Let’s hear a 340 story

In1972 i had just put a new short block in my '71 'Cuda and was anxious to show my buddy how well it worked.On the edge of the village i launched in first gear and never lifted the pedal through all 4.Looking behind me all i could see was smoke so i hit the brakes and shut the engine off.Without realizing it i naturally turned the key to where you remove it...which back then locked the steering wheel. We were just approaching a sharp bend in the highway and with the steering wheel locked we went straight off the road, slowly slid about 10 feet down the bank at a walking speed and got caught on a 5 inch tree. Another 10 feet down we would have been in the river 20 feet deep and it was winter at -20 degrees.
Talk about bad luck and then good luck! The smoke was actually steam from anti freeze hitting my exhaust because a frost plug popped!