I’ve got to say that I had a grand old time telling this story at the rehearsal dinner for the Corvette owner’s wedding.

So there I was, cruising along behind my friend’s 1975 Corvette Stingray roadster in my 1988 IROC Z/28. The Corvette’s top was down and the IROC’s T-tops were off as we cruised back towards Poway and Vista on the Northbound 163 just north of Kearney Mesa. Visions of the race cars we had just seen at the Chrysler Jeep Classic Speed Festival still danced in our heads. The air wasn’t too warm nor too cold, the sun was shining, and there was not a cloud in the sky.

As we transitioned from the 163 to the 15 near Kearney Mesa and MCAS Miramar, I noticed something strange. I saw what appeared to be a spark or glowing cigarette butt fly out from under the Corvette. I didn’t think too much of it until it happened again after a lane change. Of course, I had to warn my friend, so I sped up in an attempt to pull even.

As any red-blooded Stingray driver would, my friend took my attempt to pull even with her as a challenge to get somewhere first and sped up a bit.

I finally got even with her and attempted to yell to her that there were sparks coming out from under her car. About that time, she saw a small ember swirl in the air currents around her feet. She couldn’t hear what I was saying, but she figured out pretty quickly that this was not normal and that an emergency stop was necessary.

We pulled off the freeway near Mira Mesa and she proceeded to cautiously open the hood, fearful of a possible flare-up from whatever was burning. When the hood was finally open, we were presented with something we never wanted to see. There was open flame coming off of the engine near the valve cover on the passenger side, just under the air cleaner.

We decided that this situation was definitely sub-optimal. Especially considering the lack of full coverage insurance.

Not having a fire extinguisher, we pondered the options available to us. From somewhere in the depths of my well of my life experience, an idea came to me. Back in the days of my membership in the Boy Scouts of America, we learned how to make fires and how to put them out…

DIRT!!!

Yep, we reached down by our feet and began scooping up as many handfuls of dirt as we could and applying them to the flaming engine. Never in my life had I thought I would be throwing dirt on the engine of a classic Stingray, especially one owned by my best friend!

As we continued our damage control efforts, one of our other friends who had been riding with me was sent sprinting to the call box just up the road. I seem to recall him making the trip in record time.

Our friend was just returning from the call box when proof thatGod Almighty had heard our prayers and had decided to send help. Our deliverence arrived in the form of an 18 wheeler which made one of the most amazing lane changes and stops I have ever witnessed. The driver, a black guy about the size of King Kong and bearing a slight resemblance to Ving Rhames, came running back to us as fast as an NFL running back on a kickoff return –

AND HE WAS CARRYING A FIRE EXTINGUISHER!!!

This wasn’t some dinky little kitchen extinguisher, either. No, this thing was bright red and seemed to be only slightly smaller than the fuel tanks on his rig.

Everything seems to go into a bit of a blur about this point and I don’t recall anyone saying a word as our Angel emptied what had to be the entire contents of that huge dry chemical extinguisher onto the engine. At last, the fire was out!

On our Angel’s advice, I went back to my IROC and grabbed the wire cutters from my extensive and frequently used tool kit (my IROC could be “quirky” at times) and cut the battery cable as we didn’t yet know the cause of the conflagration and didn’t want to take the chance that it would reignite if it had been caused by an electrical failure of some kind.

With the fire out, our Angel bade us farewell and went back to his rig to continue on his delivery mission, accepting our thanks but declining any sort of payment or reward for his good deed.

A short time later, the fire department, CHP, and a tow truck arrived at the scene. I finally stopped and looked around and realized that we had caused quite a traffic jam on the I-15 that Sunday evening.

The CHP quickly decided that there was no real reason for them to remain, so continued on their way. The fire department took a good look around before deciding that there was no continuing danger of any further unintended combustion. Before leaving, one of the firemen told my friend, the Corvette owner, that the entire car would have likely burned to the ground had we not kept the fire at least on a low simmer by our strategic application of soil.

The tow truck hooked up the Stingray and headed for Vista with the owner along for the ride. I made a side trip with the Stingray owner’s ATM card to go get cash to pay for the tow and met her as she arrived at the repair shop up in Vista. It had gotten dark out by this time and the shop wouldn’t open until the next day, so she slipped the keys in the early bird drop. We went to the nearby AM/PM and grabbed a couple of styrofoam coolers to fill with water so that we could wash the last of the dry chemical off the paint.

I should mention that this repair shop was familiar with my friend’s Stingray and had already performed several repairs and upgrades to it. As a matter of fact, it had just had the entire cooling system redone just a day or two before. Imagine the surprise when the mechanic arrived Monday morning to find the Stingray back in the parking lot with the keys in the early bird drop. He was rather alarmed to hear that the car had caught fire.

The cause of the fire was finally determined to be the failure of a short piece of rubber fuel line which had been installed by a previous owner. This rubber fuel line was used to connect a secondary fuel filter to the carbuerator and the heat, cold, and vibration over time had taken thier time. When the line failed, raw fuel was sprayed onto the hot engine and exaust.

It took over a week to get all the dirt and rocks out of the engine. The air cleaner and smog pump had to be replaced, but other than that, it was pretty much OK.

What did I learn from this? Several things. Full coverage is a good thing. Fire extinguishers are good things. When in doubt, throw enough dirt on a fire until more help arrives.

My friend still owns the Stingray and drives it on a regular basis. Some of my favorite memories are of kicking back in the passenger seat of that beautiful car as we cruised the freeways, highways, and coastlines of Southern California.

Hmm… I think it might be time for a trip down to SoCal…