Not all the action was on the track during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Quaker State 400 Saturday night. Early in the race, pictures on social media began appearing showing a thick plume of black smoke rising from behind the main grandstands.
Soon, the source of the smoke was reported to be a vehicle on fire in the parking lot adjacent to the main grandstands. The NBC Sports broadcast picked up on the news and soon overhead shots showed a white pickup truck in flames. One vehicle beside it was also burning. It took several minutes for the flames to be extinguished. It wasn’t long before the attention returned to the racing on the track.
Fire in @kyspeedway parking lot. pic.twitter.com/TI8jauG8dF
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) July 10, 2016
Later reports surfaced however that seemed to indicate that the vehicle fire could have been deadly for what can only be assumed to be a NASCAR fan who was in the truck. Local media reported that first responders to the scene had pulled someone from the burning vehicle.
Kentucky Speedway general manager Mark Simendinger told local media that the fire started in the cab of the truck. He confirmed that a person was in the vehicle and was pulled out by the track’s first responders.
“I always tell our people be prepared, something weird will happen. But we never envisioned this,” Simendinger said. He added that the first responders did “good work” in containing the situation and that it could have been far worse. The car on one side of the truck also received extensive damage while a truck on the other side received minor damage. The name of the truck’s owner or of the person rescued was not released.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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