Hey, I can see a duckie in the flames!
Posted on 07/18/2004 10:54:47 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Edited on 07/18/2004 11:16:00 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
I did not see the under car camera. Generally any agricultural racing will shear off sheet metal fairings, fibre panels etc., but NO GOOD design has fuel lines or brake lines exposed BELOW the frame/tubes of the body.
If 'they' had fuel lines running below (essentially on the bottom of the car) the 'frame', then they had idiots in fabrication.
When you go off course on a turn, you may encounter some moderate curbing, and you will get in gravel, sand and dirt, but NOTHING should be able to reach your fuel lines.
These 'lessons' have been learned over years of racing. There was nothing new to demonstrate and learn here. "they" may have made erros in design and fabrication, but these Corvettes have run in American LeMans for years (prior versions). These guys KNOW how to build a safe, legal, reliable and fast car.
The lesson may be that the corner workers in practice sessions, particularly the first responders MUST have adequate fire protection to perform rescues and extractions. I don't care if it's hot. It's hot at Sebring and Daytona, and we ALWAYS wore the right gear, even during practice.
So ... Did Jr. not really know that he needed to kill the fuel pump after a crash? (there's a swith on the dash)
Did jr. not kill the master electrical switch? did the corner workers not kill the master? probably would not have mattered since the leaking gas was gonna ignite on the exhaust anyway.
Most likely scenario to me is that the crash, caused by an over-exhuberant driver, caused the puncture of the fuel cell, and the leaking fuel was ignited by the exhaust pipes. That severe of an impact hurts and leaves you stunned, but not badly so. (been there, done that) Jr. was busy radioing his status to the pits when he noticed the FIRE!!! urgency set in - he undoes his belts, cool suit and radio connection and tries to get out FAST becasue he's starting to burn and it hurts. As a prior post noted, the heat of the fire does not burn you from direct flame contact, convection or radiation, but rather becasue it heats your sweat to steam REALLY FAST. At least not right away do you burn from heat conduction/contact. A three layer suit will give you about :45 second of life protection. I hope he wore a three layer. Also, what scares the living @#$$@# out of you is that you are breathing hard anyway and the air you inhale is REALLY hot and stinks (been there, done that too). Drivers can die from lung burns faster than skin burns. So jr. is tryin his best to get out of the car (which isn;t all that easy under normal circumstances,) so it looks like he fell etc., but I'd attribute all that to the combination of haste, help from the workers, and adrenaline.
DEJr has to hit the "fire bottle." did not really notice him hitting the fire extinguisher knob. But bear in mind the fire bottle in a race car will really only put out a small fire (oil for instance) and simply cannot compete with a gasoline fire where the metal next to the vapors is above ignition temperature and there's more fuel 'pouring out' every second. The fire system is there to give you ( as driver) time to stop your vehicle and get away from the now useless equipment and let the firemen protect the racing surface from your burning junk.
ACO has nothing to cover up. Fires happen in road racing. When the wreck is bad enough, even in NASCAR, enough fuel can leak to feed a bad fire. The corner crews and the in-car extinguisher are there to enable a living driver to get out of the car. the firemen protect the race track surface, and oh, yeah, your junk.
A real driver won't blame the tires, not in his heart. If everyone is on Michelins, and the Michelins were at fault, why did anyone finish the race? IT aint the equipment.
Original message rfranklin
Mon Jul-19-04 02:51 PM
Original message
Earnhardt Jr. Burned in Crash...Bushistas involved?
After his defection, suddenly a nasty crash!!!???
These people are sick!!!
Are You holding back "Southern gossip" from Us? Is this like the "brook factor"?
Should I put on a Bud fire suit and a full face helmet?
Was this post 201?????
As I said I'm not a racing fan (hubby and grandson are) but when I saw the post at the DUmp I thought of this thread. Didn't see post 201 ... sorry!!!
Hey, I can see a duckie in the flames!
I got the DVR running again.
Had to cover for somebody at work.
But I have good news... . . . . . . . . . . . . I'm done mowing (for this week)
For Flash and Jr fans.............
COMMENTARY
By Benny Parsons
NBC Sports
Updated: 5:44 p.m. ET July 19, 2004 Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. both burst onto the Cup scene, Gordon in the early 1990s and Junior in the first few years of this decade. So comparisons between the two are inevitable, and although a rivalry does exist, it seems no keener than any the two drivers have with other Cup competitors. Gordon and Junior are both good for stock car racing, but they are different people with different images.
THE ORIGIN OF
GORDON BASHING
Gordon ran his first Cup race in 1992 and won for the first time in NASCAR's top series in 1994.
Starting in 1995, he went on an incredible five-year run during which he won 47 Cup races and three Cup championships.
When Gordon began winning so often and keeping stars like Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace out of Victory Lane, it didn’t sit well with longtime NASCAR fans who had their favorites among the old guard of drivers.
There was great fan loyalty shown these veteran drivers so you can see why there were many fans hoping the big names in the sport would beat the pants off the young phenom.
But in reality, it turned out to be just the opposite -- as Gordon dominated.
With Gordon’s success skyrocketing, these top drivers weren't winning nearly as often.
It just became fashionable to boo Gordon and the booing hasn't stopped because many of the same fans who started it still closely follow the sport.
Some still haven't gotten over Gordon whisking the spotlight away from drivers to whom they had attached not only their rooting interests, but also the devotion of their hearts.
Other fans may resent the millions Gordon has won or his squeaky clean image.
Whatever the reason, there are still a number of fans who dislike Gordon and that's something that might never change.
Yet in fairness, it must be pointed out that the four-time Cup champion has millions of devoted followers and Gordon remains one of NASCAR's most popular drivers as he races in his 12th full Cup season.
BEHIND JUNIOR’S POPULARITY
I think those that support Junior today are truly his fans, although many of them likely became supporters of the young star after the tragic death at Daytona of his father, Dale Earnhardt, in February of 2001.
After the shocking passing of Earnhardt, I'm sure it seemed natural to many fans to switch their allegiance from father to son.
By just being himself and also through his success on the track, Junior has done nothing to make these fans do anything but cheer him.
His popularity and his visibility certainly received big boosts after his thrilling win in the July 2001 Cup race at Daytona -- a bittersweet victory since it came less than five months after his father's death on Turn 4 of that track.
Junior has also added fans whose rooting interest in him has nothing to do with his bloodlines.
They like him for who he is and not for who his father was.
IMAGES DIFFER
Gordon is cut from the mold of driver one would assume hails from the upper class.
He speaks properly, is impeccably groomed and is always respectful.
Junior has a blue-collar image, which isn't hard to notice, especially when he does things like wear his baseball cap backwards.
He's part country and part rock 'n' roll and he's demonstrated great crossover appeal.
A month before he won this year's Daytona 500, a national poll named him as the fifth most popular athlete in the United States.
Gordon comes off as being fairly conservative in nature, while Junior doesn't conceal his passion for a good party.
Both drivers are media-savvy.
Junior benefited from the education he got watching his dad handle the spotlight, and Gordon showed how polished he is in dealing with the press when he had to publicly answer questions over a much-publicized divorce.
When it gets right down to it, the contrast between the two is as clear as the respect they have for one another as top competitors in their sport.
A simple example would be if Gordon were sponsored by a spirits manufacturer, it would be a champagne or wine company, where with Junior, it would be a beer company that would be putting its marketing dollars behind him.
DRIVING STYLES
Gordon races hard and doesn't like giving up any real estate on the track.
He's had his share of dustups and run-ins and we’ve witnessed Gordon move another car over the hard way on occasion.
Case in point is when Gordon bumped his way around Tony Stewart on the last lap at Bristol in 2001, prompting Stewart to retaliate and spin Gordon out on the cooldown lap after the race.
Needless to say, Gordon’s far from the only driver to do this, but when he does, it doesn’t help his popularity.
It just gives fans another reason to boo him, but that's racing.
With a Cup career much shorter than Gordon's, Junior hasn’t been in position to swap paint nearly as much as Gordon has, and we really haven’t seen him do much head-butting with other drivers.
There's no question Junior gives his team 100 percent every race.
He has pushed himself to compete at an elite level despite his relative lack of experience when stacked against veteran drivers like Gordon.
And he's pretty much done so without constantly getting his ire up and nudging others out of his way.
I'm sure as his career progresses, there may be times Junior elects to go with a push-comes-to shove style of passing, but he has a flair for racing that often takes away any need to resort to bumping his way around a track.
Gordon knows the ins and out of his sport and he may seem the more aggressive driver of the two, but Junior is learning and getting wiser with each passing season.
I’m sure there will come a time when to win a race he will move someone out of the way, and that may be when we're most reminded of the legacy left by his late father.
Thanks!
NEW PICTURE
Jr May Not Be Able To Finish Race in NH.....Truex Standing BY.......plus fans for cooling and seatbelt adjustments.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Earnhardt, Despite Crash Injuries, Is Expected to Start Race Sunday
By VIV BERNSTEIN
Published: July 20, 2004
he Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is expected to start the New England 300 Nextel Cup race at New Hampshire International Speedway on Sunday. But after sustaining second-degree burns in a crash on Sunday, there is some question about whether he will be able to finish it.
Earnhardt was released from the University of California-Davis Medical Center in Sacramento yesterday after treatment for burns over six percent of his body, including his legs and chin.
Earnhardt crashed in a practice session before the American LeMans Series race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. The Corvette he was driving exploded in flames when it hit a concrete wall, but Earnhardt was able to escape quickly enough to avoid serious injury.
Earnhardt was planning to race in the event to gain more experience in driving road courses during a lull in the Nextel Cup series this past weekend. Instead, he returned by private jet to North Carolina yesterday. He did not speak with reporters.
"He got beat and bruised pretty good," said Richie Gilmore, director of motorsports for Dale Earnhardt Inc., which owns the No. 8 car driven by Earnhardt in the Cup series.
After speaking with Earnhardt several times on Monday, Gilmore said there are plans to have the driver Martin Truex Jr. on hand to replace Earnhardt in the No. 8 car in the New Hampshire race if necessary. Truex drives in the Nascar Busch series in a car owned by Earnhardt. Earnhardt is in second place behind Jimmie Johnson in the Nextel Cup series points race in a bid to win his first championship. As long he starts, Earnhardt does not need to finish to receive the points earned in the race.
The No. 8 car has been fitted with fans to cool Earnhardt during the race, and the seat belts will be adjusted so that they do not aggravate burns on his legs.
Those are minor issues, considering what could have happened to Earnhardt in that crash. Gilmore said he watched the crash and the explosion and couldn't help remembering the accident in the 2001 Daytona 500 that killed the seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, the father of Dale Earnhardt Jr.
"Most of the employees at Dale Earnhardt Inc. have been together for a long time," Gilmore said. "Everybody had that little bit of feeling Sunday. You can't help but have that feeling."
It struck some at Nascar as well.
"It was a terrible-looking accident, there's no doubt about that," said Jim Hunter, Nascar vice president of corporate communications.
Hunter said that Gary Nelson, managing director of research and development, is reviewing the accident to see if Cup cars are vulnerable to the same type of explosion.
Earnhardt is expected to fly to New Hampshire on Thursday to prepare for a Nextel Cup practice session on Friday. Nascar president Mike Helton and Nextel Cup series director John Darby will meet with Earnhardt to make sure he is healthy enough to race.
Earnhardt, who earns millions from sponsorships annually, is considered the most marketable driver in Nascar. He was voted by fans as the most popular driver in the series last year and has been leading in votes this year as well. He does not need to race in other series events to earn money.
Still, Gilmore said senior staff members at Dale Earnhardt Inc., including the owner Teresa Earnhardt, had agreed to allow Earnhardt to drive in the American LeMans Series race if it could help improve his performances in the Nextel Cup series.
"One of the areas he needed to get more experience was on the road racing circuit," Gilmore said. "He felt like it would be good experience for us."
Earnhardt isn't going to stray too far from the Nextel Cup series the rest of the season. He will race one more Busch event, in Bristol, Tenn..
The same fire hazard Dale Jr sufferred is the same has the fire hazard and other safety hazards Matt Kenseth has when he races the Slinger Nationals in his home state of Wisconsin.
Most NASCAR Nextel Cup superstars historically have given their time to pad a few fans in stands at tracks not on the NNCS, especially local bullrings, and even road courses. This is the same as Terry Labonte running Sebring, and Bill Elliott in an SCCA Trans-Am race years ago. This is racing for racing's sake, no points, nothing on the line but pride, and some fans cheering you for a win.
He probably needs a few weeks to heal well which means his running this weekend and Lady Luck busting his chops could cost him the NC trophy this year.
I have a feeling Truex will be running at the end of the race this weekend.
Just a bit nitpicky but fiberglass won't burn, it will melt. However, the resin will.
not personally - I have been a fan of Sr. for many years and consequently a fan of Jr.s. The closest I have come to 'knowing' him was knowing someone who worked in RCR's engine shop - built/worked on the motor that was in Sr.s car the day he died.
Well, doggone. Wouldn't it be fun if he had time to come in here and shoot the breeze with us all? We would never let him leave. LOL!
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