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HAROLD MARTIN SURVIVES NASTY FIRE
AT ROCKINGHAM
During night qualifying at Rockingham veteran nitrous
Pro Mod racer Harold Martin escaped with only minor injury from one
of the most horrifying fires in recent memory. The incident occurred
during the last qualifying session on Saturday night when Martin's nitrous-oxide
injected, big-block powered Grand Am had a nitrous explosion just past
the tree and burned fiercely until just before the finish line. Martin
told DRO that thanks to his full-face helmet, five layer fire suit,
shoes and gloves and the fact that the cockpit was well sealed he only
had very minor burns around his eyes. " Anyone that drives one
of these cars without a full face helmet is an idiot!" said Martin
after the incident. "I would have been burned severely if I hadn't
been wearing one."
Evidently the fire welded the wires to the starter.
"Right after the explosion I pushed in the clutch
and turned off all the power I had control of in the cockpit, but the
car just kept chuggin'," Martin said. "The starter kept turning
the engine over. Finally I got the door open and jumped out while the
car was still rolling. About that time the rescue crew got there and
started putting the fire out."
Martin speculated that something had split one of the
fuel injection rails on the motor and that is what kept feeding the
fire. The Grand Am was pretty much a total loss.
"The whole front end of the car burned up and it
was all custom built. I don't see how I can get this car ready in three
weeks to race at Virginia," he said.
When interviewed immediately after the incident, Martin
said, "Part of me just wants to go somewhere and cry and part of
me wants to tear this thing (motor) apart and find out what went wrong.
Basically I'm just glad to be here." (Jeff Burk photos)
QUICKEST FIELDS EVER
Both of the 16-car Pro Stock and Pro Mod qualifying fields at The Rock
established records as the quickest ever for an IHRA national event.
Doug Kirk set the pace in Pro Stock with a 6.537-secs
effort at 210.80 mph, with Jason Collins rounding out the top-16 with
a 6.640 at 210.14 mph pass, representing a spread of just over a tenth
of a second.
Tim McAmis led the Pro Mod qualifying parade with a straight-as-an-arrow
6.114 secs at 228.92-mph lap that also set a new track record during
Saturday afternoon's session, while Ronnie Hood was 16th and only .214
secs behind McAmis with a 6.328/218.48 combination.
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