This week: Fire on the track!

Let's face it--auto racing can be dangerous. And there probably isn't anything scarier to a driver than being in a car going over 100 mph, crashing, and having the thing catch fire. So as a tribute to the brave men and women of auto racing who risk their lives every time they hit the track, I am dedicating this week's blog post to some of the scariest car fires in modern Nascar history.

The catalyst that led to me doing this week's post on car fires and their brave surviving drivers came from reading an article about 2008 Craftsman Truck Series champion Johnny Benson's homecoming race earlier this month that ended in a wreck that caused his car to catch fire. Benson got his SuperModified vehicle tangled up with Larry Leonard's during the second lap and almost instantly silenced Benson's hometown crowd at Berlin Raceway in Grand Rapids, Mich. Benson was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for burns, broken ribs, and a punctured lung. According to his fan club's Web site, Benson recently returned home to North Carolina and is doing better than expected. I'm certain we all wish Johnny Benson a very speedy recovery and hope to see him on the race track again soon.