I enjoyed the tribute to Bruce Davis ("A tire and his tale: Legacy of Mr. Davis, Aug. 17) ... after 40 years at Crain. Noting his list of accomplishments and in particular those "two roll-over accidents," I wanted to write as I was the engineer at one of those events.
Bruce served as my navigator in the 1984 Susquehannock Trail Pro Rally, and together we survived a nighttime high-speed rollover on a gravel road in that Pennsylvania forest. Rollovers are certainly part of performance rallying, but ours was dramatic. After confirming we were both uninjured and out of danger, I grabbed the routebook to assess blame for the crash.
Clearly, at the critical instant, the fault was mine. Thankfully, there were no injuries but my Datsun was destroyed.
I saw Bruce from time to time as our careers progressed in the tire business and appreciate his grace and interest in me and our company as well as his reporting on our business. ... I don't know the circumstances of his second rollover but frankly, I doubt it would top our shared experience in Pennsylvania.
Bob Schaffner
Greenville, SC