Another fire

[Winger]

Last night there was a mini-sprint accident at Southern Speedway and the 14 year old driver suffered serious burns. This track appears to have the proper safety equipment at the track but apparently didn't have the trained staff to operate it. That's just my opinion. I'm going to post the link and let you decide for yourselves. However, I want to point out this track appears to be much better equipped than most of our local tracks. East Bay being the exception I'm aware of. I've seen several bad wrecks in the past few months. Some of them involved some large fuel spills that just didn't happen to ignite. North Florida Speedway had a fire a couple weeks ago that consumed 2 cars and luckily there were no injuries there. I really think some track safety needs to be addressed. Some cars are not required to have bladders in their fuel cells. That was the case last week with a mini-sprint at BRP that had it's tank ruptured with fuel being poured onto the track. Many drivers wear fire suits that are torn and/or covered with dirt and oil. Many don't wear gloves or fireproof hoods. I've seen all sorts of window net fasteners, ranging from seat belt buckles, to holes drilled in a piece of metal to wire. Drivers you are responsible for your own safety so don't skimp. Tracks should have a dedicated safety vehicle with a dedicated safety crew. Many tracks have fire extinguishers on their tow trucks. However, often those tow trucks are busy in the pit area while the racing is going on the track. The tracks really need to address this and have a TRAINED safety crew available at all times.
Here is the link to last nights fire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBRQJ...layer_embedded

There has been a discussion about this on Florida Flag Stand for the past few weeks. I haven't seen anything on this site so I'm making this post.

[Benny The Mule]

SIGH, sadly most track even with the best of equipment couldn't afford but enough of the proper chemical for 1 major fire, if the had two..............well........I always made sure i had up-to-date safety equipment in my car.......just in case.

[Winger]

SIGH, sadly most track even with the best of equipment couldn't afford but enough of the proper chemical for 1 major fire, if the had two..............well........I always made sure i had up-to-date safety equipment in my car.......just in case.

If you notice in this case the chemical fire extinguisher didn't do much. That's because it was an alcohol fire and you fight an alcohol fire with water. I guess they couldn't afford that either.
All drivers should take it upon themselves to have the best up to date safety gear. IMO, if you can't afford safety, you can't afford to race. That goes for the tracks also.

[Rick Anges]

I saw something amazing when I was traveling with the UDLMCS, some of the top late model drivers outside of our series did not wear gloves. The series required it and tho some resisted they eventualy put them on. It's crazy.

[ocalasp76]

This is why I have fire supression in my car. I have yet to race a track that I can trust to get to me in case of a fire. My supression fills the engine and fuel cell areas with Haleon gas. $400 I consider to be cheap insurance for my safety.
I also let the track safety crew know I have it, and where the pin is in case I can not activate it when needed.
Hope I never need it, but it's nice to have it there.
-JIM-

[egspeedway]

While we have come a long way fire is the one calamity you can never quit being prepared for as the margin of time for rescue is so brief. At least most tracks seem to be somewhat prepared. I was at New Symrna when Marion Edwards was killed. Julian Klein the promoter had no fire equipment on hand. I never attended another Klein promotion after that even though I loved the old Lane avenue track. As for the drivers in that same event one car had all rear sheet metal removed and was racing with a 25 gal. can for a tank. I will not call his name as he went on to have a fairly good career.