Please pray for Sprint Car veteran Jeff Bloom and his wife Linda. Jeff was hurt in a crash last night at Berlin Raceway. It’s reported he suffered third degree burns on his right arm and hand and second degree burns on his right torso and leg. Plus a possible cracked rib. He was transfered to the burn unit at Spectrum Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI. Jeff is a regular with the Must See Extreme Sprint Car Series (the same group Troy DeCaire races with) but I’m not sure if this was at one of their shows…
So what happened? Could the same thing happen here? Was the track prepared to fight a fire or not?
Gary, I heard it was alcohol. Isn’t that the easiest type of fire to fight? It responds very well to just water, but someone has to have it available at the scene, and in a very timely manner.
I’m not interested in bashing any series or any tracks, but does anyone know what fire fighting capability is on-site for a Top Gun or TBARA race? The tracks have to play a role, do they have anyone prepared to fight an alcohol (or any kind) of fire?
I can only talk about East Bay
But I know they have the capabilities and experience to handle both methanol and gasoline. I’ve been to many tracks across the country and East Bay has one of the best response teams I have ever seen.
According to the Xtreme website, they said Bloom either blew an engine or an oil line. It never mentioned fuel at all.
Top Gun Sprints
They have 5 EXT. with Fire-Aid in them on the Jeep at the track every race.
I’ve often used East Bay as an example of the way a track should run a safety team. Unfortunately, it is an exception in the Florida racing scene. It’s only a miracle there haven’t been more serious incidents. I wish all tracks could adopt a program similar to East Bay’s.