We did not have an extra hood. I stayed in the pit area straighten tools and cleaning up paper plates and cups. Everything seemed to be working smoothly as the crew went about their various tasks. For those of you not familiar with racing, the fuel bladder sits on top of an aluminum platform about six feet off the ground. It is a strong rubber compound of some sort, that holds around 55 gallons of gas, but is not contained inside any aluminum structure.
Gravity feeds the fuel through long hoses to the car.
Kevin Petersen, our Crew Chief, was the first one to smell the gas. The best solution seemed to be to bring the car in and put the fuel in the car. Our scheduled fuel stop was only 6 laps away. Our problems were compounded when we discovered that Kevin's radio battery had gone dead. This was the only radio we had to communicate with the car.