{"id":4625,"date":"2025-05-14T22:57:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T02:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4625"},"modified":"2025-05-14T22:57:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T02:57:33","slug":"through-the-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/14\/through-the-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Through the Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

There\u2019s a long-standing superstition in Indy Car racing that green cars are bad luck.

Mel Kenyon, a 32-year-old rookie in 1965, was sponsored by Sprite.\u00a0That meant his sleek racer would bear the soft drink\u2019s lemon-lime hue.

Kenyon failed to qualify for his first Indy “500” that year.\u00a0But the brilliant dirt track driver appeared to have a limitless future in Indy cars.

On June 20, the engine of his lime-colored No. 21 exploded about halfway through a race at Langhorne, PA.\u00a0He spun in his own oil and hit the wall.\u00a0The impact rendered him unconscious.\u00a0Two other cars skidded on the oily track and slammed into Kenyon\u2019s fuel tank.

He was instantaneously coated with oil and fuel, which erupted into flame.\u00a0Mel slumped motionless in his cockpit, burning alive.

In the Bad Old Days of Indy Car racing \u2013 high speeds, big wrecks, and rudimentary track safety features \u2013 all too many drivers were lost.

But Mel Kenyon would not be one of them.

Joe Leonard, one of the other drivers involved in the crash, didn\u2019t run toward safety.\u00a0Seeing the unfolding tragedy, he ran toward Mel.\u00a0So did a fan, later identified as Ed Riker (in the yellow shirt in the picture above), who scrambled over the infield fence and headed straight into the chaos.

By the time Kenyon could be pulled from his car, he had been at the mercy of the flames for three minutes.\u00a0Forty-percent of his body was covered with third-degree burns.

But he was alive.

Mel was ultimately transferred to an Army burn unit in San Antonio. His wife at first did not recognize him. The pain was so excruciating that screaming permanently damaged his vocal chords. He lost all five fingers on his left hand.

The medical staff predicted he would need a nine-month recovery. A mere three months later, he headed home.

Kenyon never considered retiring from racing. His brother and father, who were members of his team, engineered a special glove for his left hand that allowed him to insert a pin into the steering wheel and maintain control. Incredibly, he showed up at the Indy “500” the very next May and finished fifth.\u00a0In the years that followed he earned a third place finish and two fourths as well \u2013 one of the “500\u2019s” best records for a non-winner.

He is not the only man ever to race at Indianapolis in a green car.\u00a0A week from Sunday, it\u2019s likely there will be at least three of them.

But the native of Lebanon, IN is the only man ever to compete in the world\u2019s most famous race with no fingers on one hand.

Kenyon kept driving until the age of 76, racing as many as 90 times a year. He won seven national championships in midgets \u2013 small open-wheel dirt track cars.

Kenyon came to believe that God had saved him for a reason.\u00a0Today, at age 92, he remains active in Christian ministry.

\u201cI will always be grateful for Joe Leonard, who somehow saw me and waded into sheets of flame to help me,\u201d he says.

Joe didn\u2019t have to do that.\u00a0Mel Kenyon represented the competition, after all.\u00a0

Nor did Ed Riker have to abandon his seat as a spectator and run onto the track, risking his own safety. Either man could have concluded, \u201cThis isn\u2019t my wreck.\u00a0That isn\u2019t my fire.\u00a0I\u2019m sorry for the guy who\u2019s in trouble, but I need to take care of myself.\u201d

One of life\u2019s great dramas is answering God\u2019s call to help those in obvious need, even when it\u2019s not our \u201cjob\u201d to do so.\u00a0

That may mean redefining the race we are in. And it might mean refusing to settle for watching life play out from a distance.\u00a0

Such choices will always involve an element of risk.

In fact, if we determine to run straight into the chaos of someone else\u2019s worst day, we really have only one guarantee.

God will be in the midst of that chaos, too<\/em>.
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here There\u2019s a long-standing superstition in Indy Car racing that green cars are bad luck. Mel Kenyon, a 32-year-old rookie in 1965, was sponsored by Sprite.\u00a0That meant his sleek racer would bear the soft drink\u2019s lemon-lime hue. Kenyon failed to qualify for his first Indy “500” that year.\u00a0But the brilliant dirt track… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[157,94],"class_list":["post-4625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-compassion","tag-courage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4627,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625\/revisions\/4627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}