Today was a terrible, terrible day...

[[ChaosweaveR]]

I lost my buddy today. Taken away so young...

He got into a car accident around 8:15pm (now yesterday) something caused his little Scion xA to veer hard to the left, hit the center median (no guardrail, just grass on this section of the LIE) and because the car is so light, and it's lowered greatly, the car caught an edge, barrel rolled into the oncoming traffic, and was T-boned by a Honda Ridgeline. That impact ejected him from the Scion, and sent the car into the woods.

He was rushed to the hospital, but his injuries were so great, he had a massive heart attack from internal bleeding. He passed away soon after being admitted into the hospital. Even if he survived, he was brain dead.

I'm still in disbelief...I lost my buddy, and I was with him the other day! Myself and two other friends drove in his Scion into Manhattan. He had a blast driving around the city...and then the next day...he's gone.

But it hit me so hard when I saw him in the hospital room...I've never experienced a loss in my life, and my god. That image of him on that bed, it's forever burned into my memory. I stayed out til 2:30am in front of the hospital. At least 30 people showed up to mourn the loss of their friend. He had so much going for him, he had such a passion for life, passion for doing things. He lived life to it's fullest, and never looked back. I was proud to say he was my friend. He helped me out a lot. He helped me out when I painted my wheels black, and my motor. He gave me a hand figuring out why my motor was misfiring when it floated the intake valve on cylinder #3. He wasn't afraid to be radically different, stand out and be noticed. He was a stand up kid, and he was a great friend.

He was only 19.

RIP Sal, this isn't goodbye, just see you later buddy. See you on the other side.

[99gagt3x00]

wow that sucks man.

i thought they had some law that mandated jersey barriers or something hard dividing the the two sides of the highway to keep cars from going on the other side.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

85% of the LIE has a center divide, but the eastern section of the highway (exits 65-72) is much more open then the rest of the highway.

Honestly, I hope this is a wake up call to the Highway Department to build barriers in the center median ALL along the LIE.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Sal's Scion xA. It was his pride and joy, his hobby, his vision, and ultimately, his coffin.

But if there was any way for him to go, it would have been with his car. He's in a better place, and I know he's happily driving his xA where ever he may be now.

[Jedi3]

[1BADG6GT]

Im sorry for your loss Chris...

We just had an accident very similar to this one happen here in Fresno except this on claimed 6 lives.... something caused a TrailBlazer to veer to the left causing it to crash into the cement divider and then flipping over and landing on its roof blocking both the fast and the middle lanes, while the 3 girls in it 20 ,19, and 18, were scrambleing to get out, a FULL Greyhound bus hits them killing all 3 of them plus the driver of the bus and 2 of his passengers. This happend thursday morning at about 210am.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Holy crap...

My facebook has been filled with status updates about my friends saying goodbye, and recalling memories with Sal. His actual page, I've lost count how many posts have come up now.

It's just unfair...

[markpetersonii]

Thats really Sad to hear! I'm sorry that this happened to you. I've never experienced a loss like this either, I'm not sure how I'd react either. Hope everything gets better for ya.

Pete I never heard of that but that's crazy!!

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Thanks, Mark.

It just doesn't feel real, hell...I don't know how to feel. I can still hear his voice in my head clear as day, but I keep having to remind myself, he's...gone.

I play this song in Sal's memory:

[1BADG6GT]

Thats really Sad to hear! I'm sorry that this happened to you. I've never experienced a loss like this either, I'm not sure how I'd react either. Hope everything gets better for ya.

Pete I never heard of that but that's crazy!!

I lost a friend/co worker a while back and although we never hung out outside of work he WAS my friend... It hurt like hell because I felt like it was MY fault... I was working @ Wallyworld in the Tire Lube Express... that day it was my turn to close my friend Victor was off an hour before me but he waited for me because I had no ride home that day... I closed the shop while he waited in the parking lot... we were shooting the breeze on the way to my house and he was telling me about his Honda and and how he would sell it to me if I wanted it (I was in need of a reliable car... hence the ride). He dropped me off (way out of his way) and heads home... he never made it home...

If it weren't for me... things would have been diffrent... he would have went straight home and the accident would have NEVER happend and I would still have my friend....

They can't explain what happened to cause his honda to veer to the left, hitting the cement divider, causing the honda to "bounce" of it and sending it flying (literally) back across the 3 lanes and slamming into a solid wall...

Mark... it was all over the news since Thursday till like the weekend... nothing of that magnitude had happened here in like forever... there are STILL things they cant explain how somethings happened... like theres this crashed honda CRV (I think) that they don't know what part it and it's drive played... they don't know how it ended up in the mix or how it was involved...

Sorry for the thread hi-jack Chris...

[Crimson]

really sorry to hear about your friend dude. Just know he is modding limitlessly in heaven waiting patiently for you and the rest of your friends to join him

[BAMBAMM]

Dang man! sorry about your friend.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

really sorry to hear about your friend dude. Just know he is modding limitlessly in heaven waiting patiently for you and the rest of your friends to join him

Aw, damnit man... That one got to me.

And yeah, he's just waiting for the rest of us.

[Mariachi]

sorry to hear about your friend chris. I'm still sort of mourning for my cousin that just recently passed at the age of 20. it just doesn't make sense how someone so young and haven't experienced much in life is just randomly gone. just keep in mind that even though he is not here, he is watching over you trying to tell you not to mourn. he will also be expecting you to continue on and keep doing what you love. working on cars.

i never got to share my modding skills with my cousin when he got his mitsu. he purchased his car bcuz of my eclipse. keep all those memories safe man. write them down if you need to. release some of that tention. just know we are all here to provide good words bud.

my prayers are with his family and all the friends you all shared. May your friend rip.

[Ringo64]

Sorry to hear Chris! I never had an extreme loss like this either, your friend was so young! Thoughts go out to you, the rest of his friends and family. The good thing out of this is at least he died maybe while being happy and doing something he loved, driving his car.

I almost lost my grandpa to something very similar, he just got new tires put on his car then went and dropped my aunt off at the airport. We were up there for our usual summer trip and we drove up and were going to leave that morning when he got back. He didn't come back for a couple hours and then a police cruiser showed up. My mom and other aunt were freaking out till they saw my grandpa, perfectly fine, I still think he was watched over by an angel or something that was like "Not TODAY!!" lol. Apparently his tire popped on the highway his car slammed into the front of a semi-truck and then into a guard rail. Luckily the guard rail was there otherwise I'd be saying something similar, which at that time probably would of hit me even harder because that was like a week after I lost both my grandmas within a week of each other.

Anywho sorry Chris and Pete about those stories they sound sad

[[ChaosweaveR]]

There's going to be a small memorial by the accident site tonight.

Tonight is going to be tough.

Thanks again, guys.

[Mariachi]

im sorry to hear about your story as well pete.

[1BADG6GT]

im sorry to hear about your story as well pete.

thanks guys...

Chris were here for yah bud... My thoughts and prayers are with with you, your friend and his family.

[Bryan]

Sorry to hear about that bro Hang in there.

[Coupe_GXP]

Really sorry to hear about the loss, it is always really tough when you lose someone your really close too.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Well, the memorial turnout was huge. At least 80+ people. We wanted to caravan to the crash site on the highway, but we called ahead with police and they denied any such opportunity. So we gathered up a huge train of cars, at least 50 cars, drove in a line with our hazards on, and drove slowly by the crash site and paid respects. We then regrouped nearby at Bald Hill, and had a candlelight ceremony for Sal. It was really moving, so many people brought together by this tragedy. I know Sal is smiling down at us all.

Also, his tattered xA is being rebuilt by Reme Designs. His dream car will be built, the Scion xA is going to get a fully built and turbo'd 1.5L motor, widebody kit, air bag suspension, Konieg forged 18"s, all painted in Lambo green. Full custom interior, the works inside.

Everyone who knew him is allowed to help with the build, both on labor and finances.

[Mariachi]

' date='Jul 28 2010, 07:26 PM' post='34233']

Well, the memorial turnout was huge. At least 80+ people. We wanted to caravan to the crash site on the highway, but we called ahead with police and they denied any such opportunity. So we gathered up a huge train of cars, at least 50 cars, drove in a line with our hazards on, and drove slowly by the crash site and paid respects. We then regrouped nearby at Bald Hill, and had a candlelight ceremony for Sal. It was really moving, so many people brought together by this tragedy. I know Sal is smiling down at us all.

Also, his tattered xA is being rebuilt by Reme Designs. His dream car will be built, the Scion xA is going to get a fully built and turbo'd 1.5L motor, widebody kit, air bag suspension, Konieg forged 18"s, all painted in Lambo green. Full custom interior, the works inside.

Everyone who knew him is allowed to help with the build, both on labor and finances.

DUDE... I AM SO GLAD TO HEAR THAT PEOPLE CAN ACTUALLY SHOW THAT TYPE OF LOVE IN THESE DAYS! That sounds like it was not only fun but i bet Sal was enjoying riding his ride with you guys. he seriously was there and if you love him that much, you could probably feel him there smiling and enjoying the caravan. I am also glad to hear that his car is being rebuilt in his memory. his family is in our prayers and we will continue praying for his family. stay strong my friend and let us know if you need anything.

[Ringo64]

DUDE... I AM SO GLAD TO HEAR THAT PEOPLE CAN ACTUALLY SHOW THAT TYPE OF LOVE IN THESE DAYS! That sounds like it was not only fun but i bet Sal was enjoying riding his ride with you guys. he seriously was there and if you love him that much, you could probably feel him there smiling and enjoying the caravan. I am also glad to hear that his car is being rebuilt in his memory. his family is in our prayers and we will continue praying for his family. stay strong my friend and let us know if you need anything.

100%!! Couldn't put that better myself.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Yeah, it's going to be great.

Sal was constantly talking about doing the impossible with the Scion xA, or should I say, his Toyota IST. He wanted to turbo the small 1.5L motor and make it produce 300HP at it's crank. Stock output is 89HP. The car had bolt ons, pacesetter header, Injen CAI, and TRD cat back exhaust. The car put 108HP to the front wheels with those mods, and he wanted to turbo the car so bad. He also wanted to respray the car in Lamborghini bright green, and have a widebody kit. And so on and so on.

The car will be recovered in a few weeks.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Also, we sold a lot of these decals in Sal's memory for the memorial last night:

At 10 bucks a pop, all the proceeds went to Sal's family, we sold out in five minutes. We had 30 of them made up. We're getting bigger die cuts in vinyl (I'm getting that) and more of the clear vinyl ones. (150 of them are going to be made)