Joy ride turns nearly fatal (Stolen Viper goes airborne after only 4 blocks)

Effingham (IL) Daily News ^ | 10.8.03 | KIM WIEDMAN

[mhking]

NEWTON - She had only been allowed out a few times for special occasions, and when she did go out, people couldn't help but stop and stare.

With her V-10 motor and six-speed manual transmission, there wasn't many like her on the road, and her owners, Kevin and Max Short of McClane Motors in Newton, knew how special she was. She was hand-assembled and part of a limited production.

After she was purchased in the later part of '94, when it was worth $60,500, the owners toyed with the idea of selling her, but with looks like hers, they couldn't help but become too attached.

On a few occasions, the McClane's had taken her out to show her off in parades and she did go on a few short trips here and there, but she was mainly used as an attention-grabber to attract people to the dealership.

On Friday night, she was driven proudly through the Newton High School Homecoming Parade, where she carried a queen candidate, Kevin Short's stepdaughter Emily Matson, for all parade-goers to admire.

Following the parade, she wasn't taken back to her normal storage area, but instead with her odometer set at 169, she was parked in the shop area of the dealership where her owners had intended for her to stay until the next day when they planned to take her out and show her off a little.

Her next trip, however, would come just a few hours later, when a driver she was unfamiliar with took her out for a spin.

As she left McClane Motors in Newton with the unfamiliar driver, no one could have anticipated what would happen next.

Just four short blocks from the dealership along Illinois 33, the '95 red Dodge Viper became airborne as the driver lost control causing the vehicle to strike a parked tractor at Newton Tractor Sales. The motor of the tractor was pushed back an estimated 6 inches, and the Viper was ripped to shreds.

Witnesses say they saw the Viper pass by around 4:05 a.m. Saturday at an excessive speed and then they heard the crash - which residents say was heard blocks away.

Kevin Short, general manager of McClane Motors, who has been around the car business as long as he can remember, said when he heard the news about what had happened to the car, he was in disbelief.

"I was pretty shocked about the whole incident," said Short. "We initially had gotten it as a possible vehicle to sell, but it is not a car that everyone in this area is going to buy. We had gotten attached to it."

Although it is unknown what the exact rate of speed the car was traveling when it crashed, Short said the car is capable of reaching a high rate of speed in a very short period of time.

According to a Web site that features specifications on that year of Dodge Viper, the Viper is capable of reaching up to 113.8 mph in a quarter of a mile, which is about the distance the Viper traveled before it was wrecked.

The car that was once admired as it traveled down the roadway now sits in an undisclosed location, and the driver of the car, Joshua S. Clasby, 25, of Greenup remains in critical condition at Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana.

Illinois State Police is continuing to investigate the crash, and Clasby could face criminal and traffic charges.

[PeterPrinciple]

5,000 volt "inverse kill switch" in my car,

You reminded me that my brother when he was young hooked up a model T capacitor to the passenger seat of his 54 ford. He used to shock his girlfriends with this. My sister wanted to borrow his car to shock her friends but he moved it to the drivers side.

Needless to say, he is still a bachelor because none of the old girlfriends would go out with him and sister wouldn't introduce him to any more.

I think the old capacitors were close to 5,000 volts.

[antiRepublicrat]

Funny, if you expand this worldwide, you could put a production car with a 1.8l, 177hp normally aspirated engine just above the Corvette GS and Ferrari Daytona.

Lotus 340R

[isthisnickcool]

So, how do you like Porshes?

They are fun. But so are big Block Chevy's. Some of the little pocket rockets are cool. I just drove a Subaru WRX Sti. Amazing for the $$$. As is the Evo.

I'm waiting for the Dodge SRT-8 to hit the streets for a daily driver.

[Jason_b]

Might, if he lives. If not, well....

[1Old Pro]

We've come a long way baby.

[evets]

beep beep

[Bikers4Bush]

I couldn't agree more.

[RonHolzwarth]

re: "and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STOP referring to cars as SHE's!!!!!! It is SO gay. It's a car not a girl.
(I almost feel the same way about boats and ships but will refrain for now)"

Hey, get over it. German, and many other languages use masculine, feminine, and neuter adjectives.

One hangover of this is is that, even in English, a ship is properly referred to as "she", instead of "it", although in German, it is "das", which is neuter, that is, neither masculine nor feminine. So, in German, the translation of "it" when referring to a ship or automobile would be grammatically correct.

If you were in the US Navy, your ass would be grass if you did not refer to your ship as "she".

Just, a linguistic thing. All languages have quirks, and English seems to have the most, because, more than any other language on the face of the earth, it has more foreign words added to it than any other!

[38special]

For the money I'd rather have the '03 Ford SVT Mustang Cobra any day.

[truthandjustice1]

"If you were in the US Navy, your ass would be grass if you did not refer to your ship as "she""

I was in the Navy, and referred to my ride as a "boat".

[RiflemanSharpe]

What an awful cry shame it was such a good car too.

[labowski]

I guess if sh*t for brains lives he's going to have to work a long time at McDonalds to pay for that.

"the dude abideth"

[Dutchgirl]

1968 Dodge S/S Hemi Dart **

My Dad, a pilot, owned this Dart @ 1978. It was beige and ugly as sin, but it DID fly...(back when Jimmy Carter lowered the speed limit to 55...)

[RightWhale]

I owned a Barracuda once, but I guarantee it wasn't the one at the top of this list. Seems like whenever I have a dream involving cars, it is that old Barracuda.

[E Rocc]

1967 Pontiac GTO 400 V8 360 13.37 103.4 MCR

1968 Pontiac Firebird 400 V8 335 13.79 106 HR

I doubt it. The Firebird had the exact same engine as the GTO and weighed a lot less. I had a '67 and I think it was quicker than the goat.

-Eric

[IYAS9YAS]

Our company just built a C6 from the frame up. We are racing it against Vipers at Road Atlanta and Puerto Rico this month. But it is a race car not a street car.

Need a test driver??? I work cheap (feed me and get me to the track!) That would be my dream job.

[Johnny Gage]

I'm waiting for the Dodge SRT-8 to hit the streets for a daily driver.

Is that the beefed up Neon?

We were at a dodge dealer and he said that the SRT/Neon is the fastest car they sell, 2nd only to the Viper.

[laotzu]

The Viper was designed by some guy named Shelby. They say he was a race car driver. Seems he also built a car called "Cobra" (hence this cars name,"Viper"), and then helped Ford build their Ferarri killer, and then their GT350, & GT500 Mustangs.

Your probably right though, 'ole Shelby probably doesn't know a damn thing about cars.

[Steely Glint]

I used to drive the winner of that list, a 1968 426 Hemi Barracuda. People used to say "That car will fly" and they were not kidding; I once got the entire front end airborne at an angle by just driving it really, really fast down I-10.

And no, I don't mean a wheelie. The front end went up and STAYED up. Fortunately I was alone on a straight and flat interstate with maximum visibility...