Niki Lauda's accident at the Nurburgring was nearly 40 years ago, so it's easy to be lulled into a sense of complacency nowadays over the threat of fires in racing. Passive and active safety systems make flames seem like a small threat. This fire at today's ALMS race in Virginia show that the threat is very real.
It looks like the fire started when Johannes van Overbeek's HPD ARX-03b was being refueled and van Overbeek himself was executing a driver change. It could have been sparked by something as small as static electricity, but when you have any type of fuel splashing around the whole situation can quickly turn into a disaster.
The funniest part about the whole thing is how van Overbeek's pit crew member runs out of the way while kind of forgetting the poor driver is still sitting in the car all strapped in. Then, after splashing some water on the car, they see no immediate flames and on his way he goes.
If the car had somehow exploded half a lap later, it could have been a bit awkward.
H/t to McNewbie!