Dale Earnhardt Jr Remembers ALMS Corvette Crash and Fire at Infineon Raceway

When you head into a race, there’s no telling what is going to happen. It could go smooth as butter or you could get wrapped up in a situation that nobody wants to be in or even wish on their worst enemy. This is why, before heading out into racing situations that could get a little bit tangled and treacherous, that racers are fitted with some of the most advanced technology in safety today so that should that situation unfold, they won’t have as much to worry about.

This time, we take a walk down memory lane with Dale Earnhardt Jr. as a recent Instagram post from the NASCAR driver shows off photos from a time where he did just so happen to get himself tangled up in one of those treacherous situations. It would all go down over a decade ago as Junior found himself behind the wheel of an American Lemans Series Corvette in 2004 at Infineon when he lost control and things went bad.

After losing control of the car and spinning around, the rear end would slam into the wall, so hard, in fact, the fuel filler neck would break off completely, sending gasoline everywhere which would then be ignited by the hot exhaust. The result will be a huge ball of fire that would engulf the car that Junior was driving, completely surrounding him with fire, a scary situation to say the least.

Now, obviously, as time would tell, Dale would end up being alright. However, at the time of the incident, it was truly terrifying to watch, especially from the interior camera that shows junior being swallowed up by the flames. I think it’s safe to say that without that safety equipment, he most certainly would have been in a world of hurt beyond the minor burns and knee injury. This is one of the situations that you have to look back on and be grateful that you’re alive and try not to dwell on too much. It certainly didn’t manage to stop this racing sensation!