Fire Damages Billy Ballew Motorsports No. 51 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series transport hauler after a brake fire erupted in Shreveport, Louisiana late Tuesday night. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle “Rowdy” Busch pilots the Miccosukee Resort entry for Ballew. The truck was en route to the Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the Chevy Silverado 350k NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event Friday, October 31st where when flames erupted in the front axle of the transporter. Despite efforts by Billy Ballew Motorsports transport driver Jeff Biese and Bossier, Louisiana fire department the trailer received heavy damage.

The team was able to recover chassis number 11, some uniforms and a tool box. Jeff Milburn a former NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series owner who is based in Texas graciously drove to Shreveport, Louisiana to pick up what was salvageable and transported it to the Texas Motor Speedway. The trailer arrived close to midnight and the crews off both the No. 15 and No. 51 Billy Ballew Motorsports teams worked late into the early hours cleaning and evaluating the No. 51 Miccosukee Resort Toyota Tundra.

“The biggest thing on the truck is just the water damage from the fire department shooting water on it,” Wauters said. “It just ran down into the motor and everything. The fire itself made everything just black. The primary truck, everything was just nasty black from the fire. The motor, we had to take it all apart last night, take the intake off, and get all the water out of the cylinders. We got oil put down on the cylinders and got it running last night. It appears it might be all right. We’ll find out after we practice. This thing ain’t bad. The rest, the backup truck was brand new and it got melted. That was junk. And all the contents in the trailer – the springs, the radios and all the equipment got junked. Other than that, I think this truck is all right. There’s a lot of water damage and rust, but other than that, I think we’ll be all right. Chassis 11 is his favorite truck. We’ve run 12 races in it. He doesn’t want to give it up.

The toolbox was the first thing he (Transport Driver, Jeff Biese) got off when he opened the back door from the fire and as you can see, it was pretty hot. The backside is all melted out of it. The race day box was a complete loss. It was melted right in the trailer.

We want to really thank Jeff Millburn. He did a good job of helping us out. Without him, we wouldn’t be here today. We had to borrow his truck and trailer and back up to ours. The lift gate didn’t work on our stuff, we had to back up and load everything on to his. He was a champ by helping us out and bringing a couple of trucks and trailers over there to get all the stuff loaded, what we could save and we’ll get back (to Charlotte).

All the 15 guys came in with us last night at midnight and helped get us thing ready. The TRD guys, we appreciate what they done and helped us. All the guys in the garage here have been great, offering us whatever we need. It’s one big family and everybody is trying to help us.

We’re going to try (to use the engine). We’re going to try the first practice with it and see how it runs. And if it’s all OK, we’ll keep her in it. If not, we’ll have to change it up. It’s the best motor that TRD has. The backups ain’t as good as the primary is so we’re going to try to run it. We’ll be all right. Kyle’s Busch (Nationwide) team is bringing us stuff and we’ll use their pit boxes and whatever else. With all the guys in the garage helping us, we should have everything to get by for the weekend. “

With the help of many in the NASCAR community Busch will be able to race in Friday’s Silverado 350k for the Billy Ballew Motor Sports team.