MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Josh Wittman can’t wait to get back to the racetrack and climb over the wall again.
Considering how his last trip onto a pit lane ended, it’s a miracle that Wittman is able to return to his job as the gas man for the Richard Childress Racing No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet driven by Brendan Gaughan at all.
An Ashland High School graduate and former prison guard at Mansfield Correctional Institution, Wittman was in the center of a horrific pit box fire during last Friday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond International Speedway in Richmond, Va.
Just a Normal Stop
Gaughan came in for a routine stop during a yellow flag on lap 113 when the head of the gas can Wittman was refueling the car with malfunctioned, allowing racing fuel to spill onto the pit lane. A spark from one of the lug nuts hit the fuel, igniting a massive fireball. Wittman and rear tire changer Anthony O’Brien were engulfed in the inferno.
“It was about halfway through the race and we were coming in for a four-tire, one-can stop,” Wittman said earlier this week while recovering at his home in Mooresville, N.C. “The car came in and we all did our thing. I plugged the can in (to the car’s fuel nozzle) and it plugged in nice and smooth just like any normal stop.”
After O’Brien changed the right rear tire, he and the tire carrier raced around to the left rear side. Wittman disengaged the fuel can to allow the two to pass in front of him when he noticed the problem.
“I was keeping my eye on the carrier and changer in the rear. As they come around from the right side of the car to the left side, I unplug the can and step back and let them go through, then plug it back in,” Wittman said. “I unplugged it and I’m keeping an eye on them coming around the back of the car. Usually as soon as they run past me I pan my view from them back down to … where I’m plugging the can in. I never usually look down at the can side because (the fuel can head) always closes back up. Well, this time it didn’t.”
Wittman plugged the can back into the nozzle to prevent more fuel from spilling as O’Brien, who was sprayed with fuel as he came around the car, went to work on the left rear tire. O’Brien removed the worn tire and put on the new one. As he was tightening the lug nuts on the fresh tire, a spark shot into the fuel.
“I heard (O’Brien) hit three lug nuts on out of the five,” Wittman said, “but as soon as he hit the third I heard a, ‘Whoosh,’ and that was the flames coming.
“I said, ‘Oh sh_t. It’s on.’ ”
In Harm’s Way
The gas man wears the most protective gear of anyone on the pit crew. Wittman was wearing a fire suit, a fueling apron, a full face helmet with a neck skirt, seven-layer fire safety gloves and a flame-resistant Nomex layer underneath it all. O’Brien was wearing his NASCAR-mandated multi-layer fire suit and a helmet similar to what a skateboarder wears, leaving his face exposed.
“I got way more on to protect me from this fire than what my changer and carrier do. If I unplug the can, it’s going to flow … all over my changer’s lap and possibly get the carrier,” Wittman said. “So I told myself, ‘You’ve got to stay plugged in, because if you don’t those guys are going to get burnt bad.’ So I stayed plugged in for that extra split second hoping they would get up and get out of there.
“Having on all the extra fire safety equipment and not knowing whether they had gotten out of there or not, I stayed in there as long as I could and put myself between the can and them.”
By that time, the entire pit box had erupted. Gaughan sped away with flames licking up the left rear of the car while members of his crew, along with crew members from adjacent pit boxes, scurried away from the scene. NASCAR fire safety members quickly converged on the area to extinguish the flames.
All the while, Wittman was standing in the middle of the inferno holding a can of fuel.
“I unplugged the can and set it upright like we are trained to do so more fuel didn’t spill and create a bigger hazard. I looked to my left and to my right and I even looked up into the sky, but all I could see was the fire,” Wittman said. “It was taking my breath away, so I took a deep breath and held it and walked toward where I thought the firefighter was and put my hands out so he could see everything and put me out.
“I thought he put me all the way out, so I stepped away from the fire and took my helmet off so I could get my breath. I threw my helmet down and took a deep breath … but from my waist down I was still blazing. It came up and got the side of my face.”
After Wittman’s lower half was finally extinguished, team members raced to his side to help him get out of his super-heated fire suit.
“I didn’t realize my hair was still on fire,” Wittman laughed. “So one of the crew guys from two stalls down came running down and started patting me on the head. I thought he was just coming down to tell me I was alright, but my hair was on fire and he was trying to put it out.”
O’Brien, meanwhile, jumped the wall while still on fire and was covered by Clifford Turner, a member of Eric McClure’s pit crew, before being extinguished.
Wittman, O’Brien and Turner were all taken to a nearby hospital. Turner was released Friday night after being treated for inhalation of extinguisher chemicals. Wittman was held overnight and released Saturday. O’Brien was released Monday.
Gaughan finished the race in 11th place, not that it mattered.
“None of us were able to enjoy it because of the circumstances but it is such a relief knowing ‘Thor’ (Wittman) and ‘Fifty’ (O’Brien) are doing better,” Gaughan said in a statement earlier this week. “This just proves how tough these guys are. Don’t tell me these guys aren’t professional athletes. They all deal with more things on a weekly basis than other professional athletes ever will.”
Moment of clarity
Standing in the middle of the fireball, Wittman’s thoughts turned to his wife and children back in Mooresville.
Wittman and wife Brittany were married last October. They have a daughter and a son.
“I can’t see anything and I’m holding my breath and walking through that fire and I’m thinking, ‘If I collapse in here nobody will see me because I can’t see anybody.’ I’ll lay there until they put it out,” Wittman said. “As I’m trying to walk out of there I’m thinking the whole time, ‘I’ve got a wife and two babies at home and I’m going to make damn sure at the end of this weekend I’m going home.’ That is what helped keep me calm, coming home to them.”
Wittman’s 5-year-old daughter, Paige, then joined the conversation.
“Your head was on fire?” Paige asked her father.
“Yeah, dad’s head was on fire,” Wittman said.
Paige soon lost interest.
“Daddy, can we go catch some bugs?” she asked.
“We’ll catch some bugs in a few minutes,” Wittman said.
Safety First
From the time Wittman was engulfed until he was extinguished less than six seconds passed. The safety and fire crews charged toward the flames as everyone else fled the scene.
“NASCAR fire and safety crews are awesome. They were right there,” Wittman said. “It felt like I was in there for about 10 minutes, from the time it started until the time I was put out was less than six seconds.”
Wittman’s safety gear also worked to perfection.
“We wear nothing but Sparco fire suits and that stuff saved me,” he said. “When I got burnt was when I took my helmet off to catch my breath. That is how good the stuff works. I took my helmet off without realizing the bottom half of me was still in an inferno and it came up and burned my face.”
Back to Work
The South Point Hotel & Casino crew pulls double duty every weekend. The team also serves as the pit crew for the Sprint Cup No. 40 car driven by Landon Cassill.
Both the XFINITY Series and Sprint Cup Series visit Talladega Superspeedway this weekend. The XFINITY Series Winn Dixie 300 is Saturday, while the Sprint Cup Geico 500 is Sunday.
And Wittman can’t wait.
“You’re damn right I’ll be at Talladega,” Wittman said. “I wanted to go back over the wall last Sunday (for the Sprint Cup Toyota Owners 400). They didn’t want me to, but I fought them every step of the way. I ended up going back to racing, but I stayed behind the wall and did what I could.
“Last week was a wild ride, but it’s what I love to do. I can’t wait to get back over the wall.”
