Dale Earnhardt Jr

[Fax]

I think one problem the marshals were confronted with was that this happened just as morning warmup started and virtually every car on the grid had just come out togther, it looked from the video like they had to wait until the traffic cleared before they could actually get to the car.  Once they were able to get extinguishers on it, they flattened it fairly quickly.
John

[Steve Pyro]

Just read on a US Corvette forum that Earnhard's fuel cell had been replaced immediately before the warm-up. maybe there is more to this than meets the eye........

On the video clip previously posted, the reason given for replacing the fuel cell is that the Sunoco racing fuel includes ethanol and this degrades the fuel cell material which could lead to fuel line blockages.
Hence, they fitted a new cell to alleviate this.

[Steve Pyro]

My brother in law has been a marshall for many years, primarily at Thruxton, Gurston and Goodwood.

He's now trained as a first response medic and has attended a number of incidents that sound rather nasty.  These have included some major incidents at Thruxton and a fatal crash at the FoS a number of years ago where a fellow marshal and friend was struck and killed by a car that left the course at the top of the hill.

I take my hat off to him and his unpaid, volunteer colleagues for the work they do at motorsport events.

I sometimes envy his ability to be able to get 'up close' to the action, but when the sticky stuff hits the fan, I know the seat in the grandstand suddenly gets a lot more comfortable.

[Canada Phil]

In defence of the Flag Marshal. His job is to wave the appropriate flag. Even if he is trained as a fire marshall his assigned job is to wave the flag so that is what he should do.
Canada Phil

[Fax]

Matt very well described how drivers like James Hunt were so acutely aware of the dangers of fire.  The likes of Master James, Jody Scheckter and Ronnie Peterson were all sporting nomex bibs and oxygen bottles by the mid seventies.  James being a very intelligent man was perhaps more aware than most of the horror of being trapped in a burning car.  His and the Hesketh team's first GP podium was the 1973 Dutch GP at Zandvort and anyone who is familiar with the sport is all too aware of the horrible tragedy that took place that day.  There is a very poignant photo of James right after the race, still in his overalls,  quietly sipping on a Grolsch, not a shred of elation with his first steps on a F1 podium on his face, clearly his thoughts are with his countryman.
We see fire almost in disblief today but back then it was an all too frequent reality of the sport.
John

[Steve Pyro]

David Purley received the George Medal for his bravery.

[saveloy]

  Steve,
I think Mike hailwood did as well, was it roger williamson left by the marshalls to burn while Mike attempted a solo rescue, Having said all that marshalls are well trained, but, as  a medic who's witnessed and attended all types of accidents and medical dramas, ITS F***ING scary and we all freeze at times,

[Steve Pyro]

 Steve,
I think Mike hailwood did as well, was it roger williamson left by the marshalls to burn while Mike attempted a solo rescue, Having said all that marshalls are well trained, but, as  a medic who's witnessed and attended all types of accidents and medical dramas, ITS F***ING scary and we all freeze at times,

Roger Williamson was in the car (died, poor sod) and David Purley stopped his own car and attempted to upturn the inverted car and rescue his friend.  The race continued and marshalls were rather slow (to say the least) in reacting to the accident.

[Fax]

Actually Mike Hailwood hauled an unconcious Clay Regazzoni out of his burning BRM at Kyalami earlier in the year.  Purley alone made the desperate attempts to save Roger Williamson at Zandvort.  The really infuriating thing about what happened to Roger was that there was a fire truck parked not more than fifty yards away around the corner but couldn't get to the accident scene because it would have had to move against oncoming race traffic. If they had stopped the race (as Denny Hulme was desperately trying to do by waving at the starter) they could have flattened the fire and got Roger out from under the car with no problem.
John