1981 Indianapolis 500 – Rick Mears Pit Fire

1981 Indianapolis 500 – Rick Mears and his crew suffer one of the scariest things in racing – a methanol fire. As it burns clear, you can never be sure which areas are on fire, or what to extinguish. Water is crucial to dilute the fire. Mears and four of his crew needed further medical attention after this incident

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again because the fuel going into the combustion Chambers is really hot it doesn’t fire up very easily to oh wa we got a we got a fire there you can’t see it it’s an alcohol fire look at people fleing in every direction it’s Rick trying to get out of his car he just came into the pits this could be very bad you can’t see it but it’s there see him waving his hand there’s me he’s got that flame proof driving suit on there’s a mechanic who’s really on really on fire isn’t fire himself he’s fire he’s prob oh they still like getting that mechanic still on fire you cannot see the flame it’s an alcohol fire look at those tanks right there contain fuel too this is a very dangerous situation they seem to be getting under control now father M’s there his father there the mechanic is obviously burned he knows he’s burned my my Jim this could have been a tragedy because there’s all that fuel there the equipment is here the fire extinguish are here to put it out they’re really playing a lot on it here mechanic seems okay for the moment don’t know about those Burns though at this point well you know nobody recognizes how heavy a burn is until sometimes too late but Rick was undoubtedly better equipped for it his wife is there his wife yeah oh she’s worried obviously the biggest risk here of course is inhalation that’s his father there looking over him there inhalation and here’s Tom SN still trying to get out the pitch during all of that drama now we’re back into the Rick M’s pit the biggest risk there is inhalation of flame or heat or toxics where you can severely burn on your lungs now he was lucky he had his helmet on Jim and of course that could have helped him look at all that stuff a terrible moment there a terrible moment and obviously he has at least been helped a great deal by that clothing