Heart-stopping video shows NASCAR racer Mike Jones as he was rescued from his burning car by his own father, who jumped a barricade and pulled his son to safety before track crews and first responders arrived. The dramatic crash happened over Father's Day weekend at the South Boston Speedway in Virginia. Mike lost control of his race car, which spun and burst into flames in the middle of the track. Jones was stuck inside — that is, until his father, Dean Jones, was seen bolting from the pit and jumping a concrete barrier to reach his boy. Dean then pulls Mike out of the burning wreck through the driver's side window. "It's a driver's worst nightmare," Mike Jones told reporters afterward. His car was totaled. Dean Jones was put on probation by NASCAR because he broke track rules when he ran onto the track, but he wouldn't change a thing about his actions. "I would do it again," the father told Inside Edition. "I threw my headset off ... and made a beeline straight to him," Dean said. "For a 56-year-old guy, I moved pretty fast." His son is forever grateful. But it's not the first time his dad has come charging to help. When he was 10 or 12, he said, Mike was knocked out by a baseball that struck him in the head at home plate. When he woke up, his father's face was looming over him. "I can't thank him enough," Mike said Thursday. RELATED STORIES<doc-sep>During a NASCAR race in Virginia over the weekend, driver Mike Jones crashed, and his vehicle burst into flames. His crew chief, who is also his father, sprung into action to save his son, Racing News reported. The father, Dean Jones, ran from pit lane and hopped over the wall, going onto the track during the race to pull his son from the burning wreckage — but he was punished for following his fatherly instincts. What happened? Mike Jones was a participant in the NASCAR Late Model 100 race at South Boston Speedway on June 16. On the day before Father's Day, Dean Jones witnessed something no parent ever wants to see: his son trapped in a potentially life-threatening situation. As Mike Jones was rounding a corner on the track, he was driving side-by-side with Matt Bowling in a battle for the lead. The right-front tire of Bowling's vehicle made contact with Mike Jones' left rear tire, sending Mike spinning into the wall. As Mike Jones' heavily damaged vehicle rolled back up the track, sparks made contact with leaking fuel, and the car exploded into a fireball. Dean Jones sprinted onto the track and ran right to the driver's side of the burning vehicle, reaching in to free his son who was struggling to get out of the vehicle. Dean Jones was able to get Mike out of the vehicle. Once his son was safe, Dean Jones wasn't finished — instead, he reached back into the vehicle to hit the fire suppression switch to help put out the flames as first responders arrived on the scene. "First and foremost, I want to thank the good Lord above for having his hand on Mike tonight and keeping him from harm," Dean Jones said to Racing News. "No one except sweet baby Jesus would have kept me from freeing my son from a burning race car." Mike Jones wasn't surprised that his father came on the track to save him. "I remember catching in an all-star tournament when I was 12 and I got knocked out from a play at the plate," Mike Jones wrote on Facebook the next day. "My dad Dean Jones hopped the centerfield fence and ran to home plate to make sure I was ok. 16 years later, nothing has changed. Happy Father's Day, dad. Thanks for everything." Breaking the rules? In the midst of the chaos, Dean Jones apparently broke a NASCAR rule. An official approached him after the incident and demanded he give up his NASCAR license. His crime? Being on the racetrack with shorts on. "I even asked, 'Are you serious right now?'" Dean Jones said. "That's OK, it's only a piece of paper. My boys are everything to me." (H/T: KOVR-TV)<doc-sep>As many can imagine, running onto an active racetrack is both dangerous and against the rules. However, that didn't stop a father from pulling his son out of a burning car in Virginia. Crew chief and father Dean Jones saw his son Mike's late-model go up in flames at South Boston (SoBo) Speedway during Father's Day weekend and immediately rushed to his rescue. Dean Jones was able to pull the fire-suppressant system in the car before safety crews were able to arrive. His son, Mike then climbed out without injury. Despite violating track policy, Dean Jones will not be suspended nor have his NASCAR license revoked. Instead, he has been put on probation by the speedway for the remainder of the year. A similar incident occurred at NASCAR's highest level in 2015, when No. 3 car driver and 2018 Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon was involved in a heavy crash at Daytona. Dillon's crew members rushed out onto the track to flip his overturned NASCAR. In that instance, Dillon's crew members were reprimanded. Running onto the track does not always lead to a happy ending however. In 2014, NASCAR driver and current team owner Tony Stewart collided with and killed Kevin Ward Jr. after Ward climbed out of his car on an active track.<doc-sep>
A father ran onto the track last weekend to pull his son out of the wreckage of a burning race car, at a NASCAR-sanctioned race. Racer Mike Jones smashed up his No. 39 car at the South Boston Speedway near South Boston, Virginia, during a June 16 race. The car quickly burst into flames as the volatile fuel took a spark. But standing in the pits was his father and crew chief, Dean Jones, and dad was the first to hit the track to extract his son from the burning wreckage, USA Today reported. “I just had a single focus: Getting my son out of that burning car. Nothing else mattered,” Jones later told NBC News. ﻿ The car was a total loss even though after his son fled the elder Jones leaned back in the car to pull the lever to initiate the in-car fire suppressant system. But his son was uninjured and is ready to race again, the Joneses reported. Dean Jones ran to his son’s side despite lacking fire retardant gear or firefighting tools. Indeed, this fact earned him a penalty for running onto the track ahead of the crew equipped for the purpose. NASCAR reported that Jones was cited for breaking the rules by running onto the track. He will serve a probationary period for the rest of the season, the racing authority said. “We have sat down with Mr. Jones and discussed what transpired on Saturday, and he fully understands our position on non-safety personnel entering the track surface during an event. We are all grateful that there weren’t any injuries, and we look forward to getting back to racing,” NASCAR said in a statement reported by ESPN. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.