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Don't know where the 69% over his body came from. This is not stated in any news report or during the updates while the Sonoma race was being televised. Following is the most recent AP news report, which was posed on the Boston Herald website at about 2:30pm Pacific time.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. burned after crash
By Associated Press
Sunday, July 18, 2004

A fun weekend of racing for Dale Earnhardt Jr. turned frightening Sunday when a wreck during a warmup for an American Le Mans Series race turned his car into a fireball, leaving him hospitalized with burns on his face and legs.

Earnhardt's injuries were "moderate-sized burns of moderate intensity," according to medical officials at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. The ALMS said Earnhardt had second-degree burns on the insides of both legs and on his chin.

The NASCAR star, son of the late Dale Earnhardt, was flown to the University of California-Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where he was expected to be kept overnight for observation. He will be examined again Monday.

"I'm bummed out and disappointed I couldn't run the race," Earnhardt said through a team spokesman.

Steve Crisp, a spokesman for Dale Earnhardt Inc., said Earnhardt was not badly injured. "They've done the X-rays and there's no bones broken," Crisp said. "He'll be fine.

Still, any crash involving Earnhardt always brings up memories of the last-lap wreck at the 2001 Daytona 500 that killed his father, easily the most popular driver of his era.

Crisp said the younger Earnhardt will compete in next weekend's Nextel Cup race at New Hampshire International Speedway. Earnhardt, second in the Cup standings behind Jimmie Johnson, was supposed to be enjoying a weekend off from his regular series for a rare chance to race without pressure. "These folks are tough," Crisp said. "They bounce back from all kinds of things."

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.

Earnhardt has been hurt before in a race car. He sustained a concussion in a crash at California Speedway early in the 2002 season and hid it from NASCAR for five months, afraid it might keep him from racing.

It led to a poor season for Earnhardt and eventually to a new policy by NASCAR forcing drivers with head injuries to get medical clearance before returning to competition.

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.