Michael Knudsen, 27, clutch technician on the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T
Funny Car driven by Gary Scelzi, suffered first- and second-degree burns in a
freak fire today at Maple Grove Raceway, as the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
teams prepared for this weekend's 24th annual NHRA Nationals.
He was
flown by helicopter to the Lehigh Valley Burn Center in Allentown, Pa., where he
will undergo surgery on Friday, with recuperation expected to take up to a week.
He was given pain killers and was able to describe what happened to Mike Lewis,
Senior Vice President, Don Schumacher Racing, who provided this report:
"It happened on the grounds at Maple Grove Raceway at an entry gate,”
explained Lewis. “A temporary food stand was being set up along a fence line.
The people setting it up didn't realize that there was a sliding gate, that when
it opens up would cross the area where they have these propane tanks. And
Michael and Zak Seedroff (also on the Mopar/Oakley team) were moving the tanks
and mounting them properly on some blocks that were there, and somehow or other
somebody who tried to help them pushed the gate while they were in the process
of moving these tanks. The tanks were all fastened together, so the fence made
contact with the first tank and as it fell over it pulled the second tank and
the third tank, and two of them began to discharge. A representative from the
gas company was there and he turned off the first tank and Michael first left
the area and then he felt, well, let me go turn this other one off. And for some
reason it caught fire. No idea why. It was kind of a flash and it struck him in
the lower legs, left hand, left side of his face. He rolled out of the way and
took his shirt off, took his shoes off, and tried to douse himself with water to
make sure he wasn't seriously burned.
Three might years not seem like a long time. However, in the past three years