Although I couldn't find much on the incident (no exact date or driver name), this is text from one that I witnessed at Charlotte sometime around 1990:
"Charlotte: The NASCAR sportsman division held events at this super speedway and consisted of NASCAR Racing Series drivers that were allowed to race older model Winston cup and Busch series cars. After a series of horrifying crashes, some which resulted in death or serious injury, Charlotte track officials decided not to continue the sportsman division at this venue.
During one of the sportsman division visits to the Lowe’s (formerly Charlotte) Motor Speedway the maroon #7 Monte Carlo lost control and slide backwards down onto pit road. The car spun and came into contact with the Armco barrier that made up the pit wall. The Armco speared, crushed and folded down the rear clip of the car rupturing the fuel cell. The wall at this particular spot had an opening that allowed for access behind pit road.
After striking the wall the car lifted into the air and spun twice. While airborne atomized fuel sprayed everywhere and as the car spun a second time in the air the engine area came into contact with the fuel mist causing an eruption of fire. The car eventually came to rest in the middle of pit road and immediately intense flames erupted from the cars rear clip. As the fire burned no one can be seen anywhere in the proximity. A fire truck is parked directly behind the area of impact but there are no personnel seen near the apparatus. Seconds begin to pass and the driver is not seen. Finally after 22 seconds the driver finally exits through the right side window and falls immediately to the ground. The driver has suffered both inhalation and burn injuries. He then gets up and leaves the area in an attempt to seek assistance. The driver suffered burns to his hands even though he was wearing fire resistant gloves. "
By far one of the worst racing fires I have ever seen. It occurred on one of the opening laps (maybe lap 2), and the fuel cell was full. These cars were basically discarded Cup cars, and had minimal safety features compared to today's cars. This particular car was fully engulfed, inside and out and front to back, as it sat there in the grass in front of where Dad and I were sitting. There was a woman to my left that was absolutely freaking out at the idea that there was a man getting burned alive inside a Monte Carlo for all to see. Seeing the driver bail out of the right window (yes, he couldn't get the window net down and crawled through the cage) of an inferno all by himself after what seemed like forever was very disturbing.
Seeing him sitting in the grass smoldering was creepier, lemmie tell you.
Safety personnel were nearby, maybe 50 feet just across pit road, but had scrambled away after the fuel blew all under their rescue vehicles when the impact split the cell at the pit exit. I'll bet it was at least a full minute till the first responder got to the driver, even though he was in the wide open.
And that was one very, very long minute.
There was local Charlotte TV news video footage shown that night where the camera man was almost standing in liquid fuel, and kept film rolling.
Any fires, especially gasoline fires, are just plain awful.
