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John Nelson was returning to his Scarborough home with the newspaper he went out to buy yesterday afternoon when his car was demolished by one of two cars witnesses told police were street-racing.

Toronto firefighters cut the 83-year-old retired 3M salesman from his overturned Ford Focus on Bellamy Rd. after the 12:49 p.m. crash.

But despite a broken leg, cuts and bruises, "he's going to be okay," Nelson's relieved wife Margaret said later.

"He's a tough old Irishman," she said with relief.

Her husband asked "would I like to go with him? But I said I didn't need anything.

"When he didn't come back, I got worried," she said.

Then a police officer came.

One witness told investigators two cars were speeding at least 20 km/h over the 60 km/h limit when they pulled out to pass Nelson as he turned left off Bellamy onto Brimorton Dr.

'A SHOCK'

"It was a shock at first, when I heard he was in hospital," Margaret Nelson said.

The police "drove me to Sunnybrook to be with him," she said. Braced for bad news, instead "he was coherent.

"He was making the turn and they came right into him," his wife said he told her. "When is it going to stop?"

Of the racers, she said: "I hope that they're sorry for what they did. If they're still alive."

A suspected racer remains in the same hospital with a collapsed lung. Police are hunting the second driver.

"We have a witness who said two cars were travelling at a high rate of speed," Sgt. Paul Laufer, of Scarborough's 43 Division, said. "One (witness) said they passed him over the speed limit doing at least 80."

The Honda Civic's injured driver, 22, tried to flee, police said. The second car was described only as green.

Rod Nicholl, who has lived on the intersection's southwest corner the last five years, said he was working on a computer in his home office when the "whole house shook.

"I know the sounds. It has happened many times before," he said. "I heard the loud thump. I thought somebody had just hit the pole out here again."

DRIVER CRAWLED OUT

When Nicholl went outside, he said he saw the driver of the Civic crawl out, holding his ribs and gasping, before stumbling several metres and collapsing on his driveway.

"I didn't notice the other car because of the huge fir tree beside my house," the resident said. "The firefighters had to get the Jaws of Life to get the guy out."

Expressing frustration, Nicholl said he has spoken to police, city Councillor Glenn de Baeremaeker and the ministry of transport to have the speed limit reduced because St. Richard's Catholic school is nearby -- but to no avail.

James Babcock, 78, said he was shovelling his driveway when he heard the fast-moving cars, then a large "thump.

"It is a rough corner. We get at least one good crash here each year," Babcock, a more than 35-year resident, said. "There is quite a bit of racing out here during the summer."

Traffic Services Det.-Const. Alan Fazeli said the street was wet "but there was no ice."

Witnesses are asked to call Toronto Traffic Services at 416-808-1900 or Crime Stoppers, 416-222-TIPS (8477).

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