This season there was an incident related to fuel/fire safety early May 2022 in Iowa.
First: Help for one of our own
Troy Anderson was injured in a fire related crash. After reading from his facebook page, he is in the process of recovering from those injuries including his hands and back.
If you would like to help in his recovery, there is a GoFundMe link, and we are quite sure all donations will be incredibly appreciated.
Special thanks to C.M. Dugan (Facebook Mid-West Division) for the initial information being posted about this.
All teams are advised to review/remediate your fuel systems immediately.
Split Fuel Line
This image shows a fuel line that was replaced recently, but not the correct strength to handle the pressurized fuel system that the engines require. The line split and allowed fuel under pressure to spew starting a fire (that thankfully was quickly extinguished) by the safety crew, but still resulted in an injury to the driver.
The team unknowingly replace the line with new line (that was the same as what was on the car when they purchased it). What they were not aware of is that we use fuel line designed to withstand the high pressure fuel system.
This is not the first fuel related injury, and it is important that we all review our cars for safety in regard to the lines and connections.
If you look at the image for the title of this article note that it shows how to properly fit a fuel line to the fuel rail system. The practice of hose clamping is technically illegal (do to the last fire incident) but more importantly dangerous and must be avoided.
This is the correct fitting: Russell Performance 640863 Russell Fuel Rail Fitting Adapters | Summit Racing
You can purchase these from Xcel Chassis if you choose, but they are a requirement.
Some have used braided line, but more importanly, the rules specifically say ONLY BLUE HIGH PRESSURE FUEL LINE*
*After speaking with Doug Borger, he asserted that braided lines are okay, but much more costly. He will allow them but prefers the blue line for ease of recognition.
In addition, MAKE SURE you have a check valve on the breather at the top of the fuel cell. It is there in the event of a roll-over crash and required as of 2022 in all Xcel Modifieds.
It is always time to do a safety review. When you check the other boxes – look for those safety concerns next.
Finally, please review your fire safety gear that you wear and DO NOT SKIMP on wearing those undergarments. Holes and missing items can have a profound impact on your protection level.
The warm weather of summer makes us all weigh in on comfort vs. safety. Please be uncomfortable, but safe.
Xcel Chassis wants this area to be a place where Xcel Modified Teams can come and get information directly from the source. As this area is realized, we hope to make it the place for us to put out information, notices and official responses to anything Xcel. All we ask is that you stop here and look at the new stuff regularly.
That doesn’t mean that we will stop on Facebook or other social media, but that this is intended to be the place (especially for those who aren’t on social media) for everyone to get the message the way it was intended. Please tell people about this area – Thanks in advance!
