Firefighters were busy Friday morning putting out flames at a NASCAR team’s race shop in Harrisburg. Crews from Harrisburg and Concord were called to #95-Leavine Family Racing’s shop on Victory Lane around 7:00am and encountered flames and smoke coming from the building. Fire officials said crews were able to get the fire under control around 8:30am. Officials with the race team confirmed there was a fire at their shop and that nobody was hurt.(WSOC)
UPDATE: The cause of the blaze is not yet known. LFR field a single-car effort in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the #95 Ford that is piloted by Michael McDowell. “Everyone is safe and cars were involved,” McDowell told Motorsport.com. When asked by Lee Spencer if the cars were a “total loss,’ he replied via text, “We are not sure yet “¦ Still working through all that. Majority of our team is here. We only have two people that stay back at shop.”(Motorsport)
UPDATE 2: WSOC has updated their original story: The fire marshal told Channel 9 that they did not know how the fire started but that four race cars in the building were destroyed and there was extensive damage to an 8,000-square foot section of the shop. Officials with the race team confirmed there was a fire at their shop and that nobody was hurt.
UPDATE 3: Statement from Leavine Family Racing: “After receiving more information from a restoration company that inspected the fire damage at the shop today, we were informed that structural damage may cause us to move our racing operations. We are currently exploring all options. We do not anticipate this to impact the team’s competition schedule. Our next race is the Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Four race cars were damaged in the fire – these were primarily back-up cars. A complete investigation is taking place to access the overall damage and cause of the fire.(Leavine Family Racing)(5-8-2015)
