One NASCAR official says the now-viral incident involving a fan in the garage during a car fire at Bristol Motor Speedway is a learning moment for track security and fans.
During last weekend’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, DGM Racing driver Mason Maggio had a scary moment when his No. 91 car caught on fire in the track’s narrow garage area.
While his car was already on fire upon infield entry, the blaze took off shortly while Maggio was making his way to the garage area, with a large ball of fire flaring up before NASCAR officials were able to put the fire out.
While most fans were happy to see Maggio was safe, many noticed a fan who, while walking by the car, stopped to take a picture, getting in the way of an official who had a fire extinguisher before being moved away from the car.
Though NASCAR is not calling for any actions against the fan, NASCAR Managing Director of Racing Communications, Mike Forde, said that the entire scenario is a learning opportunity for officials and track security.
Forde says that while NASCAR races offer fans the chance to get more up close and personal than many other professional sports, there still needs to be awareness in those working areas.
“Every NASCAR race has fans in the infield, and that’s one of the great things about a NASCAR race is the access and the ability to roam the infield and kind of watch the race from around anywhere in the track. . . But you also need to be aware of your surroundings,” Forde said.
Of course, this is not entirely the responsibility of the fans, as Forde said, security and other staff in the infield of the tracks can learn from this incident to ensure everyone is in a safe space away from any potentially dangerous circumstances.
“I think it’s just a learning opportunity for the security folks and just really those people that are managing that infield area to make sure that fans are staying away from that area and aware of their surroundings when something like a car that is in that type of condition goes into the infield, because obviously that could be a dangerous situation.” — Mike Forde
While everyone came out safe in this scenario, the clip of the fan taking a picture of Maggio’s car quickly made the rounds in the NASCAR community.
For the most part, some fans said they couldn’t blame the fan for wanting to grab a picture of the car, though, just like Forde, most said that there was a level of awareness that needed to go into his decision.
The best reaction may have come from the CW broadcast booth, where broadcasters Dillon Welch, Jamie McMurray, and Parker Kligerman laughed off the moment, with McMurray jokingly saying, “Get out of the way. They’re trying to put it out!”
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