Tim Goewey crawled out a window as his motorhome burned to the frame

Tim Goewey has been going to Lebanon Valley since he was 10. This year marked 50 years. On Monday he almost did not get another one. Goewey was nice enough to sit down with me this afternoon and tell me his traumatic experience escaping his RV that was on fire.

State police say the fire at Lebanon Valley Dragway started at 5:38 p.m. It tore through RVs parked near the clubhouse, knocked out power to the raceway, and left twisted frames and melted wheels. Track manager Wayne Delmonte said no one was hurt. A state police release called it accidental. The cause is still under investigation.

Goewey lived it from the inside.

He had just wrapped the Lebanon Valley Syracuse Reunion 200. “We decompressed on Sunday and got to work cleaning up for a big mud bog event,” he said. Commander Motorsports Park now runs dirt, drags, drifting, mud bogs, and go-karts. Around 3:30 he went into the motorhome after a diabetic episode. His sugar had dropped to 32. “That’s jeopardy of going into a diabetic coma,” he said. He took his medication, orange juice, graham crackers, and laid down. “You go into a deep sleep.”

Slater/Tim Goewey

Then the bangs.

“I heard a bang, and then I heard a second bang.” Heat had blown both rear tires on the dual-axle rig. He still did not know there was fire outside. He opened the door. “The flames came in like the movie Backdraft, and it threw me across the motorhome.”

Fiberglass RVs go fast. “They burned like a match is lit,” he said. He ran to the rear bedroom, kicked out the emergency window, and got stuck. People were yelling it was going to blow. He punched out the rest of the glass and dropped. “I hit a 55-gallon drum on my way down and crawled away.”

Fifteen minutes later his motorhome was gone to the frame. Four others burned with it. Firefighters from West Lebanon, Canaan, and neighboring departments saved most of a fifth.

Tim Goewey escaped his motorhome at Lebanon Valley Speedway in NY just before it was engulfed in flames on Monday afternoon

Slater/Tim Goewey

Gone with the rig: a championship fire suit he and his late brother used, and the suit, helmet, and gloves Tony Stewart wore winning a big race at the Valley, headed for the Hall of Fame. “A lot of personal things that wouldn’t mean much to most other people, but meant the world to me.”

He is not dwelling on the stuff. “Those two are material. The motorhome is material. What matters is my soon to be wife Amanda and our grandkids and getting to live another day.”

The first tire blowing woke him. “Thank God,” he said, “otherwise I wouldn’t be doing this interview.”