Cool/cold showers were how I survived living in Florida for 4 years. I’m also a race fan, and any time I head to a track during summer, I wear clothes that dry quickly, because I’ve found one of the easiest & most effective ways of cooling off is to simply stick my head under a faucet for 5-10 minutes. Works wonders.

Well, there sorta kinda is, to a minor degree. I found out about this when I was digging up info on the Connie. (I just learned a few years ago that my Dad’s emigration flight from Germany was on a Lufthansa Constellation.)

On repeated viewing, this one doesn’t look as bad, but I remember watching it as it happened and it really scared the crap outta me.

Holy Carp, batman. My respect for her just went up several notches. On a side note, big thumbs up to the safety crew. Admittedly, they were probably stationed close by, but still.... I timed it, and from the time her car stopped moving until the safety truck stopped was just over 20 seconds. Damn.

I call some degree of BS on the rollover standards thing. Sometime in the mid to late ‘80s, not long before we acquired our W124, I remember watching a story on a 20/20 or 60 Minutes type of show. The reporter was investigating how most American-made cars had a nasty habit of completely collapsing in a rollover…

I wondered if anyone was going to go this route. Of the two options presented so far, I think a combination of the two would be best: use an extended & reinforced windscreen in the front, to keep visibility at its best, but then have a halo-type device on top of that for overhead protection, where visibility isn’t an…

If it’s a W124, it might have been made in West Germany. That’s the case with mine, which is a 1988. (Reunification happened in 1990.) I’m always slightly amused that my car and the person who first brought it into the family (my Dad) both came from a country that no longer exists.

Nice to know this happens at all levels. About 10 years ago, I was stationed at Turn 3 (the hairpin) at Mid-Ohio, working as a marshal for a SCCA event. This Neon comes by, makes it through the actual turn just fine. He gets about halfway down the mostly-straight section of track leading to the next turn when the car…

Er, I am one of those annoying feminist types (the horror!), and I happen to find the idea of a fighter jet sounding like somebody’s mom from Georgia and earning the nickname of “Bitchin’ Betty” utterly hilarious. I mean, really— think about the flying scenes in Top Gun with the addition of a Bitchin’ Betty.

I’m fairly sure I’m going to sound like an idiot here, but for me, a fun car usually has a lot of personality, for lack of a better term. A big engine and awesome handling certainly helps, but every car that I’ve enjoyed driving has its own unique set of quirks.

Or, you know, some sort of rule or common procedure that addresses which side to pass on.....

Oh, honey, I could’ve told you this ages ago.

Like others have said, it depends on the shoe, and also somewhat on the pedal set-up/layout. A basic lower, wider heeled shoe like a standard womens’ dress work shoe with a 2-3 in heel can give a right-foot braker a nice pivot point for your foot, in an odd way.

I'm waiting for 15-20 years from now when these are given to the next generation of broke-ass drivers who simply glue up a regular mirror rather than pay the undoubtedly expensive repair price.....

Absolutely. But I don’t blame DEI, I blame NASCAR. They refused to enforce their own rules. (I can’t be 100% sure, but I distinctly recall having heard or read Mike Helton as saying, “ Who are we to tell the drivers what to do?”)

Dude, I love M-Bs and will be an unpaid salesman for them ‘til I die, but that dealer is smoking interesting substances. That, or looking for someone who looks at the star and then shuts off their brain.

Because the M-B will hold up better. Because even when it’s old, it was so overdesigned and overbuilt you can come through accidents with minor damage that probably would have clobbered the poor Miata despite it’s best efforts.

If you’re interested, one of the commentary tracks on the 20th anniversary dvd is with a couple of the actual pilots, and they give you a pretty good guide as to what is realistic and what is "Hollywood", as they term it.

It's also been known to cause marshals some ugly headaches, too....

Believe it or not, apart from the initial “shit happens” spin, that was a great display of smart driving. All the other drivers were on the ball and got around him with no impacts, which in an endurance race at night is no mean feat. And McMurray was smart enough to wait until there was clear track to get moving…