LOL...I'm sure Rich's helping hand was partly a factor of him knowing we're not running Real Street next year [he ought to dominate that class next year without competing with us], but it was nice of him to handle it the way he did! Because of the Nova fire, Gil decided not to run the Cavalier in Outlaw Class this weekend. I don't blame him a bit...a fire in the cockpit is a racer's biggest nightmare!
The floorboard area above the exhaust headers got so hot it "flash" ignited the carpet and filled the cockpit with smoke. Thankfully, Gil had already crossed the finish line and pulled the chute...so he was rapidly shedding speed when the fire erupted. What a mess of fire retardant [and smoke] all over him and the interior cockpit. Fortunately, it only burned a couple wires and the fire was extinguished before it BBQ'd the onboard computer. It had to be a very scary moment for Gil to look down at 170 MPH and see flames crawling up his leg knowing he still had some quantity of pressurized NOS and race fuel onboard. It could have been much, much worse!!!
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