85 Year Old Driver Clocked Going 110 mph, Accused Of Street Racing

An 85-year-old Florida man is facing criminal charges after deputies say he was clocked going 110 mph in a 45 mph zone, allegedly racing a Chevrolet Corvette down a Lake County highway late at night.

According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the incident unfolded around 11:30–11:40 p.m. on June 12, when a deputy spotted two vehicles speeding side-by-side near U.S. Highway 27 and County Road 33 in Leesburg, roughly an hour outside Orlando. Radar allegedly clocked a red Chevrolet Corvette at 125 mph and a gray Nissan 350Z convertible at 110 mph, both well above the posted 45 mph limit.

The driver of the Nissan, identified as William Bosworth, 85, was pulled over and, according to body camera footage obtained by local outlets, was found smoking a cigarillo behind the wheel. When the deputy informed him of the speeds recorded, Bosworth pushed back on the street racing accusation.

“I wasn’t street racing,” Bosworth told the deputy, according to the footage obtained by obtained by Fox 35 Orlando.

The deputy wasn’t convinced. “Okay, well you might not call it street racing, you might call it highway racing, road racing. Whatever you want to call it … whatever you’re doing, we don’t condone that here in Lake County,” the deputy replied.

Bosworth maintained that the Corvette driver had swerved toward him, and that he sped up only to avoid a collision. “I wanted to get away from him before we caused a problem,” he said, adding that he had simply been “out having a little ride in my favorite car.”

The deputy didn’t buy the explanation. “Listen, Mr. Bosworth. I wasn’t born last night. I know what street racing looks like when I see it. You guys were street racing,” he said.

Bosworth was taken into custody and charged with engaging in a vehicle race and dangerous excessive speeding.

The driver of the Corvette, identified as 57-year-old Philip Signorino, was stopped separately further up the road and faced the same charges. Signorino also denied racing, telling investigators his 1998 Corvette wasn’t capable of reaching the speeds deputies clocked. That claim ran into trouble, however, since period road tests of the same model listed its top speed well above 125 mph.

Both men were released after posting bond, according to jail records.