Thanks to BangShifter Don McGinnis we have this incredible video to show you today about a catastrophe that happened 40 years ago and has largely been lost to the unrelenting march of time. This is video of the horrifying fire that took place at the 1974 Hutchinson Nationals Supermodified race. This incident is an amazing example of the worst case scenario happening multiple times and an even more amazing example of how people can survive situations that seem all but lost. To be very clear, the fire did take its toll. Racers Aaron Madden, Jack Petty, and Jerry Soderberg extensive third degree burns on their bodies but amazingly most were back to racing again after recovering. So what happened and how did this second lap pile up turn into a blazing inferno the likes of which probably had not been seen since the 1964 Indianapolis 500?

For starters, the cars were not all equipped with fuel cells and many still had normal fuel tanks. This meant that once they ruptured, the fuel spread across the ground like a flammable lake just waiting for a spark. Secondly, the field was so tightly grouped that once the wreck started, no one had anywhere to go and basically everyone piled into each other. Without the fire, it looks like a scene from the Blues Brothers movie when all the cop cars stack up. Additionally, there was a lot of dust in the air and that may have hurt driver’s ability to make a clear decision on which way to go to avoid the fracas, and lastly, there was no fire truck on the grounds reportedly because of a monetary dispute between the fire department and the race promoter.

The result of all this is shown on the black and white film below. No, it is not HD and no it is not the greatest of clarity but it is amazing to watch. The heroic levels of people form the pits who descended onto the hellish scene with fire extinguishers and whatever else they could bring have to be recognized. The bravery of the wrecker operator and the guys running in to hook cars that had not gone up yet needs to be recognized, the fact that so many were trying to hard to do something is important to recognize in today’s world of “film first/help later” mentality.

The “Hutch Nationals” race continues today and the fire is still well remembered by those that were there but few others outside of the Kansas racing community have an idea of what happened on that hot July day 42 years ago this week. Press play below to see the destruction and human response to others in danger back in 1974. This is truly jaw dropping stuff.

Thanks for the tip on this one Don!

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THE VIDEO –