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Jay Leno Accident

MarkV

By MarkV
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CHuDWah 5,000+ Points

CHuDWah

Posted
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On 11/18/2022 at 5:40 AM, Billy Kingsley said:

We of Italian descent cannot talk without moving our hands 😁

I'm not Italian but neither can I.  🤣  Anyway, the mention of his gesturing wasn't about his heritage but to indicate he was conscious, apparently not in a lot of pain, and his hands still work.  He probably was telling jokes to the nurse.  😁

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Dandy Dave 25,000+ Points

Dandy Dave

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Get better soon Jay. And when your better, be careful. I've had a few on fire though the years. It can happen in an instant to the best of us. 

For the rest of you, I had a carburetor with a sunk float just last year. Put a brand new float in it. After intalling it the engine ran fine. I shut it off for a bit to do some other stuff. Came back later and started it to move it. It went up in flames and I was able to put the fire out. The new float was junk. It had a crack in it and sunk. Who would have thought? The longer your at this game, the more you see. Dandy Dave!

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wayne sheldon 25,000+ Points

wayne sheldon

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Many many years ago (nearly 50!), at a club meeting, another conversation drifted off into territories related to this. A well respected club member, professional mechanic, expert repairman, one of the most safety conscious people I have ever known, admitted to a car being destroyed by fire. He told how he had been working on it, with the carburetor removed, and a bizarre set of circumstances while rotating the engine ignited fuel at the open end of the fuel line, which in turn blew some into the intake manifold, and caused the engine to fully run, which then pumped gasoline out the fuel line end in large volumes which became a blow torch as the engine continued to run at high rpm with no carburetor and the ignition turned OFF!

He did manage to get the fire put out after emptying a couple fire extinguishers. The car was totally destroyed, he had some burns, but he saved this shop!

About two seconds from everything is fine to all He!! is breaking loose!

 

Be careful out there!

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Restorer32 25,000+ Points

Restorer32

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First time trying to start a freshly rebuilt 1000 cu in ALF engine.  Son behind the wheel operating the spark advance and throttle. Me leaning over the fender operating the choke.  Unbeknownst to us at the time early ALF engines have a habit of sucking gas fumes into the crankcase. The vented oil filler tube is just inches from the carb throat. Told Son "Give it a try".  After several tries BWAMM !   A loud explosion as big pieces of the timing cover fly some 30 ft across the shop.  So much smoke I could not even see my Son sitting in the driver's seat. Filled the shop with smoke.  Several less seasoned employees were seen doing the "Feet Don't Fail Me Now" dash out the front door.  No injuries but it did take me some minutes to regain all my hearing.

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jrbartlett 5,000+ Points

jrbartlett

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Similar to Dandy Dave's story -- back in the 1970s a friend started up his Ford LTD with a big V-8. and the engine immediately revved to the redline and beyond. But when he turned the key off, the engine died. He raised the hood and found that overnight someone had stolen the carburetor. The disconnected fuel line pumped gas directly into the intake manifold, in effect floorboarding the engine. 

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wayne sheldon 25,000+ Points

wayne sheldon

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30 minutes ago, Avanti Bill said:

Out of the Hospital and took some pictures with the staff, looks like he'll be OK.  Good News.

 

THANK YOU for the update!

I keep looking in here to see if someone can let us crazies know how Jay is doing. I don't any longer have news or social media that I trust except for a couple antique automobile forums! Whether celebrities or hurricane damage, I find the reporting on these sites more reliable with less blowing things way out of proportion than on most media sites. (Antique automobile people tend to be more sensible than most people!)

I, like a lot of people in the hobby, have met Jay Leno. He is one of many truly interesting people I have met through this hobby. Although I am not silly enough to think he is a personal friend (Hey, I only actually met him once!), we chatted antique automobiles for some time. I found him to be friendly, intelligent, and interesting. As such, he is a person I care about.

I check this thread often, make comments or add related stories in part to keep it in sight near the top of the list, in hopes that others with better contact than I have might report in here.

 

Hey out there Jay! Get well quick!

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jensenracing77 1,000+ Points

jensenracing77

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The news reports are all over the place on what car it was. Jay took my family out for a drive in his 1907 White back in January. Of all things, we broke down on the side of the road. There was a fuel problem and it backfired out of the steam generator and the flame was at the nozzle and not inside the steam generator. We had to stop and work on it and was able to limp the car back to the garage under low steam pressure. I text him a few days ago wishing him well and that we were praying for a speedy recovery. He text me back and confirmed it was the 1907 that he took us for a ride in that he was working on. Jay is such a wonderful person and a treasure to the automotive and motorcycle community. 

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JamesR 25,000+ Points

JamesR

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Yes, many prayers for Jay, as well as his family, who must be very concerned for him right now. From what I've seen on his "garage" channels, he seems like a very decent person.

 

Be careful folks. This incident reminds of that phrase, Fire is a dangerous servant and a master to be feared.

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jensenracing77 1,000+ Points

jensenracing77

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7 hours ago, EmTee said:

Glad to hear, but I hope he'll consider wearing a face shield going forward when lighting his steam cars.

He was not actually starting it from what I understood. They were working on the car trying to figure out a fuel problem, likely the same problem it had back in January I mentioned above. Still a valid point though. I know I do things with gas that I know full well I should not do. I will not get under a car without proper support but then I turn around and use gas as a cleaner all the time. I guess I had best use this as a reason to rethink some of the things I do. 

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trimacar 25,000+ Points

trimacar

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First, wish Jay well, he’s an asset to our hobby, and that’s understated.

 

Wonder why our early cars continually try to hurt us? We love them, fix them  and treat them well,  but they still seem to hurt us. Busted knuckles at one end, Jay’s experience at the other end.

 

What? Inanimate objects with no malice towards us?

 

I see.  We’re responsible for hazards?  Yes.  Very sorry this happened but let’s all take a second look at any procedure which puts us in harms way,no matter how obscure the harm might be.

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JamesR 25,000+ Points

JamesR

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He doesn't look too bad. His hand looks more damaged than his face. Glad to see that. I bet he'll be feeling some pain for a while, though.

 

I burned my wrist on a motorcycle exhaust as a young man. It never looked too bad, but it was sore for some time and it took many years for the scar to finally go away.

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wayne sheldon 25,000+ Points

wayne sheldon

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Like so many things in the universe. There is how the universe usually works? Common realities? Followed by "sometimes it can go another way!" And then there is Hollywood. It is always a matter of perspective and perception.

The fact is, that liquid gasoline rarely ever flashes or explodes. However, given the right circumstances? It can.

Vaporized gasoline is much more dangerous than liquid. But even that generally needs a flame or well placed spark to ignite. my work for many years had me working around hot running equipment needing fuel. Probably more than fifty, maybe more than a hundred times, I have seen gasoline spilled onto very hot exhaust manifolds. The gasoline landing on the manifold vaporizes almost instantly! Other fuel landing on cooler pieces takes awhile to evaporate. Even with running engines, in the hot sun, knowing the distributor or magneto is flashing sparks inside its little housing? I have never seen spilled gasoline ignite.

 

My dad did manage to create an interesting flash once however. He knew plenty. One of the rare times his garage wasn't packed to the rafters, and he was cleaning it. There was a nasty oil spill on the floor, he had wiped up most of it. He wanted to use some gasoline to clean up the last of the stain. He knew the potential, and he also knew chemistry well enough to keep it within safe limits. Sure enough, the small amount of gasoline created enough airborne vapor and the hot water heater picked that moment to fire up! He had the doors open, front and rear, and the amount of gasoline in the building was so small that he said it made an interesting swirling flash around the inside of the garage! No damage to anything. He didn't even singe his eyebrows. But he loved to tell the story for years, always with cautionary comments about how just a tiny bit more gasoline could have been a disaster.

I often wish I had been there to see it.

 

I have seen so many things that could have become a disaster, but didn't. The fact is, that gasoline is not that explosive, unless under very certain circumstances which almost never happen accidentally. Hollywood loves to make it happen for their movies and tv shows. But it doesn't happen often in the real world. Knowing that, it could be easy to become careless. But that is something we must NOT do!  Every now and then, enough gasoline, enough of it vaporized and exposed, and some silly spark, or flame in the wrong place? And it is that two seconds again!

 

I could tell a dozen more tales. Like the young man that worked for my dad for a year or two when I was still in high school. He was somewhat messed up after a long tour in Vietnam. Liked to play with fire.

 

But for now, I know Jay will be hurting for awhile. I am very grateful he was not hurt any worse than he was.

 

Be careful out there guys! It may not happen easily, it may not happen often. But it can and sometimes DOES HAPPEN! Yes, I still use gasoline as a cleaner. But I only use small controllable amounts, in well ventilated areas (and have a couple fire extinguishers handy!).

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  • 3 weeks later...
zepher 10,000+ Points

zepher

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Great interview. 

Looks like Jay is recovering nicely. 

The real MVP is his buddy Dave that grabbed Jay and pulled Jay into his chest to help extinguish the fire.

I've heard that Dave suffered some burns from grabbing Jay and using his own body to smother the fire.

Very nice to see that both are doing well and recovering nicely. 

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hidden_hunter 10,000+ Points

hidden_hunter

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2 hours ago, Pfeil said:

Try to look or find some recent photos of Jay before the accident and compare to that video. His face today actually looks younger and reminds me of some before and after pictures of people who get a mild acid face peel.

They've made some great strides in treating burns in the last 20 years, some of things coming out of the bali bombings for instance were pretty amazing what they were able to do

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CChinn 5,000+ Points

CChinn

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Military Medicine has also contributed greatly to the advances in burn care over the past 20+ years from treating casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan. Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX has a world renowned Burn Center 

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