FIRE in the pits

Bad Dad 54 · 9/29/13, 9:59 PM

After the feature last night a car came into the pits next to us and caught fire, flames shooting out from under the hood the driver bailed. Our driver grabbed the extinguisher from our trailer & put it out, I was still up by the track & yelling at the official, as I got over to him the fire was out. So gang if you don't have an extinguisher in your pit, get one - it may come in handy & save you a lot of grief

Drivers may want to blind fold yourself & undo your belts, you may not be able to see them & stay calm help is on the way

Spi-nex · 9/30/13, 2:11 PM

I had a situation where a stock car came in with flames pouring out from under the hood with no officials or safety crew to be had and I put the fire out with my own extinguisher. After the flames were out they decided to keep racing then proceeded to yell at me for getting the powder on their carb (making it hard to start). Somehow later in the night they got the car running again and once again, came in on fire, again I put the flames out.... Told them if they came in on fire again I would just let it burn down.

Extinguishers are extremely handy to have in your hauler. I keep a big one handy and several 2.5 & 5 pounders that I routinely give away to other teams for in their cars.

767 · 9/30/13, 3:14 PM

It is amazing that so many people do not carry extingishers with them. We had a situation earlier this year, a car got ot the track early, like 2 hours before practice. He decided to change fuel pumps on his fwd car. He did not ground himself. Spark, then immediate fire. The car was a blaze quick, No fire or saftey at the track yet. The guys had water, but you already know what happened when they threw that on. Extingishers were still locked up. The extingisher I had was not enough to put the fire out. Had to make a 911 call.

team3521 · 9/30/13, 4:41 PM

I was in the pits with my midget about 7 years ago and a local guy with a street stock was pitted right next to us. He was trying to get his car to start and couldn't get it to fire so he decided he was going to pour gas in the carb. It back fired and lit the whole front of the car on fire because he had spilled gas all over the place straight from a gas can instead of something small. They were right next to my trailer and race car. We fortunately had an extinguisher.

I'll tell ya what! That was scary! Even the pavement under the car was on fire where he'd dumped gas all over.

On a side note, when I was a kid, my dad took me to MIS and I remember the fire that was running down pit lane during that Indy car race. We were in the infield and I remember watching AJ Foyt trying to bust the lock off of the gate of the fence seperating the infield and pits so they could escape. He was right in front of us and you should have seen the look on his face. Another scary incident. You couldn't see the flames, but you could see the smoke coming!

9/30/13, 5:48 PM

In New Jersey, it used to be mandatory (law) to have a fire extinguisher visible at the foot of your trailer. (This was back in the open trailer days) not sure if its still the law or not.

9/30/13, 3:14 PM	#3 Re: FIRE in the pits
767 Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,143	It is amazing that so many people do not carry extingishers with them. We had a situation earlier this year, a car got ot the track early, like 2 hours before practice. He decided to change fuel pumps on his fwd car. He did not ground himself. Spark, then immediate fire. The car was a blaze quick, No fire or saftey at the track yet. The guys had water, but you already know what happened when they threw that on. Extingishers were still locked up. The extingisher I had was not enough to put the fire out. Had to make a 911 call.

9/30/13, 4:41 PM	#4 Re: FIRE in the pits
team3521 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 1,873	I was in the pits with my midget about 7 years ago and a local guy with a street stock was pitted right next to us. He was trying to get his car to start and couldn't get it to fire so he decided he was going to pour gas in the carb. It back fired and lit the whole front of the car on fire because he had spilled gas all over the place straight from a gas can instead of something small. They were right next to my trailer and race car. We fortunately had an extinguisher. I'll tell ya what! That was scary! Even the pavement under the car was on fire where he'd dumped gas all over. On a side note, when I was a kid, my dad took me to MIS and I remember the fire that was running down pit lane during that Indy car race. We were in the infield and I remember watching AJ Foyt trying to bust the lock off of the gate of the fence seperating the infield and pits so they could escape. He was right in front of us and you should have seen the look on his face. Another scary incident. You couldn't see the flames, but you could see the smoke coming!

9/30/13, 5:48 PM	#5 Re: FIRE in the pits
raceway video Posts: n/a	In New Jersey, it used to be mandatory (law) to have a fire extinguisher visible at the foot of your trailer. (This was back in the open trailer days) not sure if its still the law or not.