PASADENA FIRE DEPARTMENT "RECYCLES" WRECKED RACE CARS AT IRWINDALE SPEEDWAY

Irwindale, Calif. (August 20, 2002) - - "These cars have had at least three lives,"  said Pasadena Fire Department Captain Harry Crusberg, Jr.  "They started their lives as passenger cars, became race cars, demolition derby cars, and figure 8 machines and now they're giving their 'last breath', so to speak, for public safety."  

The Captain was talking about his Department's training day at the Irwindale Speedway "bone yard" where 14 brand new firefighters were learning the basics of automobile crash extrication taught by himself and veteran Pasadena firefighter Carl Armbrust.  The famous "Jaws of Life", a very aggressive self-powered cutting wheel, and a multitude of other pikes, picks, poles, pry bars, axes, saws, and various types of cutters were demonstrated by the vets and then used by the recruits to cut doors, tops, hoods, and floorboards off of the tired old race cars.

Using the wrecked racers at the Speedway was Armbrust's idea.  He's been one of the track's weekend safety personnel for some three years now, working on his off-duty hours to watch over the well being of racing drivers, crew people, and members of the public who attend races at Irwindale Speedway. 

Even the "Partridge Family" Bus (left over from a stunt show earlier in the month) was not immune from being used as a FD training aid at Irwindale on Tuesday.  Armbrust poured about two gallons of a gasoline/oil mix into the interior and threw in a lighted flare.  Each team of recruits suited up, arrived on a fire  truck which first had taken a quick "lights and siren" lap around the parking lot, and jumped off at their first real fire.  

Charging into the fiercely burning bus with water hose blasting, the young men and women of the Pasadena Fire Department each got their turn at smoke-eating.  Even the photographer shooting photos of the training got wet down a bit, but the fire was knocked out quickly by a good team effort.

"Bob DeFazio (the track GM) was very positive about our training our newest Pasadena firefighters here at the Speedway,"  said Armbrust.  "Irwindale is always amenable to it use by public safety agencies, LA County (Fire Department) does its hose drills and other training operations here and many of the surrounding police departments use the facility for training officers early on week days when the on-track activities are at low ebb.   We'd really like to thank Tony Martinez and the folks at Pick Your Part, they're the ones who supplied the cars in the first place, and then put off picking them up a couple of days so that we could practice on them today.  I hope they can salvage something out of what we left them."

So an old tired passenger car becomes a racing car which subsequently "retires" and instead of just rusting away out back it becomes a training tool that just might give a new firefighter the ability to save someone's life in a critical situation somewhere down the line ... Now that's "Recycling" at its very best.  

FOR MORE INFORMATION:   (SPEEDWAY) 	626-358-1100 x 206
				       (PASADENA FD) 626-744-4668