This is the follow up article on Dick Surratt
A SCARY STORY
DTA member Dick Surratt and his good friend, Charlie Gottschalck (got-chuck), towed their midgets to California for a race the last weekend in November 2003. They went together in Dick’s Ford dually truck with their two midget racers tucked safely inside the enclosed trailer. The race was to be at Willow Springs Raceways near Rosamond , California (about 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles ). The track itself is a 3/8 mile banked dirt and is a very fast dirt track. It’s located directly across the road from the famous Edwards Air Force Base. There is a small town nearby by the name of Antelope.
Dick’s midget runs a SESCo engine. It’s basically a 350” Chevy V8 cut in half lengthwise to make it a four cylinder engine. The block and head are aluminum. It has fuel injection and runs straight methanol (alcohol) for fuel. It makes a bunch of horsepower and is very fast. Charlie is running a hopped up Ford V8-60 flathead engine. It too runs on straight alcohol.
Dick and Charlie made changes to their jetting and timing during practice laps. They finally found the right combination for the lower altitude. Their midgets reflected it in the speeds they were turning on the track. Following time trials, Dick always flushes the fuel system and cleans the injectors on his SESCO midget. This is to flush out any particles or alcohol and water mix which might cause a problem during the upcoming races. The flushing includes the injectors, fuel lines as well as the systems barrel valve. The barrel valve is similar to a fuel block in that it distributes pressurized fuel to the injector nozzle at each of the four cylinders. The fuel pressure at the barrel valve is 40 psi. Dick completed his normal flushing ritual while talking with fellow racers. He re-filled the fuel tank with fresh alcohol. He was satisfied the car was ready to race.
The announcer called for the first heat to line up. There were 37 midgets in this particular heat. A good sized field for sure. Dick and Charlie suited up in their safety gear. Mandatory flame resistant equipment includes coveralls, undergarments, gloves, shoes, etc. Further safety gear includes a full helmet with full face shield.
Dick pushed the midget to the staging line, got inside the cramped quarters, and strapped himself in. Lastly he put on the steering wheel. This may sound strange, but one must remember how small these cars are. It’s virtually impossible to get in or out of a midget with the steering wheel in place. The steering wheel and steering shaft are splined. A lever of sorts on the steering wheel snaps down and secures the steering wheel to the splined shaft. Dick was ready to go racing.
He got a push and started his SESCo engine. He slowly circled the track while the remaining cars were started. Soon all the race cars were on the track and in their correct starting position. Time to race!
The field of 37 midgets roared down the front straightaway and flew past the green start flag. Dick had nailed the accelerator and the midget was still accelerating hard as he pitched it sideways into turn one. On the back chute the SESCO powered midget quickly accelerated up past the 100 mph mark. Dick would pitch it sideways into each corner with the steering wheel and then navigated the turn in a controlled slide using a lot of throttle and seesawing the steering wheel back and forth. The rear wheels left rooster tails most of the way around the track. The little midget was running the hardest it had ever run. He showered dirt on the other racers when he passed them..,.. usually sideways! Dick was doing his thing and having a ton of fun
He was up to 3rd place, and closing quickly on the second place racer, as he crossed the start/finish line at the end of the third lap. As he pitched the midget sideways, at 100+ mph, he heard a slight pop up front somewhere, but thought little of it since it was a one time thing and he’d never heard it before. He had barely entered turn one when he became aware his feet and lower legs were getting quite warm. He was going sideways, but managed a quick look at both the heat and oil gauges. Readings were all normal….. 60 psi oil pressure and 160 degrees engine temperature (alcohol does run cool). Odd he thought. He couldn’t find any reason for the heat he was feeling around his feet and legs. He took a quick look down at his feet. No smoke or flames to indicate fire of any kind. By this time he was over halfway through turn one. His feet and legs were getting hotter with each passing millisecond. He figured he’d best pull of the track and return to the pits to determine what the problem was.
By the time he had exited turn one, his feet and legs were burning from the heat. HE REALIZED HE WAS ON FIRE!!!!! No flames or smoke. But burning alcohol cannot be seen because it doesn’t emit visible flames or smoke. Dick knew he had to get out of the car… and damned fast! He doesn’t remember a lot of the details, but he remembers stopping in the middle of the straightaway.
He unsnapped the steering wheel and pitched it. The midget’s floor area was super hot and the intense heat was now clear up to his knees! He knew he was in serious trouble. Remember he was still strapped in the cramped quarters. He reached down for the safety belt clasp on the right side. On a midget, they’re located down low between the seat and the body. It’s very tight quarters in a midget and not easy to reach. Simpson, who made the seat belt (and all of Dick’s fire equipment), had had problems with the midget guys popping this clasp loose with a sleeve of their fire suit as they sea-sawed their steering wheels through the turns. Simpson came up with a simple and effective solution….. add a piece of Velcro to cover the clasp and prevent a sleeve from catching the clasp and releasing it. They added a tab to the Velcro to pull it apart. The tab is ¼” long and can easily be pulled with or without gloves…. but only if it can be located. A full face helmet prevents a driver from tipping their chin down enough to touch their chest. This is necessary to lower your head far enough to see the tab. Dick fumbled blindly for the elusive tab…. all the while the flameless alcohol was beginning to broil him alive! He remembers trying to rip loose the seat belts in his panic. Naturally he couldn’t. All this time the 34 cars behind him were sliding past him on both sides of the race car. Hairy to say the least. Dick finally located the tab and got the seat belt clasp loose. Not out of the woods yet! Both feet were stuck tightly to the floor. The fireproof shoe soles had melted to the floor due to the intense heat!!!!! After what seemed an eternity, he finally managed to get jerk them free. He crawled and fell out of t he midget. He rolled down the track towards the infield to snuff out the still burning firesuit.
Dick laid there and looked towards his abandoned race car. Dark smoke was pouring out of the car now. Mostly it was the wiring and upholstery on fire. Dick could see flames coming out of the engine compartment. A track fireman came towards Dick carrying a fire extinguisher. Dick hollered at him that his racer was on fire and to put the fire out. The fireman ran up to the midget to put the fire out. Yeah, right! Not wanting to waste the contents of his precious fire extinguisher, the idiot fireman leaned over and blew on the flames!!!! The track could certainly use a little training for their track firemen.
The ambulance personnel began working on Dick. The lower part of his fire suit had changed from its solid black color to red due to the fire. His legs and feet appeared to be burned very badly. They worked on him while they sped to nearby Antelope Community Hospital . Dick was in intense pain.
Examination at the Antelope Community Hospital showed Dick had second degree burns on his feet. But his legs weren’t burned and blistered….. only his feet. His Simpson fire suit had saved his legs and prevented extreme burns to him. (I believe his fire suit and gear prevented him from being burned to death while still inside the midget.)
Something happened at the hospital that helped Dick manage the pain. He was laying on his bed in excruciating pain. He said it’s the worse pain he has ever had. An elderly couple in their eighties passed by his bed and saw the huge blisters and burns on his feet and legs. They stopped and the woman bent over and kissed him. She said she felt so sorry for him and knew how much pain he had to be in. Her husband produced a picture. It was of the woman. Seems she had slipped and fallen into a hot barbecue pit!!!! She hadn’t been killed because she had landed on her back in the burning pit. She had received burns from her buttocks to her feet. On each of her buttocks there was a blister nearly the size of a soccer ball!!!!! Dick suddenly found his pain less intense. The next morning, the woman came back by the hospital to see how he was doing! There are a lot of nice and kind people in this world, aren’t there?
What caused the fire? When Dick had flushed the fuel system before the heat race, he’d disconnected the fuel line from the barrel valve. This was normal to flush it out. When finished, he’d reconnected the fuel line to the barrel valve with his fingers. He went to his tool box to get a wrench to tighten the connection, but got side tracked when he stopped to talk with other racers. Consequently, the connection was never wrench-tightened. Alcohol sprayed out of the loose fitting under 40 psi pressure when the engine was started. It soaked the engine and managed to penetrate the firewall where it collected on the floor of the midget. Now his feet were sitting and soaking in liquid alcohol. The pop he’d heard was the alcohol soaked engine catching fire. It traveled quickly to the inside of the cockpit and ignited the puddle of alcohol on the floor.
Damage to the race car? Just some blistered paint, totaled upholstery, and loss of all electrical wiring. Everything else appears okay. Not near as much damage as Dick received. Dick went to his hospital once he reached Denver . They said the California hospital hadn’t treated the burns according to new methods of treatment. Consequently the burns will take longer to heal than they should. An additional update….. on December 8, 2003, his doctor notified him the burns on his feet were more considerably more severe than originally thought. His right foot has one spot with 3rd degree burns. But his left foot has 3rd degree burns over most of it. I understand 3rd degree burns are when the innermost layer of skin has been burned through and has burned the nerves. Serious to say the least. Dick is on the mend, but it’ll be a long time before he’s back up to speed. We all wish him the best.
postscript: Dick was fully healed by the late summer of 2004 after months of excruciating pain. He has since sold the midget when he came across a Champ car for sale. He’s using a 350” Pontiac engine from a drag racer which makes about 380 hp. He has organized a nation wide Champ car club. They don’t have roll bars since they’re into nostalgic race cars. Mostly this is because they are unable to get insurance. So they do a lot of parade laps…. at least it starts th at way. And then someone will nail the throttle for just a second…. and then another gets on it for a second… and almost instantly they’re all going flat out!