10/13/09 Photo Blog- Late Night Pit Area Antics

October 13, 2009

LATE NIGHT PIT AREA ANTICS

A few race teams spent the night in the pits at the Cayuga County Speedway. We noticed one team had some wood for a small campfire set up, so I wandered over to check it out. It was mostly big pieces of wood. I was wondering how they were going to get it going because I didn't see any kindling wood mixed in. Here comes the driver with a jug of methanol.
Oh. Never mind.
As he was pouring some methanol on the wood, I mentioned that they might want to move a couple of cars that were close by. The driver said they were fine, but a couple of women who were there thought moving the cars was a good idea, and did so.
The driver kept pouring on more fuel, and I noticed it was running out from the bottom of the wood pile, and heading towards his sprint car, located maybe 4-5 feet away.
"Um, the fuel is running out the bottom of the pile and heading towards your race car."
The driver stops pouring, looks at me and responds-
"Will you relax! I'm a professional!"
He pours some more on, then goes and gets a propane torch. Someone suggests that he light the fuel on the ground flowing from the pile, so that the flames will go to the pile. He lights the torch, lights the fuel on the ground, and a nice blue flame travels about a foot along the ground, to the pile and-surprisingly-the pile gently becomes enguled with blue flame. No big WHOOSH, but a gentle flaring up.
I was impressed. He was a professional.
Yes, I am a firefighter, but I don't think Cayuga County in New York(which is near Syracuse) is part of our mutual aid district.

Not sure why the Goodyear tire trailer was there, because most sprint teams run Hoosier tires. But the driver decided to leave the trailer there, and just take the rig to where ever it was he was staying. Big mistake. The next morning.........................

The back side of the trailer.

Close up. Nice even job of applying the decal.

The right side-passenger side- of the trailer. Notice the A in Racing.

Close up.