Posted on 08/10/2014 5:04:09 AM PDT by CaptainK
NASCAR star Tony Stewart hit and killed another driver who was walking on the track in a sprint car race on Saturday night.
The other driver, Kevin Ward Jr., had collided with Stewart on the previous lap, leaving Ward’s car with a flat tire and pushed into the wall. As officials threw a caution, Ward left his car and began walking down the track — gesturing angrily toward Stewart — before being clipped and dragged 50 feet by Stewart’s car.
Several spectators told Bob Pockrass of The Sporting News that Stewart appeared to throttle his car before colliding with Ward.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
These types of cars on a dirt track are not driven the same way we all drive our cars on a hard surface. It is clear from the replies in this thread that a lot of people do not understand that. Revving the engine is used as part of the steering process.
I hope during the TV coverage of today’s race they interview some experienced sprint drivers who can help people understand how you drive this type of car. Right now ignorance on this point is widespread.
He also ran out of the way once he saw Stewart gunning for him
There is quite a gap between the first car that goes by the kid and the cars IN FRONT of the first car. That car appeared to see the kid because he was going slower than the rest of the cars and very purposefully went low to avoid the kid. The gap between the first car that went by (slowed car) and Stewart’s car was not that great. And Stewart was going faster than the first car and higher up on the track than the first car. Leads me to believe that Stewart may not have been able to see the kid, whereas the first car to go by did. That is speculation of course.
The driver in front of Tony almost hits Ward who steps back in time.
I'm thinking that car blocked Tony's view to some degree.
Thanks for the link
I actually searched just the name “Stewart” to see if anything had been posted and nothing came up. I should have put in “Tony Stewart” , it brings up one other article under a different.
At least it wasn’t a duplicate posting. Someone might have blown a gasket.
The kid ran towards the oncoming cars, so if the other drivers were looking ahead to the stopped car, where of course the driver would be, they would not anticipate a driver on foot in the middle of the track far before the wrecked car.
I got a feeling NASCAR had something to do with that decision.
...14 not racing today.
Maybe it was Tony himself, complaining. I looked too and found ONE SINGLE ARTICLE at midnight last night...if you hadn’t posted, I wouldn’t have known about it.
Yes it is. It won’t be Smoke behind the wheel.
It may even be the end of Tony Stewart's career, regardless of how the investigation ends. Aside from the obvious issues that have been raised here, there's also the question of why a top NASCAR driver would be competing in a race in a backwater dirt track to begin with.
This incident is the equivalent of Derek Jeter facing a police investigation over his role in a bench-clearing brawl at a beer league softball game where one of the participants in the brawl ended up dead.
No matter how you cut it, Tony Stewart comes out of this looking like a complete loser. His wallet is likely to reflect that, too.
Thanks for the good info. I did not know that?
Think I’m not taking any side on this. I’ll let the experts sort it out. Both sides have made good points, and honestly I really do not know.
“Frankly, I don’t see how he can continue in the sport IF He is ultimately found responsible. In that case, he better buck up for prison time.”
I’m trying to remember if this ever even happened before, where a driver gets out, stands in the road, and gets run over. The problem Tony has is that he doesn’t have a whole lot of capital to play with, given his past...in fact, if the driver were not named, but the rest of the incident was reported, I would suspect that most people would still guess that it was Tony driving, rather than, say Dale Earnhart, for example.
The car in front of Tony almost hits him first, but the kid steps back just in time.
...possibly blocking Tony's view of were Ward was on the track.
People posting Tony intentionally ran over this young driver don't know what they're talking about.
“there’s also the question of why a top NASCAR driver would be competing in a race in a backwater dirt track to begin with.”
Thats actually kinda common. Ken Schrader used to do it all the time. I think the local track makes some sort of agreement with the big time driver to race there, it brings people out to see the NASCAR name there by increasing gate receipts.
The irony. Regan Smith is a local Central NY dirt track racer that made it into NASCAR. He ran the Nationwide race yesterday. He'll probably be the crowd favorite. Classy move by Stewart-Haas racing.
You make one valid point. Had this been a local who races hard every Saturday night, this story would not be national.
The fact that it is Tony Stewart involved changes everything.
Tony loves the competition and loves to win. I would say that can also be said for Kevin Ward Jr. Lets all pray for healing that needs to be present at this time.
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