2 Men Survive Car Accident During Race

Two Ventura County men walked away from a high-speed crash Sunday after their 1995 Eagle Talon plunged into an orange grove following a race with another car on Goodenough Road north of Fillmore.

“I was racing [against] a Mustang GT 5.0 when I lost control and went over the side [of an embankment],” said driver Jesus A. Guzman, 26, of Oxnard.

Guzman’s car launched into the air and catapulted end-over-end several times before coming to rest. It wound up nose down and leaning against an orange tree about 100 yards from the road.

The car was totaled, but the lives of Guzman and passenger Rafael Martinez, 20, of Fillmore, were probably saved in part because the car’s air bags deployed and both men wore seat belts, Fillmore and Ventura County firefighters said. The pair suffered scratches and cuts in the crash but refused medical treatment.

Guzman was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.

The accident occurred about 9:20 a.m., a mile north of Fillmore and a quarter-mile north of a bend in the road known locally as Dead Man’s Curve.

The car Guzman told authorities he had been racing did not stop after the crash, he said.