As someone who spends a pretty dorky amount of time at go-kart tracks in the summer, I know that having a phone in your pocket on track is a recipe for a broken phone. I hadn’t considered the consequences of butt dialing, though.
Ethan Shippert, the owner of Shippert Racing Services, found out just what those consequences are on a recent visit to Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, California. In an Instagram post first caught by Road & Track, he laid out exactly how he came to butt dial the police four times.
“When I test cars for folks, I usually keep my phone in my pocket. Mainly so I can communicate with the mechanics if we have an issue that forces me to pull off,” wrote Shippert. “I can call them and say ‘it’s X or Y and we’ll need Z to fix it so have that ready, etc etc.'”
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The driver was recently shaking down a vintage Shadow DN5 that competed in the 1975 and 1976 Formula 1 seasons and qualified on pole three times. The car’s Ford-Cosworth V8 and its speed apparently sent his phone into emergency mode, though, and called 911.
“We were doing out and ins and every time I’d come in I could hear my phone ringing and feel it buzzing,” he wrote. “I merely thought ‘one of my clients really wants to get ahold of me.’ It was the dispatcher trying to check in with me.”
It was only once he got out of the car that the transcript of the call he received from a 911 dispatcher.
“Hey there, your cell phone is continuously calling in to 911 so we’re trying to make contact with you,” the transcription reads. “We can tell you’re out at Sears Point. We hear, you know, stuff, but we need to make sure that you’re OK.”
When he called in sheepishly, the dispatcher said that they could hear the engine howling in the background and saw he was going 110 mph, so they figured he was okay but had to be sure.
So let that be a lesson. Even if you want your phone in the car, you should probably turn it off before you head out on track.
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