A little interview with jack man Eric Ludwig.....
Jack man Eric Ludwig pulls Reed Sorenson from his burning car
Saturday night’s race in Richmond saw plenty of tires going down early and team were scrambling to keep them from shredding during a long run. The #36′s car of Reed Sorenson was not so lucky. As a result of shredding tires, cars were catching on fire as well. The #36 car noticed his tire going down but couldn’t get down on pit road in time. During this time, the #36 had to run an extra lap before he was able to enter pit road. In doing that the tire shredded and caught fire. By the time the car go to pit road in was engulfed in flames and was parked near the #5 car’s pit stall. What happened after that was pretty cool. Fill in Jack Man Eric Ludwig of the #5 car jumped out onto pit road and helped pull Reed Sorenson from the car.
After the race Reed had this to say on his twitter feed
“I would also like to thank the crew members who pulled me out. Not even sure what team it was ? But thanks for the help.”
We were fortunate enough to catch up with Mr. Ludwig and ask him some questions. Enjoy.
When you saw the #36 of Reed Sorenson coming down on pit road with his car on fire, what was going through your mind?
I was thinking that his car was more on fire then a typical rubber fire and was wondering if he was going to stop and get out or pull into the garage.
What made you decide to jump in and help?
I was out on pit road to make sure our stall was good to go because of the caution and wanted to make sure to get the discharge and what ever else may be in our box out ( normally with a rubber fire they stop and get one spray with the extinguisher ) our pit was near the garage entrance and cars were tracking stuff through our stall all night. Kenny Francis said make sure he can get out and he ended up stopping so I just took off.
Were you familiar with how to get the window net down or was it down when you got there?
From doing post race for the 5/24 I knew how to, but he was dropping it when he pulled up.
Were you ever worried about any punishment by Nascar for your actions?
No. I was just trying to get him out. It’s hard to breath with the smoke and discharge and he had a lot of both in and around the 36 car. This sport revolves around the drivers and their safety. No driver means no sponsors and or sport. Their safety is the goal.
Has Reed contacted you to thank you?
Yes on Sunday Anything think else you would like to add about this story. I honestly think that anyone from the other 42 teams on pit road would have done the same thing I was just in the right place at the right time.
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