Family 'blown away' by compassion after blaze

AFTER PRIZED 57 CHEVY BURST INTO FLAMES ON RACEWAY, THE RACING COMMUNITY BAND TOGETHER TO RAISE £12K FOR ITS REPAIR

- By OSCAR FISHER

A CLOSE-KNIT group of drag racers found themselves living every competitor's worst nightmare over the bank holiday weekend when a car belonging to one of their own burst into flames while travelling at a frightening speed.

Graham Smith, from South Derbyshire, was "lucky to be alive" after his 1957 Chevrolet was engulfed in flames just seconds into an elimination run on Monday.

Graham's fellow competitor and friend Victoria Smith had only just completed her run, and was a quarter-mile down the drag race track at Santa Pod Raceway, near Northampton, when the incident took place. She describes being "engulfed" in black smoke - followed by sirens and ambulances rushing to the scene.

"It's every racer's worst nightmare," Victoria said. "None of us knew what had happened.

"Before we knew it, there were fire trucks and ambulances across the race track."

Graham's car had burst into flames "around 1,000ft" into the quarter mile, which usually takes eight seconds to pass.

Victoria estimated that Graham's car would have been travelling at around 150mph - and accelerating - when it became engulfed in flames.