MGB Steve Prefontaine's MGB Death

[tony barnhill]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]A responsible parent would crush their LBC rather than pass it down.[/QUOTE]
That's how I got my RWA Midget! Lady who had owned it since new had a 16 year old daughter who was eyeing it so she sold it to me!

 

[Deleted member 3577]

A <span style="font-style: italic">real</span> roll bar would help...

A side intrusion & 'Petty' bar along with racing style belts would make it significantly better.

(For a single vehicle accident)

An impact w/ a 'crotch-rocket' could still cut it in half.

 

[Steve_S]

These are NOT safe cars!

(Well the small/overpowered fiberglass ones anyway)

Compared to what? Rat Poison is safe compared to plutonium. These cars (MGBs) are safe enough for me to feel comfortable driving one every day.

 

[Deleted member 3577]

Rat Poison is safe compared to plutonium.

I guess I have a 'zoomie' car

BTW...Mice can't burp or barf
(A severe set-back when dealing with ingested poison)

Don't know about their flatulent abilities though :crazy:

 

[fogliner]

Its half way between driving a car and a motorcycle.You have more metal around you but, you still have to drive like the other guy can't see you and make sure you establish eye contact!
I was in a situation where I was shadowed by the car on my right as I was making a left turn (2 lanes) and a car waiting to make a left turn towards us (at a side street to our right)saw that the car to my right was turning to his right and bolted out to beat traffic and but for the grace of God I honestly don't know how he missed us.
I had my daughter with me and it would have been a hit to the passenger side door!!

I only hope that people consider all the factors as they drive and I know that sometimes it may be foresight and just plain defensive driving that is the last link in the chain.

Happy trails : ) Mark

 

[jlaird]

Drive em like a motorcyle and all will be well.

Over 100K and never a touch but some real jukeing from time to time.

 

[rick_ingram]

Steve Prefontaine died in a car accident at the height of his running career in Eugene Oregon. The author of the article lived near the site of the accident.

Here's a good picture of Prefontaine and his MGB before his accident. Note the roll bar.

 

[tony barnhill]

Steve Prefontaine died in a car accident at the height of his running career in Eugene Oregon. The author of the article lived near the site of the accident.

Here's a good picture of Prefontaine and his MGB before his accident. Note the roll bar.

Not worth a darn as I've always said! & this is further proof!

& as I recall, he was trying to rebuild his career after several losses...he might've been at the height of his career in Eugene but he definitely was no longer world class!

 

[rick_ingram]

I don't think he was wearing his seatbelt, though, was he? (Not that this particular bar would have helped that much.)

 

[Guest]

Just a thought..... My ex-wife was a forensic photographer for our local fire department for 20+ years before she retired. This means she took pictues of dead people at car accident scenes for evidence and documentation.

In September of 1999, our daughter had a horrendous accident in her 1994 Chevrolet Cavalier while traveling on Texas St. Hwy. 6... A bozo in an F-350 crew pulled right out in front of her and she was doing 50+ MPH. She told me she never had time to even hit the brakes. The impact was straight up the driver's side through the steering column. When I saw the car, it was almost too much... The fact she wasn't killed is an absolute miracle. BUT! She was wearing her seat belt (this was the last year Cavaliers had no SIR (airbags)...She actually got a bruised sternum from the seatbelt due to the severity of the net impact.

We saw to it that her next car had air bags (SIR)....
My ex told me that in the 20+ years of forensic work, that she had seen only a very few dead people wearing seatbelts... and when the vehicles had air bags (SIR) the severity of injuries were much less.

I never drive without a seatbelt, because I personally had an accident in 1984 that should have killed me. I was severely injured. 18 months later, I had another identical accident but was wearing my seaybelt. I walked away with only minor scrapes, bruises, and sore muscles.

 

[Deleted member 3577]

In a modern car, I think you'd be a fool not to wear one.

(One with a decent A-pillar, shoulder belts & a collapsible column)

 

[Guest]

Define "decent A-pillar" The only decent A-pillar I'm aware of is Volvo's... also, I'd sure as heck want to NOT be impaled by a non collapsing steering column... thus a stronger reason for a seatbelt....

 

[Hap Waldrop]

I guess it all what you willing to chance, I've been racing for a bunch of years, and I've watch safety come along way, todays race driver is buying new Hans devices, while I don't want one. I can't wrong anyone with a classic car for trying to make it safer, but it's a personal choice, people get killed everyday in modern, much safer cars, heck I'd race without fuel cells, or drivers suits if they what they made me do, hey if your number comes up, your numbers comes up.

 

[Mark Jones]

"IMHO: Maybe a little more emphasis on the "beer we drank" and a bit lighter on the "poorly designed car" would have been in order."

I couldn't agree more, and I apologize in advance for the following rant.

Does this guy know anything about MGBs? They are pretty darn close to 50/50 balance. They also have no more understeer than is intentionally built into any other road vehicle. A little more than a modern sports car perhaps, but a normal amount for the day, or for any modern family car. Hardly what I would call an "extreme example".

You have got to be kidding me! How would having a bunch of excess body in the front of the car make the tires less likely to hit the curb? Ride height is ride height regardless of how much bodywork exists in the front of the car.

Another ridiculous statement. Many vehicle accidents are caused by a second vehicle despite the vehicles never touching each other. Another car could have been coming the other way, and if Pre had crossed the line he would have realized the only way to clear that car would be on the outside. He therefore would have veered around that car, and at that point hit the curb. It seems extremely plausible to me! As for skid marks, if he crossed the line, saw another car, and hit the brakes in panic, this would also explain driving off the road in an understeer condition.

What is he comparing Pre's MGB to? They are one of the most forgiving-handling cars of the era. They are easier to maneuver than most cars of that type and far better handling than the typical family car of that decade, or the decade or two following.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Blame the road, blame the car — but don’t blame Steve.

An utterly absurd and narrow-minded statement. What a disappointing article. And by all means, don't blame the beer! [/QUOTE]

Steve has hit the nail on the head here many times. The writer knows little about cars and is looking hard not to blame Steve Prefontaine for his own tragic death.

 

[Mark Jones]

MGB windshields fold down in that sort of accident, everybody knows that.

This statement is the oposite of how MG designed the windshield as state in a June 2008 article in MGOC's magazine, which is an interview with one of the designers of the MGB (I just read about it this morning before leaving for work).

 

[PAUL161]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Prefontaine

Scroll down. Judge for yourself. <span style="font-weight: bold">We make our own path through </span><span style="font-weight: bold">life.</span> We all make mistakes. No one is exonerated. No one.

 

[Deleted member 3577]

thus a stronger reason for a seatbelt....

With a shoulder belt I agree...

So long as it is a front impact.

And it isn't a roll or flip in a open (non roll bar) convertible.

 

[Guest]

Let me see if I've got this right:

A drunk gets behind the wheel of an MGB, goes too fast into a hairpin curve, loses control & hits a 2'-3' wall which causes the car to flip over & kill him.

And the car gets blamed?

It's the American way! Sue the car manufacturer... or their grandkids!

 

[Big6Mark]

This whole discussion is good for us all to see that the problem is not with most of us or our LBC's, it's with the other guy (stupid local yokel; meth addict late for a buy; mother late picking up the kids at daycare; blond, or other, chick on the cell phone; doofus running the red light 'cause he's late, etc.) Most Americans are very bad drivers!
That's why we like our LBC's, because they can help us react to avoid those other people!
That's why Harley owners usually have open pipes - it's not to irritate us - THEY WANT TO BE NOTICED AND NOT RUN OVER!!
I live in Springfield and work in Eugene. Have been on a "ride-along" with Springfield Police twice and both times the PATROL CAR I was in was almost hit by people running red lights! Black and Whites! I had to yell out for the officer to stop the car to avoid one that almost hit my side!
Have been on the road (really a city street) of that accident, had a friend that lived on top of that hill for years. It drops quickly and you can get in trouble fast if you are not paying attention, and with all the runners making a pilgrimage to "Pre's Rock" it is just that much worse.
And the crash didn't kill Pre, the fact that the car landed on top of his chest and he couldn't breath was what killed him. No seatbelt?!?
The writer of the opinion piece in the paper lived in the area of the "accident" and his father or someone he knew was first on the scene and couldn't get the car off of Pre, who was still alive. By the time anyone could get the emergency services there (I don't remember if the 9-1-1 system was even active back then,) Pre was dead.
I just think the writer of that piece is suffering from survivor guilt.

C Ya,
Mark

 

[RickB]

Mark, I agree - I think you've hit it right on the head.
I was a HS student in Oregon when it happened, but it wasn't the car.

That's like saying a hammer or a rock is bad because it can be used to smash in a skull.

Or a gun is bad because - etc...

Look out for BDD's (brain dead drivers) and don't drink & drive, its as simple as that.