Fire gutted the Ohio home of a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team early this morning. It happened overnight at ThorSport Racing on Campbell Street in Sandusky, OH. Video shows flames shooting from the roof of the team’s 100,000 square foot facility. According to the Sandusky Register, multiple fire departments are on the scene. The extent of the damage was not immediately clear.(NBC4i)(6-13-2016)
UPDATE: A fire broke out early Monday morning at the ThorSport Racing shop in Sandusky, Ohio. The Sandusky Register reported that multiple fire departments were called to the 100,000-square foot race shop. A team official confirmed to NBC Sports that no employees were injured. The team official said fire crews still were working to extinguish the fire at 7 a.m. ET. The four-truck team – the longest tenured in the Camping World Truck Series – raced last Friday at Texas Motor Speedway with two-time series champion and current points leader Matt Crafton, Rico Abreu, Ben Rhodes and Cameron Hayley. The series races this weekend at Iowa Speedway. A team official said the organization plans to compete this weekend.(NBC Sports)(6-13-2016)
UPDATE 2: Shortly after midnight on Monday morning, a fire broke out in the basement of the ThorSport Racing shop, located in Sandusky, Ohio. At this time, we can confirm that no one was injured. We are currently working with the fire department and local officials to contain the blaze, and assess the damage. We do not expect this to impact the team’s competition schedule. Our next race is at Iowa Speedway in Newton on Saturday, June 18. Further details will be forthcoming.(ThorSport Racing)(6-13-2016)
UPDATE 3: Photos of the fire damage can be found on Sandusky Register photographer, Jilly Burns’ Twitter page, as well as photos and videos on the Sandusky Scanner Live Facebook page.(6-13-2016)
UPDATE 4: Hotspots are still burning at ThorSport Racing after a fire gutted a large portion of the building overnight. Perkins fire Chief Keith Wohlever said the fire was well under control at about 12:30 p.m. on Monday – but a small amount of smoke was still rising from the structure, and some pockets were still burning. The Ohio State Fire Marshal has been on scene since about 9 a.m. this morning, and crews were already working to salvage items from the building. A large excavator could be seen removing debris from the area, including toolboxes and car lifts.
‘It doesn’t appear to be suspicious (in origin), but with this kind of dollar loss, we want to be diligent in (our investigation),’ Wohlever said.
According to ThorSport Racing Team Manager David Pepper, the portion of the building destroyed by the fire housed the company’s car fabrication shop.
Bystander Simon Stout said he spotted personnel removing two partially-constructed racing vehicles from the rubble on Monday morning. Even so, the team doesn’t suspect the fire will impact any of their upcoming races. Said Pepper: ‘We’re going to get the fire put out and assess where we’re at. In four days, we’re going to go to Iowa and race like we always do.’
While he was unable to comment on how or if the fire would affect ThorSport’s future plans or current location, he did thank first responders, and the community for their support. ‘There has been an outpouring of support already this morning. I can’t thank the people in the community enough,’ Pepper said.
Details on the fire’s cause and the total monetary loss will be provided by the Ohio State Fire Marshal in the coming days.(Sandusky Register)(6-13-2016)
UPDATE 5: As some crews battled a fire in one portion of ThorSport Racing’s shop early Monday morning, other firefighters went inside the building and saved the team’s Camping World Trucks and other equipment. Capt. Jim Johnson of the Perkins Township Fire Department in Sandusky, Ohio, provided new information about how 12 Trucks or chassis were saved in an exclusive interview with NBC Sports. Three more Trucks were saved when the haulers they were in were evacuated. A team spokesperson said three Trucks were destroyed in the fire and one was under water in the basement – where the fire originated. He told NBC Sports that while some units battled the fire, he sent crews into a portion of the building not threatened to push the team’s Trucks out of the shop. Johnson said this took place around 3 a.m., about three hours after the first units arrived. ‘I had the manpower, so I was able to get about six guys at a time sent in and they would push the Trucks to the door and then the ThorSport employees would grab it where there was no smoke and push it down the ramp and to the grass,’ Johnson told NBC Sports. A spokesperson for Kyle Busch Motorsports, a fellow Toyota team, stated that they had reached out to ThorSport Racing officials and offered whatever assistance is needed from parts and pieces to a place to work. A Toyota spokesperson told NBC Sports that many teams, including those from competing manufacturers, were offering their assistance to ThorSport Racing.(NBC Sports)(6-13-2016)
