The sportsman modified of Mark Kemmerer erupted in flames on the final lap of the Firecracker 40. Just after throwing the white flag, Grandview Speedway threw the red flag immediately to help Kemmerer escape from the fire as fast as possible.
“Throwing a red flag on the last lap is not something any track would like to do,” Kemmerer, of Green Lane, Pennsylvania, said. “It gave me the time and space to get situated to exit the car. I chucked the steering wheel and bailed. I reached out to the track officials and thanked them.”
The fire started when the engine Kemmerer bought used blew.
“It was pretty fresh and had a new set of valve springs, which is the only thing you can take care of in these engines,” said Kemmerer. “I’ve blown motors before in my 10 seasons as a sportsman driver, but this one gave me zero warning. It didn’t lay down and it made no noises. It detonated internally. There was no hole for the oil to come out. The engine pumped all the oil out through the breathers, immediately igniting into flames.”
Kemmerer stopped the car in turns one and two, and escaped from the car quickly thereafter. The flames came through a hole in a body panel, burning the leg of the Hinchman fire suit, but it did not burn Kemmerer’s skin.
“I take full responsibility — it was my fault the flames reached me,” Kemmerer said. “I had an open motor in the car last year, and ran an oil cooler with a fan where the steering is on the side of the car. You have to cut a hole in the body panel for the cooler. When I changed to a crate engine, I neglected to seal up that hole.”
Fortunately, Kemmerer prepared for fire with his personal safety gear. In addition to the Hinchman fire suit, he wore a K1 RaceGear gloves, Simpson shoes, Sparco balaclava, Sparco flame-retardant underwear, and a Simpson helmet. The fire may have charred his equipment a tad, but Mark Kemmerer remains thankful that he escaped unscathed.
“I got out of the car in a couple of seconds,” said Kemmerer. “Things could have been worse if the track didn’t throw the red,” Kemmerer said. “It is important for drivers to seal any holes that would let burning oil into the cockpit.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
Photographers
The Outside Groove contributor from Macungie, Pennsylvania, has covered the sport since 2012. Sabo serves as the official track photographer of Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania. Photography is a family ordeal for Sabo. He shoots with his daughter, Abby, at Shellhammer Dirt Track in Shoemakersville, Pennsylvania. At Grandview and other venues Sabo travels to, he and his father, Stephen “Poppa Pepper” Sabo Sr., capture the night’s action with their cameras.
