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Long-time Delaware International Speedway owner Charlie Cathell was released from a Baltimore hospital Sunday evening after spending nearly a week there undergoing treatment for burns he suffered in a freak June 6 incident at his track in Delmar, Del.

Cathell, 74, was working at the motorsports complex, which also includes a drag strip, last Tuesday morning when an electric fuel pump exploded and caused a flash fire. The local rescue squad and fire department quickly responded and Cathell was transported by helicopter to Baltimore’s Bayview Burn Center.

According to Facebook reports from Cathell’s son Mark, the veteran race promoter suffered second- and third-degree burns on 20 percent of his body. He was alert and talking the evening of the accident but didn’t remember what had happened, his son wrote.

While it appears that Cathell will not need any skin grafting, his grandson, Chad, said Cathell’s burns will be monitored for infection and it’s expected it will take about a year for him to be fully healed.

“He’s definitely ready to be back out there (at the track) already, but he's got a long road ahead of him,” Chad Cathell wrote.

With Cathell’s absence from Saturday night’s racing program at Delaware International, it marked just the second time in his 54 years as owner of the facility that he’s missed an event at either of its two tracks.