Old alky racers: Medical problems from fuel exposure?
If you'll take a look at the General Discussion section on Hydroracer, top of the index, there's a thread entitled, "Abuse of fuel additives." This thread was started by some of the Stock racers who believe that an unnamed Stock driver is cheating with some kind of fuel additive. However (this was my doing, as usual), the thread has gotten somewhat side-tracked into a discussion of the dangers of, essentially, all of the non-gasoline fuels that alky racers have been using forever. If you want to respond to this post, please have a look at the thread on Hydroracer first. The Stock guys there are evidently reading MSDS sheets and internet warnings about the various non-gasoline fuels and fuel additive blenders and igniter fractions and such, things like benzene and toluene, not to mention methanol itself, and nitro, and are concluding that these things are so dangerous to human health that they should be nowhere near us.
Now, I have no doubt at all that these fuel components are anti-vitamins, and ought to be handled carefully and with some level of knowledge of their various dangers. Repeat, repeat, repeat. But my point was that I have known alky outboard racers from the old days of crossflow Mercs, when plenty of guys were "tipping the can" with 20-45% nitro, in methanol, and blended with the aforementioned additives and more besides. And I can't think of hearing of any one of them that died from their exposure to these things. Many of them, many of you, spent years or decades running "burners," and lived about as long as ordinary civilians do, with about as much brains as they ever had. As I pointed out, old alky racers, like old Top Fuel drag racers, Speedway bike racers, and others, seem to have survived their fuel exposure in such numbers as to be conspicuous with their attendance in old-timers' get-togethers.
Most of the old alky racers are on this site. I would be very interested in your reactions to that Hydroracer thread, and the worries of the (presumably younger) Stock crowd.
One small suggestion I offered was that possibly APBA and USTS might encourage local clubs to offer some form of once-a-year instruction on fuel-handling and safety, and possibly have the race inspector make spot-checks the morning of a race to see that the PRO guys have their rubber gloves, eye protection, fire-bottles, et al, readily at-hand. Besides probably smartening some of us up a little, this sort of formal effort would constitute evidence that we do practice due diligence about fuel, should we ever be dragged in court. Covering your behind is just ordinary prudence in this day and age.
