Earlier this week, we ran a piece asking whether safety at local race tracks and drag strips was up to snuff. One thing many tracks lack: a heroic driver willing to risk himself freeing a competitor trapped in burning wreckage.
The video above comes from last weekend's Stock Car Nationals in Ada, Okla., where a crash not only took out several cars but trapped driver Terry Muskratt in his car after it caught on fire. Kip Hughes, 27, jumped from his car and managed to pull off the netting and free Muskratt as trackworkers attempted to control the blaze around the car.
Hughes, 27, told a local TV station he'd witnessed four similar crashes, and that his father suffered severe burns in a similar accident in 1991. "I always said if something like that happens I'm not going to be the guy hanging back because I was seven in the stands with my mother watching this stuff unfold with my dad," he said. "So I always just kind of told myself if something like that happens again, I don't think. I just go and do whatever I can."
Muskratt suffered a burned hand, but no other serious injuries, while Hughes was uninjured. If only every little track came with that much bravery.