In a message dated 06/16/2003 11:05:02 AM Central Daylight Time,
BillB@bnj.com writes:
> Glad you didn't get hurt and your car is fine, but there's another quick
> lesson therein. You might have had good reason not to do this, but when
> you're on fire, punch your onboard extinguisher and DRIVE TO A CORNER
> STATION. Or just drive to the station even if you don't have an onboard
> (which you should). Even if you have to take a turn or two, it's much
> faster for you to drive right to them than to get your butt out of the car
> and put it out yourself or wait for the folks to do a 200 yard dash over
> to you schlepping a big bottle.
>
Thank you! All good points...to be filed immediately in my on board data
base file. Which is still kinda scary, as access to my own on board data base
file gets ifffy as I advance in age. But you're right, in such circumstances,
there are decisions to be made, and quickly. Taking steps to get closer to
meaningful help quickly should be high on the list. The T-Bolt has no on board
fire system. Maybe we should have one installed. My first thought was to cut
the engine and shut off the electric fuel pump. And that's what I did. I
was, in fact, passing the TURN SIX Corner Station when I first saw the flames.
I
had already eased up on the gas, because they were displaying a debris flag,
and I was looking for the problem. I drove straight off at SIX instead of
turning right. The corner workers were in fact right across the track from me,
but because of traffic (51 cars on a 1.95 mile circuit) they could not get
across to me right away.
> In the heat of the moment it's hard to remember to do that. Like
> everything else, practice makes perfect. Just reminding yourself during
> practice "if I was on fire here, I'd drive there" is all you need to do it
> right when it happens. I know that sounds like one too many things to
> think about since fires are relatively rare, but there's only a few things
> that go really badly wrong with these cars, and fire is on the top of my
> list as one I want to do something positive about.
>
> It's also easier on the corner workers.
>
Amen. Thanks!
Bill Dentinger
|