NickHolt Posted July 18, 2004 Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 From Fox News Sports SONOMA, Calif. - Race driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., suffered moderate burns Sunday morning when the car he was driving was involved in an accident and caught fire while practicing for the American Le Mans Series Infineon Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway. Earnhardt suffered what track medical officials described as "moderate-sized burns of moderate intensity" in the facial area and lower extremities. For precautionary reasons, he was transported by air to the University of California-Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, Calif. 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 and then caught fire. Earnhardt quickly exited the car on his own and was then assisted by safety crews. Earnhardt, who regularly competes in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, was scheduled to co-drive in Sunday's American Le Mans Series sports car race with veteran road racing driver Boris Said. The team has withdrawn the car from the race. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProTree Posted July 18, 2004 Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 from watching replays of the wreck and it showing a close up of dale jr. in the car -those flames were covering him up pretty good-not sure-but looked like he had an open face helmet on-flames were all around his head area-anybody else see replay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx Posted July 18, 2004 Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 He was wearing a full face helmet...still, it looked horrible...also looked like he got knocked woozy cause he didn't move to get out for about 10 seconds...never seen one of those cars do that ever...and the odds of that happening with JR...I guarantee Brian France crapped his pants....I'm guessing that's the end of his Non-NASCAR road racing career... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobby74 Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 here is the pic with jr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krusty_rusty Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Yeah he was wearing a full face helmet as shown by the picture and 29LL I agree with your assesment I think he was out at first because he wasn't even moving before the flames broke out and even a little while afterwards if you watch the replay, that track worker was on the ball and fought the flames which made it good for jr. As far as Brian France goes he was crappin himself but how about Budweiser, Enterprise, Chevy, and NAPA that put all of their stock into advertising him, for some reason now I bet Bud might lay the smack down a little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGural Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 How scarey!!! Wasn't it just a few races ago, that Jr. wasn't wearing gloves driving his cup car? Even though they've made great strides in fuel cell fire safety, there have still been big fires happening. Two weeks ago, the Busch series had two huge fuel cell fires. Wearing all the fire safety equipment is a must in our minds, even when it's so hot. Those few seconds mean everything, when your trying to get out. So glad he wasn't seriously hurt. Not only for Dale, but it would have probably impacted racing negatively...at all levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
champ1796 Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 terrible wreck, good thing he was concious, otherwise he might not be with us anymore. Fire system in these cars have to be activated by the driver i believe. Plus, the corner marshalls are volunteers, usually local scca members, just a couple guys with fire extinguishers. And you are right Tgural, a big black eye for the sport had it been worse. thankfully it wasnt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truck99 Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 The gloves was the first thing I thouht about also. Cary and I talked about him going bare-handed several weeks ago when they showed that on TV. It's amazing to me that he had them on this time. I bet he'll wear them from now on. That picture really tells the story. cs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfrebel Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 the reason he had them off a few weeks ago was that he was trying some new kind of cooling system and it failed, causing him to get extremely hot in the car not saying that taking off the gloves was right, just explaining why he did it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8Apex Posted July 21, 2004 Report Share Posted July 21, 2004 add to the fact, that [edited out by Nick Holt, 7/21/04] earnhardt wasn't wearing any nomex under his driving suit... no balaclava (headsock) no nomex underwear (long johns, and long sleeve shirt)...... bet we see Nascar, start making it a requirement.....should have been done long ago.... its been the norm in roadracing for some time now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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