REMEMBERING GENE ROMERO, 1947-2019
P108
Feature
Romero at Peoria in 1974.
Kenny Roberts:
We were in Italy to race in the Imola
200, and Gene and Barry Sheene
introduced me to wine. I think they
were both familiar with it more than I
was, and we were all feeling good.
We got in the rental car, and
Sheene keeps pulling on the parking
brake. Gene was in the back, and
this was one of the few times he was
completely innocent. We were just
leaving the hotel, and I was in third
gear and had the thing wound out,
and Sheene hits the parking brake
again, and we flipped over upside-
down into a canal.
The car was filling up fast with
water. I was trying to get the driver-
side door open but didn't realize it
was up against the bank of the canal.
So, I swim back the backseat and try
the backdoor – same thing, wouldn't
open. Now the thing is almost
full of water. I was just sitting
there thinking: "I always won-
dered how I was gonna go, and I
guess this is it."
All of a sudden, I hear a
pounding on the top of the car,
which was actually the bottom,
and it was Gene yelling, "Kenny,
Kenny!" I start swimming around,
and I feel his arm, and he pulls
me out of the car. We all three
just stood there in the canal, waist
deep in water hugging each other
because we made it out.
And, of course, it made the front
page of the paper, but we ended up
looking like heroes because Gene
made up some story that we had to
swerve to keep from hitting a nun
who was pulling a wagon behind her.
