This 2020 racing season has been very challenging for everyone. The uncertainty that transpired earlier in the year gave way to a full summer and fall of racing. I’ve often said that racing should ultimately be fun and we should all be able to go home from a safe night of racing. With that said all racing is dangerous. For the fans, drivers and crews, our dirt track world has made great strides to improve safety for all but there is still opportunity for continuous improvement.

Recently this year high profile events concerning the usage of racing gasoline have led to significant accidental fires causing injury and harm to people, along with the destruction of property. The race car engines that provide the power we crave use gasoline just the same as our passenger vehicles. There is a difference though in many ways. It isn’t just the octane difference or chemical and hydrocarbon blend that creates more combustion because racing gasoline is a special formulated fuel only for race engines. The premise for this article is how we use and dispense racing gasoline at the shop and at the track while refueling Dirt Late Model and all dirt race cars.

The act of getting gas for our drive to the track in our personal vehicles is relatively safe as we go to the store, pull up to the pump and get our gas. There are regulated safety devices integrated into the pumping system to help keep us safe and because very few accidents happen we tend to take getting gas for granted and safe. In racing the safety aspect is up to us and for the most part we don’t have accidents very often but when they do happen they are very severe. It’s time to re-think how racing gasoline is used and the refueling process, before another tragic accident happens!

Before we jump right into any considerations for change I’m going to spend some time going over some key technical concepts that are important to understand. Flammable and Combustible Liquids are very complex and dangerous. I think everyone should be familiar with the basic puzzle pieces that contribute to the chain of understanding, concerning the safe usage of racing gasoline.

Key Technical Concepts:

Flash Point: The lowest temperature at which a liquid at which sufficient vapor is given off to form an ignitable mixture with the air, near the surface of the liquid or within the vessel used.

Combustible Liquid: Any liquid that has a closed cup flash point at or above 100°F.

Flammable Liquid: Any liquid that has a closed cup flash point below 100°F

Lower Flammable Limit: The lowest volume concentration of a vapor that will burn.

Upper Flammable Limit: The highest volume concentration of a vapor that will burn.

Flammable Liquid Class: Gasoline is a Class 1B Flammable liquid. Class 1B is any liquid that has a flash point below 73°F and a boiling point at or above 100°F.

Static Electricity: The branch of electrical science dealing with the effects of the accumulations of electrical charge.

Static Electric Discharge: A release of static electricity in the form of a spark, corona discharge, brush discharge that might be capable of causing ignition of a flammable atmosphere under appropriate circumstances.

Ignitable Mixture: A gas-air, mist-air, dust-air mixture, or combination of such mixtures that can be ignited by a sufficiently strong source of energy such as static electric discharge.

Bonding: For the purpose of controlling static electric hazards, the process of connecting two or more conductive objects together by means of a conductor so that they are at the same electrical potential but not necessarily at the same potential as the earth.

Grounding: The process of connecting a conductive object to the ground so that the object is at zero electrical potential.

Let’s explain:

Racing gasoline has a very low flash point. -40°F and because of this is the reason engines start when it’s very cold. The Lower Flammable limit is 1% and the Upper Flammable limit is 8%. Too low is to lean to burn and to high is too rich to burn. Another important thing to realize is that gasoline can easily burn from a static electric spark because of the low amount of Minimum Ignition Energy (MIE) needed to start combustion with the air and fuel mixture.  In other words the racing gasoline we use every day is a very dangerous product with vapors that can ignite at almost any ambient temperature from any ignition source.

Static Electricity:

Outside of an open flame or electrical short circuit to create the Minimum Ignition Energy (MIE) to start a gasoline explosion or flash fire, the most common culprit is Static Electric Discharge. As people we are constantly picking up static electricity from friction and discharging. The items we carry and have with us also contain our static charge. Under certain conditions when we have a higher electrical potential than an item or object we touch we can release the electrical energy in the form of a static spark.

It’s a complex scenario that includes charged particles, different potentials, insulation from ground, and precise atmospheric conditions concerning low humidity. We’ve all experienced this at some point, maybe in the winter when the air is dry and we walked on the carpet in our home and then we touch something like the refrigerator. It’s shocking and loud if even for a brief second. Now if we are dispensing a flammable liquid such as racing gasoline with vapor present and conditions are just perfect within the flammable range a flash fire can happen and it all happens within an instant.

Sparks from ungrounded charged conductors including the human body are responsible for most fires and explosions ignited by static electricity in many industries. Sparks are typically intense capacitive discharges that occur in the gap between two charged conductive bodies, usually metal. Sparks can also occur between conductors and insulators.

Synopsis:

I hope by now if you didn’t already know the dangers of racing gasoline you now have a better understanding. Flammable liquids are very dangerous and do cause severe injury when accidents happen. They’re part of everything we do with racing. Most of the time when dispensing gasoline nothing happens in the form of fire or explosion. Because of this we tend to fall into complacency that nothing negative will happen. History of past accidents in racing like the ones that have happened this year prove otherwise. For the most part we’re very aware of not welding, cutting, grinding or smoking around dispensing or fueling the race car. The one culprit of risk that we need to be more aware of is static electric discharge. If we have a better understanding of this risk and the danger it presents we can be safer and reduce accidents.

Real World:

In an industrial complex dispensing flammable liquids is regulated. Safety standards outline specific bonding and grounding rules for metal tanks, drums and safety cans. As we reviewed above the bonding of the tanks, drums and safety cans keeps them at the same electrical potential and thus to zero potential when grounded to earth. All in an effort to control static electric discharge. Self-closing faucets and lids are also in place along with flame arresters.

In the racing world we typically dispense from a 55 gallon metal drum in the shop to the 5 gallon plastic cans that are taken to the track. At the track on an average night the car will have fuel added three times so we’re filling from the plastic cans to the fuel cell. The dilemma is the metal container to plastic can and then in reverse the plastic can to metal cell with rubber bladder. Grounding is possible and could help but we’re missing the bonding capability with the plastic cans. The fueling process is not compatible to properly bond and ground to control static discharge. So unless this changes other safety precautions should be explored.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” — Henry Ford

The nature of how cars are re-fueled should be addressed. Real dilemmas present themselves that will challenge the way it’s always been done. The pits are tight and Cars, Trailers, Trucks and Toterhomes are parked within a couple feet of each other. Cars are usually backed into the pit and in many cases under the lift gate. When a flash fire takes place it’s always possible that severe personal injury and catastrophic property damage could happen.

It’s not that current re-fueling practices are done without care and safety in mind but we should be open to change because without additional control measures we are leaving our fate up to random chance that nothing bad is going to happen. We all know from recent events that the threat from fire while refueling is very real.

Considerations:

Since electrical static discharge is a primary contributing factor toward gasoline liquid, vapor and mist fires and explosions, different re-fueling options should be studied. The current use of 5 gallon plastic cans limit the opportunity to bond the can with the fuel cell. Grounding the car might help but I don’t think it would be widely accepted or to what total benefit it could provide.

Location is a viable issue to discuss. We pit and re-fuel all in the same place and the tight quarters with people and equipment creates potential for severe injury and damage. With what we know is this the right place to refuel the car? I’m just sharing openly this thought. Could designated re-fueling areas be placed in the pits giving adequate separation from others and also have a trained fire watch present? If not this, then maybe it’s as simple as moving the car out and away from the trailer and leaving a safe space. If this were the case then PPE and Fire Watch could be established by each team. Good ventilation reducing vapor accumulation, elimination of ignition sources and reducing static discharge are key factors that have to be considered.

A few years ago the Unified Dirt Late Model Council was formed and great strides were made to adopt changes that have made Dirt Late Model racing safer for the driver than ever before. Could the best and smartest people in the sport come together once again with assistance from subject matter experts to make re-fueling the cars safer? I think it could happen with a consensus group.

Conclusion:

There are no easy answers or quick fixes. I truly believe it will take collaboration from all major parties within the sport before effective change can be made. Many will read this and disagree and want to just keep things the way they are. It might also be said by some that any changes could cost more, be inconvenient and take more time. I’ve heard all this throughout my professional career. I say one severe injury is one too many when we should all be able to go home after a competitive and fun night of racing.

So there you go. Hopefully I raised your awareness concerning the dangerous aspects of racing gasoline, shared some technical knowledge and challenged you to think about solutions that make the fueling of Dirt Late Models and all dirt cars safer.

By Mike Ruefer

Technical References:

NFPA 30, Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code

NFPA 77, Recommended Practice on Static Electricity

Renegade Safety Data Sheet, Pro Super Late Model Race Fuel

Sunoco Safety Data Sheet, HCR Plus

VP Safety Data Sheet, Late Model +

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Mike Ruefer

Photographer & Writer