Fire During Richard Petty Pit Stop Changed NASCAR Foreve

This is one of the most powerful untold stories in NASCAR’s long history of danger and resilience. In 1990, during a routine pit stop for Richard Petty’s team at Atlanta, gas man Robert Callicutt was suddenly engulfed in flames. A fuel spill, a backfire, and the wrong conditions combined into a terrifying fireball just feet from the car. What followed wasn’t just a 33-day stay in a burn center — it became a turning point for both pit road safety and the man himself.

• What exactly went wrong in those few seconds that turned a pit stop into a nightmare?
• How did Robert survive the fire, and what did recovery look like?
• Why did he return to the sport, and how did he finally conquer his fear of fire?
• And how did this one incident permanently change NASCAR’s pit safety standards?

More than just an injury story, this is a deeply human tale of trauma, grit, and healing that helped launch a journalist’s career and helped NASCAR finally face the real dangers lurking on pit road. When Robert later joined his local fire department just to battle his own fear, it was no publicity stunt — it was survival, redefined. Watch this story and let us know — should NASCAR tell more stories like Robert Callicutt’s?

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