PENN TWP — A higher power at work? Charlie Holben thinks so.

"All I know is I was in a horrible accident and I'm around to talk about it," the 44-year-old Cabot resident said.

Holben was in his 28th season of dirt track racing June 4 when the No. 15 Sprint car he was driving was involved in a wreck along the front straightaway at Lernerville Speedway.

The car tumbled and became engulfed in flames seconds after coming to rest on its roof in front of victory lane.

Holben suffered second-degree burns — some deep — over 40 percent of his body before being removed from the car.

He talked about the accident during the Charlie Holben Benefit Golf Outing last weekend at Suncrest Golf Course.

"They peeled the firesuit off me on the track and I saw my thighs were raw," Holben said. "I took the glove off my right hand and it was raw, too. I knew I was in trouble. I knew it was really bad."

He also knows it could have been worse.

"The car actually caught fire while it was flipping," Holben said. "No one could tell that from outside. When the car was upside down and the leaking fuel mixed with the rear-end grease ... That's when the flames shot up.

"The fact my neck and face weren't burned, where on the track the wreck happened, most of my family wasn't there ... Yeah, I believe a higher power was at work."

Bob Poston, Holben's cousin, said as many as 15 family members form a rooting section in the stands for Holben every Friday night.

"For various reasons, most of us weren't there that night," Poston said.

Holben's eldest daughter, 23-year-old Tiffany, was at the track that evening, but left before the ill-fated race because of a migraine headache. The family lives only a mile from the track.

"I'm convinced to this day I wasn't supposed to see that," she said of the accident. "If I had stayed, I'd have gotten hurt because I would have been on that track and in that car trying to pull him out."

The quickest decision Holben ever made in his life probably saved his life.

"Your first instinct after a wreck on a race track is to unbuckle your belt and get out, especially when you're upside down," Holben said. "But I could feel fuel leaking down over my shoulder.

"Fuel cells are built and designed not to get holes in them, but somehow, a hole got poked in this one. Feeling that fuel ... It hit me that if I unstrapped that belt, I'm slipping right into the heart of that fire.

"I stayed strapped in and started screaming to track crews to set the car upright so I could get out," he added.

Hospitalized for a month, Holben said he received more than 200 cards, many of which included gift cards or money. Numerous drivers came to visit him.

He is scheduled to return to his machinist job at Du-Co Ceramics in Saxonburg in two months.

A race driver since age 16, Holben is ending that part of his world, however.

"I have to move on," he said. "I've been back at Lernerille a couple of times and have no problem watching the races or being in the pits.

"If I had to get in a car and drive past that spot? I don't know if I could get past that."

While he termed his wreck a "freak thing," Holben said other drivers have improved their safety equipment, gotten better gloves, etc.

"I don't ever want to see this happen to anybody else," he said.

Holben plans to return to Lernerville next season as a member of a driver's pit crew.

He doesn't want to race. He does want to be around racing.

"It's been too big a part of my life to just walk away from the sport totally," he said. "My 15-year-old son (Dillion) has an interest in driving a race car. We may be able to put something together for him down the road.

"I'd have no problem with that. His mother might need some convincing," Holben added, laughing.

His racing career is over. His memories are forever.

"I'll carry some physical scars for the rest of my life," Holben said. "But I had a lot of fun and I'm grateful to a lot of people that I'm still here."

Lernerville Points Standings(top 15 through Aug. 21)SprintsDanny Holtgraver 473, Ed Lynch Jr. 454, Bob Felmlee 450, Rod George 430, Jack Sodeman Jr. 429, Carl Bowser 407, Brent Matus 328, Kevin Schaeffer 307, Brandon Matus 252, Andy McKisson 247, Dan Kuriger 221, Scott Priester 221, Pete Miller III 206, Brian Steinman 205, Brian Ellenberger 189

Late ModelsDave Hess Jr. 475, Jared Miley 437, Alex Ferree 414, Lynn Geisler 341, Doug Eck 326, Chuck Sarver 325, Gregg Satterlee 325, Dave Murdick 301, John Garvin Jr. 293, Michael Norris 235, Ken Schaltenbrand 231, Mike Johnson 217, Todd Bachman 182, Matt Lux 179, Garrett Krummert 177

ModifiedsKevin Bolland 457, Brian Swartzlander 433, Jeremiah Shingledecker 426, Del Rougeux Jr. 424, Dave Murdick 408, Mike Turner 331, Dean Pearson 321, Carl Murdick 285, Steve Feder 273, Shawn Fleeger 244, Erik Martin 166, Don Brown 155, Jim Weller Jr. 149, Tom Winkle 145, Kevin Green 96

Sportsman StocksJoe Kelley 580, Bob Egley 457, Ryan Moyer 440, Jim Fosnaught 438, Wayne Carbo 410, Jason Fosnaught 396, Paul Schreckengost 380, Brett McDonald 342, Scott Byers 305, Terry Young 305, A.J. Flick 304, Mark Sanders 304, Corey McPherson 211, Jeff Miller 208, Shawn Thorn 208