During Thursday-night practice of the Tuckasee Toilet Bowl Classic, Caleb Ashby endured a toter-home fire. The incident occurred in the pits of Clarksville Speedway in Tennessee.
“I’m not real sure [of what happened],” said Caleb Ashby, 31, of Cunningham, Tennessee. “It’s something with the generator, either electrical or it got hot and caught something on fire.”
The fire started during practice.
“We were in the trailer, getting ready to go out, when somebody ducked their head in and said, ‘The truck’s on fire,’” Ashby said. “We got everybody out and I grabbed a fire extinguisher and tried my best.”
Other teams brought fire extinguishers as well. Ashby said crews from the late model teams of Tanner English, Josh Putnam, Rusty Schlenk, among others, came to help. However, they could not put the fire out. The Clarksville Fire Rescue Station #10 resides across the street from the track.
“The fire department … was gone on another call,” said Clarksville Speedway promoter William Scogin. “So, I went to get the water truck to put it out.”
Ashby recognized the damage from the fire may be terminal to the vehicle.
“It’s pretty bad,” Ashby said. “It could have been a lot worse. It didn’t burn up a whole lot inside, possession-wise, except for my little girl’s stuff. She was pretty tore up about it”
Ashby has three children with his wife, Lindsay, of 8 years: Jett, 7; River, 6; and Priscilla, 3. Ultimately, he remains thankful that all he lost was the toter home.
“You get to thinking about what could have happened,” said Ashby. “There ain’t nothing too scary about racing. [However,] knowing my kids could have been in [the toter home during the fire], that’s tough to think about.”
Caleb Ashby said he and his family don’t need anything from the public — they’ll manage just fine. During the weekend, he avoided thinking about the what-ifs by focusing on his actions on the track. Ashby swept the show in the Quicksilver 602 late model class. He won the features on both Friday and Saturday nights.
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
