Tripple Sticking -- Question for the Pros

My friend and I have been arguing over a "what would happen . . IF" type of situation.

Imagine if a car's accelerator were broken and the engine was being fed as much gas as it could suck (i.e., it's going several thousand (6-8) thousand RPMs). How would you stop your car? We decided that shifting down to 1st gear would slow you down as much as possible. Anyway, my friend argues that he could stall the engine if he shifted all the way down to 1st and then popped it all the way up to 5th (skipping 2nd, 3rd, and 4th) that the engine would stall. He believes this because he sees his RPM's fall every time he shifts (because the engine isn't working as hard).

I, on the other hand, think that he would royally screw up his car if he -- while going about 20mph in 1st, popped it into 5th. The car simply can't handle that much resistance, IMO.

So, what would happen if you (while the engine is revving as fast as it can) went straight from 1st to 5th gears -- while going a mere 20mph?

Thanks!
- Dave

That space between 1st and 5th would send the engine into oblivion if it didn't have a rev limiter.

When this happened to me, I just reached over to turn the ignition to off making sure I didn't turn to far to lock the column. I drove home a few miles this way-- just turning it off & on....