[shorod]

It sounds like your friend is not very good about keeping up the maintenance on his Windstar based on the comments that it's been running roughly for quite some time and apparently he ignores the check engine light. I suspect you guys were not putzing along at the normal pace while this guy was following you, and that more aggressive driving an an already weakened engine probably took it's toll.

It sounds like the stumbling from 40-60 mph and roughness at a stop is more likely to be a misfire, either ignition or fuel related, so the van is not running on all cylinders. It could have overheated during this trip as I don't suppose watching the temp gauge was top on anyone's mind during this ordeal.

Before getting too excited about the transmission not going in to reverse right away I'd suggest you check the condition of the transmission fluid. From the apparently lack of maintenance, the transmission fluid likely is shot too, and that aggressive drive may have also further cooked the fluid which could easily effect gear selection/shifting.

All in all, I don't think this road rager likely did anything to the van, I think the lack of maintenance just finally caught up with the van, especially if you never saw the guy crawl underneath the vehicle open open the fuel cap. Even if he had put something in the fuel, it would not have taken effect immediately as there would have been some non-effected fuel still in the lines.

Out of curiosity, why didn't either of you call the police once you got to the place of work? I suspect with the threat of a gun involved police could have easily arrived within the 5-10 minutes.

-Rod