Red Shift almost went back to a 1 car team in a BLAZE of glory
Last night the Red Shift Racing Team met to finish some upgrades to the #82 car. Josh plans to run it in a Drivers Edge DE this weekend before his NASA comp class. One of the tasks was to weld up the floor pan. I had repaired the hole Josh made when he knocked it off the jacks and welded up a crack near the tunnel. Then I moved to a hole under the drivers left foot. I weld (a lot) on Orange. Grease fires are routine and summarily ignored. But this time the flames appeared to be a bit more serious. I guessed correctly that I must have melted the fuel line. Fortunately we keep fire extinguishers everywhere. I grabbed the one by the door a few feet away and put out the fire as it grew increasingly larger.
In case you ever need one: I have an extinguisher mounted on the door of my trailer and another on the left side of my tool box in my truck. And after last night there is a shiny new extinguisher by the door and a spare at the back of the race shop.
Lessons:
1. Don't let Josh knock the car off the jacks and punch holes in your floor, because really that was the root cause of the fire.
2. You cant have too many fire extinguishers.
Dan #47
