Youth Killed, Pal Hurt in Ortega Highway Crash : Accident: The 18-year-old driver, from Fountain Valley, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and felony drunk driving. Boyhood friend from Huntington Beach died at scene.

An 18-year-old Huntington Beach youth was killed and his boyhood friend was injured early Tuesday when their car plunged off a dark, curvy section of Ortega Highway and tumbled about 300 feet, California Highway Patrol officials said.

Christopher M. Clarke, the passenger, died at the scene of the 1:45 a.m. crash. His longtime friend Bryan J. Martin, 18, of Fountain Valley suffered a concussion and cuts on his head.

CHP officials said Martin was speeding around a corner when the car went over the side of the road about 14 miles east of Interstate 5. He was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and felony drunk driving.

Martin and Clarke met in the early 1980s when they lived in the same housing tract in Fountain Valley and both attended First Southern Baptist School, relatives said. As teen-agers, they spent time “going to each other’s houses . . . hanging out at the swimming pool” in the housing tract, said Martin’s father, Ted.

They were classmates briefly at Fountain Valley High School before Clarke transferred to Edison High School in Huntington Beach, family members said.

Both had plans to attend college this year. Martin, who enjoyed auto mechanics, had just sent an application to a trade school in Arizona, his father said.

Clarke, who worked part time at Domino’s Pizza in Fountain Valley, planned to apply to Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa after working through the summer, said his sister Katrina, 22.

“He was my best friend. I am going to miss him so much,” Katrina Clarke said.

About a year and a half ago, she said, Martin and Clarke had a “falling out.” She did not know what caused it, but about 6:30 p.m. Monday, Martin picked up Clarke from his Shadwell Drive home. The family did not know if it was the first time the two old friends had gotten together since their argument, she said.

Clarke told family members that he and Martin planned to have dinner together but did not say where they were going or when he would be back.

Martin was driving his 1981 Pontiac Firebird east on Ortega Highway in excess of the 55-m.p.h. speed limit and apparently lost control along a segment without guardrails, said CHP Officer Bruce Lian. The car went over the side of the two-lane road, overturning several times, he said.

Clarke, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the car as it tumbled, Lian said. Authorities found Martin, still conscious, at the bottom of the steep slope. He had been wearing a seat belt, they said.

Martin’s breath smelled of alcohol, Lian said, but blood-alcohol test results were not yet available.

Martin was in fair condition Tuesday night at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

The accident happened along one of Orange County’s most dangerous stretches of highway, known as Ricochet Alley--the narrowest and curviest segment of the 32-mile roadway that links San Juan Capistrano and Riverside County.

Last year, the CHP responded to 87 accidents along that stretch of Ortega Highway, two of them fatal. CHP officials said that at least 36 people have been killed in accidents along the highway during the last decade.

Highway officials said that because of its long history of accidents, Ortega Highway is one of the most notorious two-lane roads in the state. The most common cause of accidents there is excessive speed, they said. Officers have clocked motorists going nearly twice the legal speed limit around curves.

California Department of Transportation crews have erected more than 1,000 feet of metal guardrails along Ortega Highway’s most dangerous curves, said spokeswoman Rose Orem. Caltrans is planning to install another 3,600 feet of guardrails beginning next spring, she said.