The Blindfold
Drive
With
an April fool's joke on this network that I
got caught up in, came some pretty good advice
about the blindfold drive. The original post
asked for advice on a blindfold drive for the
Indy 500 pace car that was to be driven at 75
miles an hour. The joke was the fact anyone
would attempt to drive a car that fast. Problem
for me was I actually did once drive a car almost
that fast, 55 - 65 m.p.h., for the old Evening
Magazine TV show. The whole event was interesting
indeed.
Originally,
I had approached a producer in Pittsburgh, whom
I had worked with before, about driving a car
blindfolded. My instructions were that the host
was to place a thought of key amongst others
in a sealed container and place it in a P.O.
Box somewhere INSIDE THE City of Pittsburgh.
Comes
time for the drive and it turns out they have
hidden the key somewhere in a town outside the
city limits. Of course I was not supposed to
learn this - I had my ways of finding out. The
day before, I headed to the post office and
tried to open the P.O. Box with the combination
I had secretly obtained. The combination the
host had been given was incorrect!
There
I was, trying to open the box, and up comes
a little old lady who asks, "sonny, having trouble
with your box? I will get the postmaster!" "No!"
I replied, shocked that she had caught me trying
to get into the box.
"Now
don't be silly, it will be no problem" and off
she went to get the postmaster.
I considered
leaving, but before I could the Postmaster came
up and asked if he could help. Thinking quickly,
I said, "I'm from KDKA TV, PM Magazine. The
other day we rented a box here and placed a
container with keys inside for an upcoming shoot.
This is the number I was given, but it does
not seem to be working!"
"Let
me check it" he said.
A few
minutes later he came back and said, "Yep, they
were one letter off."
With
that he opened the box for me. I noted the new
number, removed the container and said my thanks.
I opened the container and bent the key that
I knew the host would be thinking of and placed
it back in the P.O. Box and went home. I was
not too concerned that the postmaster would
be there the next day as I would be fully blindfolded
and as far as he knew the shoot could be a re-enactment
of an event. Either way, I would be sure not
to talk to him or be any closer to him than
I needed to be.
The next
day they blindfolded me with tape, coins, pizza
dough and a sleeping mask. Let me stop here
for a second and give those would be blindfold
drivers a word of caution. Do not use pizza
or cookie dough on a hot day. After the dough
was on for more than 20 minutes it started to
melt and made my vision very limited, more than
it already was, and certainly could have created
a very dangerous situation. On top of that it
started to stink!
Did I
just say "dangerous situation?" Since the keys
were not hidden in the city of Pittsburgh, I
was going to have to drive on one of the most
dangerous roads leading out of Pittsburgh. Later,
I was to find it was called "suicide road" due
to the number of collisions that had occurred.
It also
just happened to be under construction.
We did
not ask permission of the police. I had learned
a long time ago that usually ended up with calling
off the whole drive unless it was done with
a police escort and in a parade. Some may say
this is bad advice and you could risk losing
your license. I figured that before I lost my
license I would demonstrate to a judge and jury
that I could function with a blindfold on as
well as I could without one. The publicity would
be incredible. So in one way, I secretly hoped
I would be pulled over. It almost happened.
As I
drove through the small town, each time we would
approach a light I would state the color of
the light and get the host to reaffirm I was
right "just in case." At one intersection I
stated "the light is just changing to green!"
the host agreed and I proceeded. Now remember,
my vision was very limited and on top of that
the dough was melting and making it more so.
As a result, I was not able to see a driver
who decided to run a red light. I guess he thought
I would stop. I did not; he turned, saw I was
blindfolded and ran down an embankment. He was
fine, so was his car, but I can guarantee that
will be the last time he takes it for granted
another car will stop when he runs a red light!
We proceeded
into the small town. I stepped out of the car
and did the rest on foot. I found the post office
and went inside. I asked the host to think of
the combination. I then "plucked each letter
and number out of her head." She tried the lock,
it did not open. She was perplexed. "That is
the correct number, it is the number I was thinking
about."
"Try
this number" I said, hiding my sneaky laughter.
Sure
enough, when she tried it, the locked opened.
At this point she and the camera man and the
producer were almost peeing their pants in amazement.
"One
more thing left" I said, as I removed the blindfold.
The postmaster (thank goodness) was no-where
in sight.
"Think
of your key."
I concentrated
and when she opened up the cannister, the one
key she was thinking of was bent at a 45 degree
angle.
As a
result the piece was played local twice and
went national three times.
For those
attempting a blindfold drive, here are a few
tips.
1. Use
black tape, it hides the peek areas better (black
on black.) 2. Use radiator hose tape, it sticks
even if wet. 3. If using a hood, make sure you
are not driving into the sun. If you do, the
material of the hood will scatter the light
and make it impossible for you to see. 4. If
shooting for TV a good place for the camera
man is in the back seat with the rear view mirror
aimed at your face. The shot will show the road
ahead, the back of your head and the front of
your blindfolded head. 5. Get the peek on the
side away from the passengers. 6. Do not be
tempted to use "white surgical tape." It sounds
good to magicians but is not familiar with lay
people. 7. If for some reason you lose most
of your sight ahead, then look for he white
line along the side of the road or the center
lane and pull over. 8. If doing a blindfold
drive, do not try to scare your passengers even
if you are doing it for a newspaper.
The reason
I mention number 8 is that once I was going
to drive a car blindfolded for the National
Enquirer from Washington PA to Pittsburgh PA.
I told
the Enquirer they could blindfold me in any
manner they wanted, suggesting they use a paper
sack. They agreed. They put the sack over my
head after wrapping my head with ace bandages.
Finally, at my suggestion they tied it around
my neck.
My method
was simple. I crinkled the sack up a lot. Now
when they put the sack on my head I poked a
hole in the sack with a small nail permitting
me to peek with my left eye, the side that would
be away from the passengers. Since the hole
was small it had to be close to my eye, hence
the tying of the sack at the neck to keep it
in place, and taut.
The Enquirer
folks had set the drive up with a driving instructor
(anal retentive if you ask me) to be safe. He
brought a car with two steering wheels and two
brakes. One on the driver's side and one on
his. I had never seen anything like it, and
never have.
Off we
went. Thinking I was going to be clever, I bumped
the curb on purpose as I made my turn onto the
main street out of my driveway.
Immediately
the driving instructor took over and pulled
to the side of the road.
"All
right, that's it!" He hollered.
"What
do you mean that's it?" I asked in astonishment.
"You
hit the curb" he said. "And if you can't make
it out onto the street I am not about to let
you drive on a major freeway for 40 minutes
or more. It is my responsibility and if you
kill anyone it will be my fault."
"If I
kill anyone, you would more than likely be included"
I said, "On top of that, I hit the curb on purpose
just to make it dramatic! I won't do it again,
I promise."
Well,
didn't matter what I said, he would not give
in and the drive was called off. So as you see,
it is best just to do the drive and not be dramatic
when reporters are taking the drive seriously.
More
recently, I drove a car blindfolded for a British
TV show called "Secret's of the Psychic's."
The producer put a disclaimer on my section
of the drive saying something like "Banachek
claims he is not a psychic; most mentalists
somehow manage to find a way to see when they
are blindfolded." I took a lot of flack as a
result of that airing of the drive. An interesting
thing was that I had no knowledge of the disclaimer
until I saw the show myself. Even more interesting
to me was that though they did put that disclaimer
on my drive, the producers, crew and technical
advisors still claim that I used memory to accomplish
the drive. But this article is long enough and
that is another story for another time.
In thoughts
Banachek
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