September 20th, 2006

The particular day aforementioned in the title of this post, was something truly horrific for most car enthusiasts - myself included. This was the day when Top Gear's (a British automotive program) Richard Hammond was involved in a 288 mph crash in a Jet-powered drag car which nearly cost him his life. Richard's aim that day was to set a new British land speed record and unsurprisingly the dragster he crashed, (referred to as the "Vampire) already held the current record at an insane 300 mph.

The crash was so bad that Hammond's (or affectionately referred to as "Hamster") doctors said he could slip into a timeless coma or suffer extreme-brain damage.

When it first happened, I could only think "oh lord, I hope he's ok". But as more details of the crash flooded in, it was looking like Richard may be a cripple, or perhaps somewhat retarded for the rest of his life. I remember when I first told my father (also an avid Top Gear viewer) of the news and his attitude was something like: "what an idiot, what the hell was he doing?". His voice was trembling, his attitude was semi-aggressive; I could tell he was only saying so to keep it together. I fully believe he was just a few steps away from tears and I know the whole incident affected him more than he was portraying.

Personally, this news was every bit as shocking and upsetting as it happened to a member of my family. I think every one was upset, but that day, I learned something new of myself as I had a relevation. I am man enough to admit that I cried like a baby. And yeah, I'm not kidding.

Despite having never met, or even seen Richard in person, his accident had a profound effect on me and with each news update, I continued to hang onto the edge of my computer chair biting my nails hoping he would come out of this unscathed.

When news eventually arrived that he was ok, I suppose I hadn't realized how much him (or Top Gear for that matter) had implemented it's self into my little life; I never really realized the appreciation I had for Hamster up until this point.

Had Richard lost his life that awful day, I'm honestly not sure how I would have handled it. But, let us not dwell on what could have been - things weren't looking too good, but amazingly, Richard walked away from this terrible crash without incident. One of the luckiest individuals around.