July, 1966.
Rehearsing "Tiger Rag" for NBC’s Mickie Finn's. At the tag of the song the quartet would collapse on the floor in a domino-effect. When the Mickie Finn act went on the road, the quartet would charter a small single-engine plane to fly to shows in Reno, Nevada from Los Angeles. On one particular trip to Reno in September of 1966, their plane crashed in the El Cajon pass north of Los Angeles. Luckily no one was hurt, including their very skilled pilot Bob Piercely. The aircraft landed on a 2 lane road going up a hill. As it grinded up the road, one of its wings passed over a Volkswagen! After going about 80 miles an hour the plane spun and ended up on the side of the road. Believe it or not, the quartet stood near the plane and, probably out of relief, sang the tag to the song, "When I Leave the World Behind." Later that day, they encountered a man in a bar who said he had just raced an airplane in his VW!