Racing always mandates the highest safety protocols. In NASCAR, a string of terrifying accidents offer precedents and lessons to ensure no driver is at risk. For example, Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s 2001 Daytona 500 tragedy spurred a HANS device revolution in the sport. However, the same device and other technical mishaps almost landed in a dirt racing accident recently.
Brian Shirley is a dirt racing legend, having picked up 7 feature trophies across 143 race starts. He has started the year off with a bang – literally. Competing in the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series heat race action at Needmore Speedway, Shirley encountered a spine-chilling incident, which sent ripples of concern throughout the community.
Scraping a burning disaster
NASCAR has had its fair share of nerve-racking accidents last year. Josh Berry’s car tumbled and slammed the wall at a Daytona race, while Corey LaJoie’s car was in a barrel-rolling frenzy in Michigan. However, a chilling dirt racing accident at the start of 2025 may be enough to give a warning to the stock car racing series.
In one of the scariest Dirt Late Model racing incidents in recent memory, Brian Shirley encountered a burning disaster in the last laps of Tuesday’s race. Shirley was four laps away from a heat victory and a spot in the top-three redraw. However, his No. 3s Longhorn Chassis halted with plumes of smoke rising from its rear and suddenly caught fire.
The flames only began to escalate as Shirley struggled to detach himself. This terrifying accident reached social media soon, as dirt racing journalist John F. Trent released a video on Twitter. Watching the fiery and frightening scene may give you goosebumps. As track responders used fire extinguishers to douse the flames, Shirley was struggling to untether from his safety equipment. Shirley was then helped out of the burning vehicle by track officials and safety responders. So spine-chilling was this accident that even NASCAR veteran Dale Earnhardt Jr. reposted Trent’s tweet. Thankfully, the 43-year-old racer escaped unscathed.
Brian Shirley’s car turns into a fireball as he was leading during Heat 3. He evacuated the car and is ok. pic.twitter.com/W6oa2ZGr0R
— John Trent Racing (@JFTrentRacing) January 29, 2025
Brian Shirley claimed he did not even know the situation looked so bad. “Honestly, I didn’t even realize until I saw the video how bad it was,” Shirley said. “Someone showed me a video, and it was like, ‘Phew!’ It didn’t feel like that in the car. I just kept looking, and I wasn’t in a super panic mode until the safety guys rushed over and said, ‘Get out! Get out!’ I was like, ‘Holy s—.”
Following the mishap, Shirley encouraged every racer to practice fire drills to cut down time. He even saluted the Needmore responders: “The track crew out there had the fire extinguishers and whatever they had to control it because it could’ve gotten bad. At the end of the day, having the right personnel and the right safety people helps more than anything.”
However, NASCAR fans had different opinions to share. The video chilled them out of giving a good verdict to the dirt racing officials.
Horrified NASCAR fans react
Although it has been a while, old memories linger. NASCAR may not have witnessed a fatal accident in over two decades, but those accidents are still raw. The names still hang around – Dale Sr., Larry Smith, Tony Roper Jr., Adam Petty, and so many more. So witnessing that harrowing video of Brian Shirley almost getting engulfed in flames scared a fan: “My god that’s terrifying.” Brian Shirley is also affectionately called the ‘Squirrel’ on the racetrack. One of his diehard fans could not help but release a sigh of relief: “Got damn squirrel almost got his nuts roasted.”
But what concerned most of the NASCAR community was the interminably long time taken. Brian Shirley took almost 30 seconds to get out of the vehicle. Dirt racing vehicles vary immensely from a Cup Series car – in the form of build, make-up, speed, and other aspects. A fan quipped that Shirley’s accident should be the sign for a dirt racing car overhaul: “They need to redesign these latemodels if they take that long to get out of.”
Shirley admitted that detaching himself from the HANS device is what took so long. Even so, fans criticized the Dirt Late Model’s limited capacity to provide for a proper safety exit. “It should not take that long to get out of a racecar. There is zero reason the greenhouse area of a dirt late model needs to be as short as it is.”
As aforementioned, Brian Shirley hailed the Needmore Speedway officials for their safety response. However, fans were not satisfied. The video shows the track officials trying to extinguish the flames, while responders from the rescue truck took some time. A fan wrote, “Could the fire crew walk any slower? Track workers had been using extinguishers for a while by the time they joined the chat.”
Clearly, this Dirt Late Model incident will stick around in people’s minds. Hopefully, officials will take steps to curb such inflammatory accidents in the future.
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