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Live From...
Interview With Kenny Schrader
Aired July 19, 2004 - 15:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The pictures are definitely terrifying. NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. engulfed in flames, following an accident yesterday in Sonoma, California. But even more amazing is little E's escape with only moderate burns to his chin and legs. So how's that possible.
Racing great Ken Schrader sure knows. He's been on fire, and he survived the flames.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Ken, take us back to Pocono Raceway 2003 and tell us what happened.
KEN SCHRADER, NASCAR DRIVER: Well, I just went down in the turn and the -- the car lost all brake pedal. And got it turned around so I could hit backwards because the back end of the car is quite a bit softer, and knew that it absorbed more energy. Although, you know that the chance of fire is greater when you hit backwards. But our cars, the way NASCAR constructs them, a lot of times you'll have a big fire and then it will start put itself out pretty quick. So I just knew that would be the easiest way to hit.
PHILLIPS: So did you know the car was on fire or did you not realize it until you were getting out of the car?
SCHRADER: No, I -- I mean, first off, you look in the mirror and you see it. And then you see it, you're sitting in there in your little cocoon, and the fire starts wrapping around. And it's like, OK, as soon as this thing gets stopped, now would be a pretty good time to get out.
PHILLIPS: You saw those flames and you thought, that's it, I'm out of here.
SCHRADER: Yes, right.
PHILLIPS: So how many seconds did it take you to get out of the car? And do you practice escaping out of your vehicle if, indeed, a fire starts?
SCHRADER: Well, I don't really practice escaping out. But, you know, you get in and out of it so many times over the course of a weekend that you know what you have to do, it's regular routine to get out. And you know in an emergency what you need to do to get out quicker. So it probably didn't talk five, six seconds. PHILLIPS: Unbelievable. And did you get any burns from that fire?
SCHRADER: No, no burns whatever. But that's -- I mean, because of all the protective gear that we wear, you know, two or three layer Nomex uniform, the helmet that's nomex-lined, underwear underneath it that's Nomex, Nomex shoes, Nomex gloves...
PHILLIPS: Explain Nomex for those that don't understand what that is.
SCHRADER: Well, that would be hard for probably me to do. They've got all different materials now that are just real fireproof. From what I've been told, when you're clothed properly, with the right equipment on, you can potentially be in the fire somewhat for around 45 seconds to a minute, and burns be very, very minor.
PHILLIPS: So with all this Nomex -- and by the way, this will probably be your next sponsor, Kenny -- but with all the Nomex materials on, when you did catch fire, do you remember, did you feel heat? Did you actually feel the flame? What do you remember from what you felt?
SCHRADER: Well, all you're thinking is -- is get out as quick as possible. No, I did not feel any heat. But you're just worried about getting out real quick.
Now, what we saw the other day in Dale Junior's deal, he was actually surrounded. He was -- he was in the bulk of it. And it looked like it woke him up and he got out real quick then.
PHILLIPS: Yes, and that's true. I mean, what do you do if you're knocked unconscious? I mean, how does your crew respond, what's the proper procedure safety-wise?
SCHRADER: Well, you know, if you're knocked unconscious, unfortunately there's nothing you can do. And your crew being on a pit road, there's nothing that they can do.
But NASCAR has -- and it's one of the things of why we slow down so quick now, we don't race back to the yellow, is so they can get that emergency equipment to the scene of the accident as quick as possible. They can't send those guys out in the pickup with all the firefighting gear when the cars are still going 200 miles an hour. But now they -- we slow down instantly, they send the crews out there real quick. And that's really made things quite a bit safer.
PHILLIPS: Kenny, what about the car? Kind of take us inside your car. I realize all the stuff you have on your body, but what about the seat, what about the bars and the padding that's on the bars?
SCHRADER: Well, we've actually got padding now that is fire resistant, because it used to be we had We had Sterling Marlin get injured a number of years ago, where the roll bar padding up here for his head actually melted and dripped down on his neck and gave him some -- some pretty healthy burns.
So we've changed to Nomex. We've changed the padding on the bars. Some of the seats now have fire-resistant material on them.
So while you're sitting in your -- in your Nomex uniform, your seat doesn't catch on fire. So just so many -- your seatbelt, the same way. So many things that NASCAR and all the racing organizations have done throughout the years to keep trying to make these cars safer and safer.
PHILLIPS: All right. When can we watch you again and watch you set your record on fire, Kenny?
SCHRADER: Record on fire?
PHILLIPS: In a good way. We want you to win.
SCHRADER: Oh, OK. Yes. OK.
Well, we're going to take the Swans (ph) car along with the whole Nextel series up to Loudon, New Hampshire, for a race this Sunday. And we're looking for that.
PHILLIPS: All right. I know you'll be on fire on the racetrack, not necessarily in the car. Kenny Schrader, I know you've been up since 4:00 a.m. You stuck around just to do this for us. We really appreciate it.
SCHRADER: Thanks for having us on.
PHILLIPS: All right. Good luck, Kenny.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That wraps up LIVE FROM. Thanks for being with us.
PHILLIPS: We had a bit of a fiery show.
O'BRIEN: Fiery.
PHILLIPS: No crashes.
O'BRIEN: In every way, yes. It was great.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. We're on fire.
Judy Woodruff also on fire on the campaign trail with "INSIDE POLITICS."
Hi, Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hi, Kyra and Miles.
Speaking of New Hampshire, the CNN Election Express has pulled up right up to the New Hampshire statehouse here in the capital of Concord. The Granite State just barely went for George W. Bush over Al Gore four years ago. Next on "INSIDE POLITICS," I'll talk with top officials of both parties, including a former New Hampshire governor who's now helping run the Kerry for president campaign.
Join me next as I go "INSIDE POLITICS."
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 19, 2004 - 15:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The pictures are definitely terrifying. NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. engulfed in flames, following an accident yesterday in Sonoma, California. But even more amazing is little E's escape with only moderate burns to his chin and legs. So how's that possible.
Racing great Ken Schrader sure knows. He's been on fire, and he survived the flames.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Ken, take us back to Pocono Raceway 2003 and tell us what happened.
KEN SCHRADER, NASCAR DRIVER: Well, I just went down in the turn and the -- the car lost all brake pedal. And got it turned around so I could hit backwards because the back end of the car is quite a bit softer, and knew that it absorbed more energy. Although, you know that the chance of fire is greater when you hit backwards. But our cars, the way NASCAR constructs them, a lot of times you'll have a big fire and then it will start put itself out pretty quick. So I just knew that would be the easiest way to hit.
PHILLIPS: So did you know the car was on fire or did you not realize it until you were getting out of the car?
SCHRADER: No, I -- I mean, first off, you look in the mirror and you see it. And then you see it, you're sitting in there in your little cocoon, and the fire starts wrapping around. And it's like, OK, as soon as this thing gets stopped, now would be a pretty good time to get out.
PHILLIPS: You saw those flames and you thought, that's it, I'm out of here.
SCHRADER: Yes, right.
PHILLIPS: So how many seconds did it take you to get out of the car? And do you practice escaping out of your vehicle if, indeed, a fire starts?
SCHRADER: Well, I don't really practice escaping out. But, you know, you get in and out of it so many times over the course of a weekend that you know what you have to do, it's regular routine to get out. And you know in an emergency what you need to do to get out quicker. So it probably didn't talk five, six seconds. PHILLIPS: Unbelievable. And did you get any burns from that fire?
SCHRADER: No, no burns whatever. But that's -- I mean, because of all the protective gear that we wear, you know, two or three layer Nomex uniform, the helmet that's nomex-lined, underwear underneath it that's Nomex, Nomex shoes, Nomex gloves...
PHILLIPS: Explain Nomex for those that don't understand what that is.
SCHRADER: Well, that would be hard for probably me to do. They've got all different materials now that are just real fireproof. From what I've been told, when you're clothed properly, with the right equipment on, you can potentially be in the fire somewhat for around 45 seconds to a minute, and burns be very, very minor.
PHILLIPS: So with all this Nomex -- and by the way, this will probably be your next sponsor, Kenny -- but with all the Nomex materials on, when you did catch fire, do you remember, did you feel heat? Did you actually feel the flame? What do you remember from what you felt?
SCHRADER: Well, all you're thinking is -- is get out as quick as possible. No, I did not feel any heat. But you're just worried about getting out real quick.
Now, what we saw the other day in Dale Junior's deal, he was actually surrounded. He was -- he was in the bulk of it. And it looked like it woke him up and he got out real quick then.
PHILLIPS: Yes, and that's true. I mean, what do you do if you're knocked unconscious? I mean, how does your crew respond, what's the proper procedure safety-wise?
SCHRADER: Well, you know, if you're knocked unconscious, unfortunately there's nothing you can do. And your crew being on a pit road, there's nothing that they can do.
But NASCAR has -- and it's one of the things of why we slow down so quick now, we don't race back to the yellow, is so they can get that emergency equipment to the scene of the accident as quick as possible. They can't send those guys out in the pickup with all the firefighting gear when the cars are still going 200 miles an hour. But now they -- we slow down instantly, they send the crews out there real quick. And that's really made things quite a bit safer.
PHILLIPS: Kenny, what about the car? Kind of take us inside your car. I realize all the stuff you have on your body, but what about the seat, what about the bars and the padding that's on the bars?
SCHRADER: Well, we've actually got padding now that is fire resistant, because it used to be we had We had Sterling Marlin get injured a number of years ago, where the roll bar padding up here for his head actually melted and dripped down on his neck and gave him some -- some pretty healthy burns.
So we've changed to Nomex. We've changed the padding on the bars. Some of the seats now have fire-resistant material on them.
So while you're sitting in your -- in your Nomex uniform, your seat doesn't catch on fire. So just so many -- your seatbelt, the same way. So many things that NASCAR and all the racing organizations have done throughout the years to keep trying to make these cars safer and safer.
PHILLIPS: All right. When can we watch you again and watch you set your record on fire, Kenny?
SCHRADER: Record on fire?
PHILLIPS: In a good way. We want you to win.
SCHRADER: Oh, OK. Yes. OK.
Well, we're going to take the Swans (ph) car along with the whole Nextel series up to Loudon, New Hampshire, for a race this Sunday. And we're looking for that.
PHILLIPS: All right. I know you'll be on fire on the racetrack, not necessarily in the car. Kenny Schrader, I know you've been up since 4:00 a.m. You stuck around just to do this for us. We really appreciate it.
SCHRADER: Thanks for having us on.
PHILLIPS: All right. Good luck, Kenny.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That wraps up LIVE FROM. Thanks for being with us.
PHILLIPS: We had a bit of a fiery show.
O'BRIEN: Fiery.
PHILLIPS: No crashes.
O'BRIEN: In every way, yes. It was great.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. We're on fire.
Judy Woodruff also on fire on the campaign trail with "INSIDE POLITICS."
Hi, Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hi, Kyra and Miles.
Speaking of New Hampshire, the CNN Election Express has pulled up right up to the New Hampshire statehouse here in the capital of Concord. The Granite State just barely went for George W. Bush over Al Gore four years ago. Next on "INSIDE POLITICS," I'll talk with top officials of both parties, including a former New Hampshire governor who's now helping run the Kerry for president campaign.
Join me next as I go "INSIDE POLITICS."
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
