If you have TrackPass, it's on Nascar.com.
Excerpt follows FRom Mike Harris/AP article last night ..
The accident came at the start of the 30-minute morning practice. Earnhardt lost control of his Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, spun and slid backward into a concrete barrier in turn eight of the road racing track.
Officials said the crash broke the fuel filler neck, where the gas is poured into the car, briefly turning the Corvette into a fireball after it came to a stop in the middle of the track.
Earnhardt quickly got out of the car on his own before being assisted by safety crews. The car continued to burn and was a total loss.
Earnhardt was to have driven in Sunday's ALMS race with veteran road racing driver Boris Said. The team withdrew the entry from the race after Earnhardt's crash.
"Officials said the crash broke the fuel filler neck, where the gas is poured into the car, briefly turning the Corvette into a fireball after it came to a stop in the middle of the track. "
OK, this is BS as well. In addition to being a retired race driver, I used to be a race track fire fighter AND I personally have assembled fuel cells.
(1) Fuel cells are metal boxes with a THICK rubber bladder set inside another metal frame. The fuel cells are generally filled with a porous open cell foam to reduce slosh and splash.
(2) Now, I have been out of racing for 4 years, BUT it used to be that ALL fuel cells filler pipe entry points were above the center line of the 'tank, and generally on the top of the fuel cell.
(3) Many fuel cell had 'flapper valves' to prevent leakage if the filler pipe came loose.
(4) LIQUID gasoline does NOT BURN! only vapors of gasoline burn, so a LOT of liquid gasoline had to exit the fuel cell rapidly in order to make this kind of fire.
Just because the filler neck broke does NOT mean the car would turn into a fireball. This is written in ignorance. A ruptured or PUNCTURED fuel cell leaks a lot of fuel, but a loose filler pipe does not.
Watch a road race early - you will see fuel sloshing out of the overflows A LOT! Practice sessions almost never begin with a full fuel tank. Maybe his did. It would be odd though. Anyway, fuel leaving the verhicle through the overflow does not create a conflagration. It spills onto the car body, it spills onto the track surfacce, it get on the visor of the guy behind you, but it evaporates fast. no harm no foul.
IF indeed he hit the tire wall hard enough to knock off the filler pipe, then he might have a fuel leak, but it ought to have leaked into the metal surrounds/containers that hold the bladder.
This EXCUSE stinks.