The Great American Fire Race

The 2012 NASCAR season is finally underway, and to say it's off to a blazing start would be an understatement, literally. While the race was delayed from Sunday afternoon to Monday night due to rain, the biggest news coming out of the Great American Race was Juan Pablo Montoya, who, under caution, lost control of his vehicle and slammed into the back of one of two jet dryers that NASCAR uses to help repair and dry tracks. Afterwards, massive amounts of jet fuel spilled out of the back of it, catching ablaze. After a few minutes, they were able to put out the fire, scrape the truck from the truck, which had melted into the track, and they were able to get back under way after a two-hour delay.

I can only assume that someone in Las Vegas bet on this exact scenario to happen because they bet on everything in Vegas. If they didn't, you can rest assured it's going to be on the books for the next race. It was surreal to see it happen live, and while it wasn't my most memorable NASCAR experience (that would be going across the bridge that collapsed at Lowe's Motor Speedway about a half hour before it collapsed back in 2000), this one is certainly up there. This race seemed snake-bitten, but at the end of the day, it was completed in full, because NASCAR likes to finish things to show that they persevere. I just hope they don't make a habit of this.