager," said Cathy Vivarttas, 44, beside her other son, Michael, 10.
"And look at what it got me. He was the kind of kid that if you tried to
control him, he would rebel."

What kind of crap is this? By her own admission, the mother basically
gave up on straightening out her kid. End result: He ended up killing
himself. Some people just don't get it...

GILL wrote:
> dwight wrote:
>
>> Several things trouble me about this story.
>>
>> "Boynton Beach -- Stephen V. wasn't going to drive away like a punk,
>> friends said. So he accepted the challenge to race the silver Ford
>> Mustang that had beat his Dodge Neon SRT-4 before. V., 18, thought he
>> would win this time. He knew how to speed up his car, recently
>> modified with a wastegate and blow-off valve. He'd gotten up to 145
>> mph in the car.
>>
>> "But shortly after hitting a curb about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday west of
>> West Palm Beach, V. spun out of control, knocked over a bus stop sign,
>> hit a gate and flipped several times, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
>> V., of Boynton Beach, didn't like seat belts, friends said.
>>
>> "'He doesn't like being tied down,' said his girlfriend, Marybeth.
>>
>> "V. was ejected from the car and died in a vacant lot near Forest Hill
>> Boulevard west of Anderson Lane, the FHP said." (Jerome Burdi, South
>> Florida Sun-Sentinel)
>>
>> 1) A Mustang racing a Neon. And please don't tell me, well, it was an
>> SRT-4. It's still rather like picking on your younger brother.
>>
>> 2) The Neon exceeded the operator's ability to control the vehicle.
>> Did he really have it up to 145mph at any point previously, or was
>> that just boasting?
>>
>> 3) Seat belt. How the hell can anyone consider themselves to be a
>> "driver" and NOT strap in? Stupid, stupid, stupid.
>>
>> When I drive, the vehicle doesn't move until all occupants click in.
>>
>> dwight
>> www.tfrog93.com
>>
>>
> Having bent a steering wheel with my upper lip before, I always click.
> Street racings bad umkay?



Having been a race car mechanic for a good number of years, I can't
stress the importance of proper belts, mounting them securely and using
them... it's no joke.
My friend for example flipped his race car over 7 times, end to end and
sideways and everything in between. The rescue crew had to cut him out,
but thanks to the roll cage and 4 or 5 point racing belts, he walked
away with a minor concussion. The car was pretty much unrecognizeable.

The forces involved in a bad crash are enormous. positive and negatiove
G's, and centrifugal forces that make anything inside the car try to get
out.

Leave a quarter on the speaker shelf by the rear window, and it will fly
through the windshield in a bad head-on crash..
Keeping race cars clean is a pain.. lol.. especially dirt track rally
cars. One of the biggest complaints from the drivers is loose rocks and
sand flying inside the car when they roll it

Jan

dwight wrote:
> Several things trouble me about this story.
>
> "Boynton Beach -- Stephen V. wasn't going to drive away like a punk, friends
> said. So he accepted the challenge to race the silver Ford Mustang that had
> beat his Dodge Neon SRT-4 before. V., 18, thought he would win this time. He
> knew how to speed up his car, recently modified with a wastegate and
> blow-off valve. He'd gotten up to 145 mph in the car.
>
> "But shortly after hitting a curb about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday west of West
> Palm Beach, V. spun out of control, knocked over a bus stop sign, hit a gate
> and flipped several times, the Florida Highway Patrol said. V., of Boynton
> Beach, didn't like seat belts, friends said.
>
> "'He doesn't like being tied down,' said his girlfriend, Marybeth.
>
> "V. was ejected from the car and died in a vacant lot near Forest Hill
> Boulevard west of Anderson Lane, the FHP said." (Jerome Burdi, South Florida
> Sun-Sentinel)
>
> 1) A Mustang racing a Neon. And please don't tell me, well, it was an SRT-4.
> It's still rather like picking on your younger brother.
>
> 2) The Neon exceeded the operator's ability to control the vehicle. Did he
> really have it up to 145mph at any point previously, or was that just
> boasting?
>
> 3) Seat belt. How the hell can anyone consider themselves to be a "driver"
> and NOT strap in? Stupid, stupid, stupid.
>
> When I drive, the vehicle doesn't move until all occupants click in.
>

Yep, and many of them look at you like you're an old fool when you
tell them that too. One good thing about that story is that at least he
didn't take any bystanders or passengers with him.

> dwight
> www.tfrog93.com
>

Are you TRYING to give the rest of us web envy?
It's working....

--
"Yes, it is a good thing you are handy, as
you clearly suck at being smart." - Herb

"WindsorFox" > wrote in message
...
> dwight wrote:
>> Several things trouble me about this story.
>>
>> "Boynton Beach -- Stephen V. wasn't going to drive away like a punk,
>> friends said. So he accepted the challenge to race the silver Ford
>> Mustang that had beat his Dodge Neon SRT-4 before. V., 18, thought he
>> would win this time. He knew how to speed up his car, recently modified
>> with a wastegate and blow-off valve. He'd gotten up to 145 mph in the
>> car.
>>
>> "But shortly after hitting a curb about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday west of West
>> Palm Beach, V. spun out of control, knocked over a bus stop sign, hit a
>> gate and flipped several times, the Florida Highway Patrol said. V., of
>> Boynton Beach, didn't like seat belts, friends said.
>>
>> "'He doesn't like being tied down,' said his girlfriend, Marybeth.
>>
>> "V. was ejected from the car and died in a vacant lot near Forest Hill
>> Boulevard west of Anderson Lane, the FHP said." (Jerome Burdi, South
>> Florida Sun-Sentinel)
>>
>> 1) A Mustang racing a Neon. And please don't tell me, well, it was an
>> SRT-4. It's still rather like picking on your younger brother.
>>
>> 2) The Neon exceeded the operator's ability to control the vehicle. Did
>> he really have it up to 145mph at any point previously, or was that just
>> boasting?
>>
>> 3) Seat belt. How the hell can anyone consider themselves to be a
>> "driver" and NOT strap in? Stupid, stupid, stupid.
>>
>> When I drive, the vehicle doesn't move until all occupants click in.
>>
>
> Yep, and many of them look at you like you're an old fool when you tell
> them that too. One good thing about that story is that at least he didn't
> take any bystanders or passengers with him.
>
>> dwight
>> www.tfrog93.com
>>
>
> Are you TRYING to give the rest of us web envy?
> It's working....

Hey. It's what I do. I work on my company's website, then I come home and
work on mine. And, if it makes you feel better, I just took out a contract
with a web host for 5 gigabytes of room, since I outgrew the 26MB per screen
name that Comcast allows. So now I've got all THAT space to fill up.

dwight

On Apr 28, 7:44 am, "dwight" > wrote:

> Several things trouble me about this story.

> "Boynton Beach -- Stephen V. wasn't going to drive away like a punk, friends
> said. So he accepted the challenge to race the silver Ford Mustang that had
> beat his Dodge Neon SRT-4 before. V., 18, thought he would win this time. He
> knew how to speed up his car, recently modified with a wastegate and
> blow-off valve. He'd gotten up to 145 mph in the car.

> "But shortly after hitting a curb about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday west of West
> Palm Beach, V. spun out of control, knocked over a bus stop sign, hit a gate
> and flipped several times, the Florida Highway Patrol said. V., of Boynton
> Beach, didn't like seat belts, friends said.

It's ironic. Kids want to be like race car drivers, but forget that
the number one rule of race car drivers is to buckle up.

> "'He doesn't like being tied down,' said his girlfriend, Marybeth.

And he died because he was untethered.

> "V. was ejected from the car and died in a vacant lot near Forest Hill
> Boulevard west of Anderson Lane, the FHP said." (Jerome Burdi, South Florida
> Sun-Sentinel)

> 1) A Mustang racing a Neon. And please don't tell me, well, it was an SRT-4.
> It's still rather like picking on your younger brother.

In name only. Think of your younger brother being well versed in
mixed martial arts. Suddenly the/a fight is much more
interesting.

> 2) The Neon exceeded the operator's ability to control the vehicle. Did he
> really have it up to 145mph at any point previously, or was that just
> boasting?

SRT-4's are 150 mph cars.

Speed likely wasn't the issue here. (Anyone can drive 145 mph.) All
you have to do is keep the car straight and the pedal down. I suspect
the issue was the path the car was on. The race was likely at night
and he probably didn't see the end of the street or a curve in the
road.

> 3) Seat belt. How the hell can anyone consider themselves to be a "driver"
> and NOT strap in? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I don't know either. But it sounds like the seat belts would have had
their work cut out for them even if he would have been belted in.

> When I drive, the vehicle doesn't move until all occupants click in.

I discovered the importance of belts at a young age. A friend took me
off-road in his Jeep. While I was bouncing off the door, dashboard,
windshield, and flopping around like a rag doll he was laughing at me
while he was firmly belted into his driver's seat. Needless to say,
once he brought the vehicle to a stop, I quickly found my seat belt.

Patrick

He didn't die from being untethered.... he died because he was racing.....
Jeezussss... Is this so ****ing hard to realize?

If he hadn't been racing, he wouldn't have been in his "situation".

Life is full of choices... we have the option of making the right choice or
the wrong choice....

I feel no pity, little sympathy and can only scratch my head in wonder why
we should have a moment of silence for an idiot.

On Apr 28, 5:31 pm, "Jim Warman" > wrote:

> He didn't die from being untethered.... he died because he was racing.....
> Jeezussss... Is this so ****ing hard to realize?

Racing doesn't kill people. But running into something without being
belted-in/tethered, more often than not, increases your odds of being
killed.

> If he hadn't been racing, he wouldn't have been in his "situation".

Maybe.

Racing is a risk factor, but accidents happen when the risk factors
build up. Maybe he wasn't familiar with the street he was racing
on, maybe the weather changed, maybe something in his car distracted
him, maybe he had a mechanical failure.

> Life is full of choices... we have the option of making the right choice or
> the wrong choice....

True. And sometimes it's about being in the right place/wrong place
at the right/wrong time.

> I feel no pity, little sympathy and can only scratch my head in wonder why we should have a moment of silence for an idiot.

Because he was a kid. And we've all had our moments when we were
young.

Patrick

On Sat, 28 Apr 2007 22:31:06 GMT, "Jim Warman"
> wrote:

:>He didn't die from being untethered.... he died because he was racing.....
:>Jeezussss... Is this so ****ing hard to realize?
:>
:>If he hadn't been racing, he wouldn't have been in his "situation".
:>
:>Life is full of choices... we have the option of making the right choice or
:>the wrong choice....
:>
:>I feel no pity, little sympathy and can only scratch my head in wonder why
:>we should have a moment of silence for an idiot.

I feel sorry for you Jim, in that you can't find some have some
sympathy for a young man who made a fatal mistake. Eighteen year
olds are fighting in Iraq but they're also very young and they make
mistakes. Who among us hasn't made a wrong decision when they were
young? Fortunately for most of us the mistakes weren't lethal.