I turn around and sure enough the whole front end is on fire. Within a minute it went from a little smoke to flames shooting everywhere. People were barracading themselves in the bank waiting for it to explode while the fire engine siren rang in the distance. Other people parked near me were being talked out of moving their cars out of fear it would explode. One brave soul parked right next to me frantically moved his car while some lady screamed 'Don't do it, it's gonna blow!'.
In the end, it actually wasn't so bad. Sure, the truck was a total loss, but no one was hurt and no other cars were damaged. The scrap metal yard gave me $380 for the truck which covered my towing and then some. And I didn't even miss the remaining demos for the day since it rained shortly after the fire.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.