Jay Leno Involved In Motorcycle Crash While Recovering From Steam Car Fire

Jay Leno
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It’s been a rough few months for Jay Leno. Just a few months after the 72-year-old comedian and car enthusiast was burned in a fuel fire while working on a steam car, he was involved in a bone-breaking motorcycle crash.

In case you missed Leno’s first incident, he was working on a 1907 White steamer in November when a fuel leak was ignited by the car’s pilot light. Despite suffering severe burns requiring skin grafts, he made a recovery and joked to Hoda Kotb about setting his face on fire.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal, Leno revealed details of the latest incident. On Jan. 17, he was shaking down a 1940 Indian motorcycle when he reportedly noticed a whiff of fuel. Not wanting to flambé the bike, he pulled into a parking lot to inspect for any leaks. Unfortunately, that parking lot featured a particularly gnarly trap.

According to Leno, someone had hung a wire across the parking lot but didn’t tie a flag or anything to it that would warn people of its presence. Clotheslining is a surefire way to separate rider from bike in a fashion that’s about as comfortable as falling down a spiral staircase, and that’s exactly what happened to Leno.

As Leno said, “[…] I’ve got a broken collarbone. I’ve got two broken ribs. I’ve got two cracked kneecaps.” Ouch. Despite the painful results of Leno’s bike crash, he seems to be taking it in stride. Leno said that he’s okay, and joked that “You know, after getting burned up, you get that one for free. After that, you’re Harrison Ford, crashing airplanes. You just want to keep your head down (laughs).”

Jay Lenos Garage

In what could be another bit of bad news, The Hollywood Reporter claims that Jay Leno’s Garage has been canceled as CNBC looks to change up its prime time programming. It would be a shame if this report turns out to be true as Jay Leno’s Garage is fantastic escapism for car nuts without the forced drama of so many automotive TV shows.

We wish Jay Leno a full recovery and hope he’s free of fuel-related incidents in the future. He says that he’s working this weekend, so recovery progress sounds like it’s going well.

(Photo credits: Jay Leno’s Garage)

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44 thoughts on “Jay Leno Involved In Motorcycle Crash While Recovering From Steam Car Fire”

  1. I know he was a chat show host for many years, so that’s kind of his thing to always have people in for a talk. But I loved his “Pandemic Editions” on YouTube more, where it was just him, his cars and some bad iPhone footage 🙂

  2. Honestly this one made me cringe more than the burn incident! Of the few things in life that make me genuinely scared, meeting a wire while riding is right up there.

  3. I hope his show is resurrected elsewhere. Jay has more than enough strength of personality to carry a light entertainment show like this one was, even though he does come across as very annoying boomer every now and then. His show is like “soft rock” for car enthusiasts. It’s not a top favorite, but I like it.

    If they drop the stupid “challenges” against repeat celebrities, I’ll be extra happy. I’ve already had more than enough Tim Allen and Jeff Dunham cheesy humor for a lifetime. Having other celebrities is still nice mostly because you get to know a bit more about someone you may have found interesting, by the way they interact with cars.

  4. Now I’m waiting to hear that his first phone call was to his garage to arrange transport for the bike. Then he said, “Oh, by the way. I might need an ambulance.”

  6. Hire this man. Jay and David getting a decrepit old kerp or other 4 x 4 ready to cross the country to off road it would be pure gold. Just no more rust. David deserves a break. And Jay doesn’t deserve that.

    1. Consumer News & Business Channel, it was NBC’s sole basic cable news channel for several years until they launched their joint venture with Microsoft, since then, it’s been kind of MSNBC’s junior associate

  10. The injuries are deeply unfortunate but working on one’s steam car and riding one’s vintage motorcycle are the types of pursuits that set a high standard towards which the rest of us hopefully can aspire at age 72.

    1. Yup. He’s definitely a crutches will do I don’t need a wheelchair type of guy.
      I aspire to be that.
      I have a ton of respect for really old people that choose a cane as their only weapon against gravity, bad joints and fragile bones.
      I really hope I can be hobbling around with a cane someday.
      Jay strikes me as a cane guy. Hope he’s OK.

  11. I agree that his YouTube channel is awesome! Cut the cord years ago and cannot get CNBC but don’t feel I missed much. Here’s to “another” speedy recovery Jay! He will eventually have to do a “Restoration Blog” on himself lol!

  12. I will miss the show. It seems unlikely we could get Jay as a correspondent here, as he may still be contracted elsewhere, but does anyone have Donald Osborne’s contact info?

    His segment was my favorite part of the show. A weekly or monthly deep dive into valuation and appraisal would be of interest.

      1. I saw a few videos where they collaborated. There was a funny one of a really old car that was steered by a tiller/handle thing and they almost ate it a few times. Jay wasn’t worried, but you could see Donald wince a few times.

    2. And IIRC our very own Jason Torchinsky may have an “in” with Jay, having been a producer of his show, or something like that. Hey Torch – think you could interest Jay in contributing an occasional column here in Autopian-land?

    1. Yea, I have been a steady follower of the YouTube channel, and I caught an episode of his CNBC show at a hotel and was surprised that it was so different (and inferior)

      1. Way inferior! The best way I could describe it is like his YT channel is all facts, no BS. The CNBC show by the same name was 95% BS and 5% facts. The information density was too low for me to watch it for more than 10 min.

        I hope his YT channel still thrives. I imagine visiting the Leno Automotive Institute in the future where each car will have a small screen with it’s YT segment on a loop.

    2. Yeah, the CNBC show had a run of 7 seasons, which is quite respectable for any TV program, but I was never much of a fan. Have been following his YouTube channel from the beginning though, and expect he’s going to keep doing that.

  15. It’s ok, Jay. I, too, have an uncanny ability these days to draw blood or otherwise injure myself every time I go to work on my cars. Getting old suuuuuuucks.

    1. And there went the only reason I watched CNBC. The best part of the show though, were the segments with Donald Osborne. I often thought that should have been the whole show. Maybe somebody with Jay Leno levels of money could produce a Donald and Jay show? Hmmm? Two clever, personable gents talking about cool cars? Hmmm?

  17. I bet that wire has all sorts of warning flags on it now!
    I certainly understand someone needing to block off an entrance, but it’s seriously a dick move not to mark it well. Obviously, people can get hurt. Hopefully Jay’s high profile will encourage others to mark theirs more people don’t meet the same fate

    1. I wonder if the property owner was like “OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT OMG OMG I ALMOST KILLED JAY LENO”, either from being a fan or realizing that Jay could afford to sue him/her into oblivion. Or both, I guess.

      (Jay doesn’t seem to be the type to do that, but stranger things have happened.)

      2. They’re probably way more worried about the impending lawsuit and almost for sure judgment against them.

        Obstructing an entrance or right of way, even a private one, with a barrier that is not visible is a serious act of negligence.

    2. Jay’s got 9 lives. Thankfully he’s gonna be ok.

      The same thing happened to my Uncle in the 60s. He was driving an early convertible 356 Porsche on a practice day at a racetrack in SoCal.

      He was going down the straight, when someone inexplicably decided to string a cable across the track. He couldn’t see it, and it struck the top of the windshield and then the top of his laughable 60s helmet.

      It almost killed him. Fortunately he recovered, but my Aunt put her foot down. Choose either me or the racing. He chose her.

      But there was one bright spot. The team gave him a real sweetheart deal on a right drive front engine Ferrari as a going away present. It was the first Ferrari I ever saw!

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