Bam Margera: ‘Maniac’ driver Ryan Dunn crashed near destination

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Bam Margera remembers best friend Ryan Dunn as ‘always a maniac at driving,’ with a history at the site where his ‘Jackass’ costar and their friend Zachary Hartwell died in the wee hours June 20.

‘He flipped me in a car eight times at the same exact spot in 1996,’ Margera told E! News. ‘Thank God I had my seat belt on, because [fellow ‘Jackass’ personality] Chris Raab put one on me, but my brother didn’t have one on. He flew 40 feet. Thank God he’s alive.’

Days after his best friend’s death in Pennsylvania, Margera told E! he still couldn’t stop crying. Dunn and Hartwell died after the car they were traveling in at 130 to 140 mph left the road, ran through a guard rail and hit a tree, bursting into flames.

‘He had the lightest Porsche possible and puts a Lamborghini engine in it and puts nitrous in it with a turbo boost thing,’ Margera said.

Margera also confirmed what photos of tire marks at the scene seemed to suggest: They were at Hartwell’s exit.

‘Zach ... you could throw a baseball to his house’ from the crash site, Margera said. ‘He must’ve just missed the exit. He shoulda just ... turned around, but he skidded out.’

Margera downplayed his friend’s blood alcohol level as a cause of the crash, focusing instead on Dunn’s penchant for excessive speed. ‘It’ll take me three beers to feel normal,’ he said, adding that Dunn’s tolerance for alcohol was also in that ballpark.

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— Christie D’Zurilla