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Racecar Bursts into Flames, Dad Jumps from Stands. Pulls Son from Wreck Seconds Before Fireball Erupts

By Amanda Thomason June 21, 2018 at 12:27pm

We talk about a mother’s love quite a bit. It’s overwhelming, it’s familiar, and it can propel people to accomplish some pretty amazing feats.

But a father’s love should never be underestimated, either. Dean Jones is a perfect example of this rule-breaking devotion to the child he loves.

No matter how old we get, we’ll always be someone’s child. Even though Dean Jones’ son was a grown man, that didn’t keep him from running to the rescue.

Mike Jones, his son, was racing at the South Boston Speedway on Saturday. Another driver rammed into Mike’s car. He lost control of his car, careening into the walls of the track, and it caught on fire.

Within moments a man had vaulted the inner wall and was racing toward the flaming car despite the cars whizzing by.

Of course, that man was no other than Mike’s father Dean, who wasn’t going to sit idly by and watch his son’s car roast him alive.

Dean was wearing a polo and shorts — in no way protected against the fire eating its way up the car or the other drivers who were driving past the wreck.

He was soon aided by personnel who brought an extinguisher, and they were able to pull the driver from the totaled vehicle.

“I didn’t have time to be afraid,” Dean said. “I had to get my son out of that car.”

He later claimed that he acted on fatherly instinct, and that no one and no thing could have stopped him from leaping to his son’s rescue.

“Mikes car stopped almost in front of our pit stall and when I saw the flames, without any hesitation I jumped the wall to help pull him out of the car,” he wrote. “No one except sweet baby Jesus would have kept me from freeing my son from a burning race car.”

That included NASCAR and racetrack officials, who put Dean on probation. Aside from the recklessness of running out onto a live track, a NASCAR official reportedly asked for Dean’s license for wearing shorts onto the track.

Dean was compliant, but he’s not sorry for how he acted and would act the same way again if he had to.

“Before all the races were complete, an official asked for my NASCAR license for being on the track with shorts on,” he wrote. “I even asked are you serious right now? That’s OK, it’s only a piece of paper. My boys are everything to me.”

Apparently this isn’t the first time dad has intervened on his son’s behalf.

“I remember catching in an all star tournament when I was 12 and I got knocked out from a play at the plate,” Mike Jones wrote on Facebook. “My dad Dean Jones hopped the centerfield fence and ran to home plate to make sure I was OK. 16 years later nothing has changed.”

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