Art was the passenger in the car.
Not sure who the driver was ... but the driver was distracted by the bee and lost control of the car, smashing into a telephone pole or a light fixture or something, crushing the passenger side of the car.
The driver had a broken back. Art suffered a fractured skull and massive head injuries, and died in hospital that evening.
>--- Original Message ---
>From: Jamie Swan <jswan@optonline.net>
>To: classicrendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>Date: 8/31/01 9:37:42 AM
>
>I used to speed skate, ride and fish with a great guy named
Edgar Dame.
>Eddy won several national championships in speed skating in
the early
>'50s and continued to be a top class competitor in skating,
running and
>cycling. Before Art Longsjo's death he and Eddy were training
and racing
>partners. Eddy's wife Ruth told me that before they got married
that she
>and Art's girl friend would share motel rooms when the four
of them
>would travel to skating races. I can't recall if Peter Nye mentions
it
>in Hearts of Lions but Eddy told me the reason that Art crashed
his car
>that day was because a bee came in the window and either stung
him or
>distracted him. I haven't seen Eddy in a while. Sadly, he is
suffering
>from Alzheimer's disease. I'm not sure if he would be able to
answer
>questions about Art Longsjo but I would be glad to ask him...When
Hearts
>of Lions came out Eddy ran into Peter Nye at the Somerville
race. Eddy
>was flattered that Peter recognized him. Peter was selling copies
of his
>new book and Eddy bought one. After he read it he loaned it
to me. When
>I got it home I noticed that it was inscribed by the author:
"To one of
>the all time greats of speed skating and cycling Edgar Dame...".
Jamie
>Swan, Northport New York.