Las Vegas; Dale Creasy Okay After Car Fire

LAS VEGAS (April 8, 2000) - Dale Creasy Jr. is okay after a fire engulfed his Mad Magazine Pontiac Firebird Funny Car during the third round of Funny Car qualifying for the Summitracing.com Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"I don't know exactly what happened," Creasy said. "I hit the gas and was trucking along pretty good and it didn't even blow up. Instead it just lit up and there was instant fire in the car. I knew I was in trouble but I knew I had to stop it. I hit the parachutes, but didn't feel them catch and then I knew I had to take it over myself. It wasn't going to stop itself. I started hitting the brakes and the car was skidding around everywhere. I couldn't breathe, and I couldn't see but I didn't want to hit anything. I had already wrecked the body and I didn't want to wreck the chassis. I got out but the car is a total loss. We'll probably have to take a race off because we need to recuperate."

"That has the to be the worst fire I've ever gone through. That's the hottest I've ever been. I thought the fire we had at the U.S. Nationals last year was bad but the body was off. With the shield we have inside the compartment of these cars, the fire was coming right in my face. I don't know if that's good or bad because my hands never got hot. Right now I'm just glad it didn't turn out any worse than it could have. I'm fine - I'm disappointed but I'm fine."