Dale Earnhardt Jr. burned after crash

Yahoo ^ | 7/18/04 | AP - Sonoma

[NormsRevenge]

SONOMA, Calif. (AP) -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. was treated for minor burns on his face and legs and hospitalized after an accident Sunday during practice for the American Le Mans Series Infineon Grand Prix of Sonoma.

Medical officials at Infineon Raceway described the injuries as ``moderate-sized burns of moderate intensity.'' Earnhardt was flown to the University of California-Davis Medical Center in Sacramento for precautionary reasons.

During a 30-minute practice, Earnhardt's Chevrolet Corvette C5-R spun and hit a barrier in turn eight of the road racing track, catching fire. Earnhardt quickly got out of the car on his own before being assisted by safety crews.

Earnhardt, who regularly competes in the Nextel Cup Series, was to have driven in Sunday's ALMS race with veteran road racing driver Boris Said. The team has withdrawn the car from the race.

FRom Nascar.com

Earnhardt Jr. burned in Grand Am practice crash
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive July 18, 2004

1:25 PM EDT (1725 GMT)

SONOMA, Calif. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered moderate burns to his facial and lower extremities Sunday morning in an accident during American LeMans Series practice at Infineon Raceway.

Track spokesman John Cardinale said Earnhardt was transported to the University of California-Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, Infineon's designated hospital for burn treatment.

According to an American LeMans Series statement, Earnhardt was driving a Chevrolet Corvette C5-R in a 30-minute practice session when the accident occurred. The car spun and impacted a barrier in the Turn 8 section of the road-racing track, then caught fire. Earnhardt quickly exited the car on his own, and was then assisted by safety crews.

Earnhardt, who regularly competes in NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series, was scheduled to co-drive in today's Infineon Grand Prix of Sonoma with veteran road racing driver Boris Said. The team has withdrawn the car from the race.

2 posted on 07/18/2004 1:57:30 PM EDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi Mac ... Godspeed x40 ... Support Our Troops!!! ......Become a FR Monthly Donor ...)

[NormsRevenge]

FRom Nascar.com

[McGruff]

Wearing only the top of his fireproof suit??

That's what they said, but if you sawim climbing out of the car it looks like he has a full driving suit on.

[WestCoastGal]

I had to go check out firesuits of course......here is what I found. I guess there are layers you can leave out. The picture of him getting out and sitting there with the track workers showed a complete firesuit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The right suit is really starting out with a multi-layer suit,” Schneider says. “There is always the consumer who wants an entry-level suit. When was the last time you were in a fire and the fire said, ‘This guy is entry level, let’s go easy on him.’ A fire is a fire.”

Though if you do want a single-layer suit, manufacturers still offer them. “We have a single-layer suit, but we will tell you what you’re getting with that single-layer suit,” says Schneider.

Today many manufacturers go by the SFI rating rather than how many layers a suit consists of.

“Mine may be a two layer and the other guy’s may be a three layer because we are using different materials,” says Bob Stroud of Stroud Safety. “Bottom line is they all pass the SFI test. That is the reason we go by a standard testing, not layers.”


SFI ratings go from one to five, all the way up to 15 and 20.

“Your 15s and 20s are strictly for drag racing and Bonnevilles,” Stroud says. Most manufacturers will recommend you go with at least a five-rated suit for stock car-type racing. Sparco doesn’t even make a suit that is lower than the SFI five rating.

Creature Comforts

A few years back, Jeff Gordon and Bobby Labonte broke tradition and went with Sparco suits.

“We take all the information given to us by the professional drivers and actually make that our standard suit,” says Chad Liberto of Sparco. “Every year we evolve our standard suit to reflect what is happening at the top level of racing so that same suit can be purchased by the Saturday night guy.”

While other manufacturers offer a range of suit options, from one-piece to the two-piece jacket and pant combination, Sparco sticks with the one-piece version only.


“It is for safety reasons,” Liberto says. However, with the SFI regulations on making suits, having a two-piece suit may not be as dangerous as it once was thought to be. Stroud says the SFI requires a minimum of 8 inches in overlap between the jacket and pant. Many drivers, other than drag racers, like the versatility of a two-piece suit. On those balmy race nights, you can take the jacket off between heats and features.

As far as comfort, manufacturers are coming up with many options including gussets and stretchable materials at the waist so that the driver can concentrate on the task at hand and not on his suit binding at his shoulders. Simpson offers a 180- and 360-degree shoulder gusset, as well as a lower-back expandable gusset, both made of fire-retardant Nomex material.

When it comes to the fit of your firesuit, Stroud suggests that you keep it on the baggy side.

“The further away you can keep that heat, the better off you are,” Stroud says.

[CAfraudPI]

Something is fishy...They wouldn't keep him for observation just for minor burns...I just saw the video and it was clear to me that he was unconscious when the fire erupted. He has had head trauma in the past...I may disagree with him politically but I hope this isn't a career ending incident.

[small_l_libertarian]

I work for the ALMS and was at the track today when it happened. It was really ugly, but the track and safety workers did a great job of getting him to a safe area.

I heard from one of the pit lane workers that Earnhardt told his crew before he left that he was sorry for wrecking the car. What a sweetie.

Not a very good first experience with sports car racing, though!

[Wolfstar]

The only photo of the car I could find quickly. This is after Junior was out of the car.

Here the most complete description I can give you, having watched it several times:

Junior was about in the middle of a line of cars that were practicing. They never showed why he spun, but all of a sudden the back end of his car shot sideways to the driver's right, and spun backwards into a barrier. Junior seemed to be sitting still for a few moments, either stunned or waiting for the other cars to pass like we see NASCAR drivers do on the road courses. Either way, it didn't seem like he was immediately aware that something in the fuel equipment broke. The under car camera showed fuel pouring out all over the underside of the car. It wasn't possible to tell if the motor was still running. However, the fuel suddenly ignited and flames shot up literally all over and inside the car.

The TV camera caught a clear shot of him through the windshield not reacting immediately, even when the flames were literally surrounding him. Then, thank God, he seemed to suddenly get moving and managed to get out of the car. He collapsed right outside the car and ONLY THEN did the safety workers reach him.

The TV crew interviewed the owner and another person with the American LeMans team Junior was driving for. Apparently just last night they changed the fuel cell because the one that was in the car had been delaminating. Something to do with the mixture of gas and ethanol they use, if I caught it right. The team officials seemed in a hurry to say that because they had changed to a different kind of fuel cell, that could not be the cause of the huge fire.

After watching that horrible scene, even knowing Junior is going to be OK, what crossed my mind a lot is that I'm grateful NASCAR is as tough on safety issues as they have been the last few years. I also hope Junior never agrees to drive in one of those Mickey Mouse series again. It sure didn't seem to me like their safety crew, safety procedures, and safety equipment in the cars is anywhere near up to NASCAR standards.

But don't worry everyone. Assuming we're being told the truth in the media, Junor's very lucky to have gotten out of that with minor injuries that shouldn't affect his chase for the Cup championship.

I also think if he hadn't gotten himself out of that car Junior might have been much more seriously injured, or worse (shudder). Those safety workers were not quick at all in getting to him. Whatever the reason Junior was not reactive in the first several seconds after the crash, he was surrounded by flames inside the driver's side of the car before anyone got to him. Who knows, but maybe Dale Sr's spirit gave his son a quick boot in the butt to kick him out of that car. Smile, folks, maybe the old man is still with us — just in a way we can't see him.

[hadit2here]

69%??! Wow. I can't imagine he'd be able to suit up and race next week, especially as hot as it can get in a car.

If you have second degree burns, then you most probably have a lot of first degree burns also- hard not to. If it was SeeBS, they were probably talking out their @$$, but even if the 69% figure was correct, it could be lot of first and some second degree over 69% which would be better than second degree over 69%.

But you're right. No matter what, first and second degree is going to be painful and getting them heated up in a racing suit and hot car would make it all the more painful, so racing next week should *not* be the first thing on his mind... but then again, you know those Earnhardts.

[Wolfstar]

. It was really ugly, but the track and safety workers did a great job of getting him to a safe area.

Maybe once he was out of the car, but not until then. They took too long to get to him. If he had not been able to get himself out of the car, I'm not sure this would have turned out good at all.

[WestCoastGal]

"Who knows, but maybe Dale Sr's spirit gave his son a quick boot in the butt to kick him out of that car. Smile, folks, maybe the old man is still with us — just in a way we can't see him."

Amen!!

Thanks so much for the account of the crash. I noticed too that he appeared to be stunned for a moment. My other thought was that he was looking down to unbuckle? The workers seemed to be at a loss at first as to what to do. It is a darn good thing he was able to get out!!

[americanbychoice2]

Face and legs? Sounds like he had his head between his legs?
Sorry, couldn't resist. Hope he is ok though.......

[oceanview]

he spun because of cold tires.

when he hit the wall, the filler neck on the fuel tank broke, that fuel ignited and then blew the tank.

the safety crew was ill prepared for such a large fire, but I also don't think their training was that good.

[Wolfstar]

The 69% burn information came on air by a CBS reporter at the end of the televised portion of the race.

If the latest news reports are accurate (and I'm always a deep skeptic about news accuracy), then it sounds less serious than that. Trust me, WCG, if you haven't seen a clip. For several seconds — always hard to judge precisely how long when you feel like you've stopped breathing — Junior was just sitting motionless while flames roared around him inside the driver's side of the car. During those moments, NO ONE WAS THERE TO HELP HIM. I don't know what got him moving, but thank heaven he did. So if he's alert and talking in the hospital, and if the DEI guy who spoke for him said Junior's going to be OK, then let's all thank the good Lord. It could have been far, far worse.

[oceanview]

it was scary, it was reminding me of Niki Lauda for a moment.

[Wolfstar]

The camera pulled back, showed him hanging out of the window. The crews arrived and pulled him out.

Wasn't he all the way out of the car and on the ground before the safety workers arrived? You're right that the camera pulled way back. But I watched it several times, and that's what I'm virtually certain I saw.

[oceanview]

correct.

[George W. Bush]

This wouldn't have happened if he'd didn't drive so fast.

[Wolfstar]

BTW, Junior appeared to me to have a full fire suit and full-face helmet. Unless we hear from the man himself, we may never know what turned the car. But I am leaning to the possibility that someone got into him. They were practicing, and the whole line of cars didn't appear to be going all that fast at that point. Hard for me to believe he just lost control out of the blue.

[McGruff]

Heads Up:Speed Channel going to covering this now.

[tubebender]

Hope y'all are watching Speed NOW...

[Wolfstar]

Thanks for the confirmation, Oceanview.

[McGruff]

Basically same info from Speed Channel. What I thought was an in car shot of fuel spilling was actually under car point out rear.