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<\/a>\nSkimp Hersey<\/em><\/p>\n
Hersey slid his car off into Lakewood\u2019s treacherous first turn when disaster struck. For whatever reason, Hersey\u2019s car got away from him, tumbling side over side into the turn.<\/p>\n
Many drivers in those days would keep an army gas can in their cars when they raced at Lakewood. This was so if they ran out of gas on the backstretch, they could pull off and put enough in to get back around to refuel. With the lake in the center of the track, anybody who stopped on the far side of the track was pretty much stranded until the end of the day.<\/p>\n
When Hersey\u2019s car became airborne, the lid came off of the gas can, coating the inside of his car with fuel. As the car came to rest, something sparked, igniting the fuel, and turning Hersey\u2019s car into an inferno.<\/p>\n
The accident occurred right in front of the grandstands, which were situated at the entrance of the turn. An estimated crowd of 15,000 people watched in horror, as flames roared from Hersey\u2019s car.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, disoriented and on fire, Hersey emerged from the burning car. He stumbled from the wreck, and sat down on the track, still burning as the crowd screamed for someone to help.<\/p>\n
The closest person to Hersey was a photographer for an Atlanta newspaper. The photographer moved out onto the track, and had been taking photos of the accident when Hersey emerged from the flames.<\/p>\n
He never went to help. He just continued taking photos. They would run in gruesome sequence on the front page of the next day\u2019s paper. [Well, somebody had to! – DeSpair<\/em>]<\/p>\n Finally, someone reached Hersey and managed to get the fire on him put out. But it was too late. He would be transported to Grady Hospital, where he died one day later.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nAnd so it begins…<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nCrawling from the wreckage…<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nAlmost out of the flames…\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n