Posted on 08/12/2014 5:37:04 PM PDT by lifeofgrace
The author had way too much to say about something he didn't want to even look at...
And he didn’t kill him on the next lap around the track yada yada yada...
Whose take? Mine?
I’ve driven my Subaru STI very fast on dirt. It’s not a sprint car, but it had cojones and is a top-end rally car. They are controllable and predictable. What’s not predictable is having a pedestrian on a race track.
Apparently you enjoy watching someone die on video. I don’t. I’ve talked to people who saw the whole thing and they’ve told me the part where Kevin is sucked under the wheel and thrown to his death doesn’t add anything to the video. I’ve watched everything except that.
With everyone still on the track racing to get position before the pace car came out, the only people who saw Kevin playing matador were those who barley missed him, and that’s because Kevin avoided them to get to Tony’s car who just like those ahead of and behind him were paying attention to the car ahead of them looking for an advantage. He was also just coming out of a power slide around the corner. The same corner he and Kevin were mixing paint on the previous lap when he lost the gamble and got put in the wall and out of the race. Too bad, it happens almost every sprint car race there is. The fact that he got out of his car to confront a race car and driver who were still in the race shows that he had no business being in that kind of race in the first place. Tony did not run him over with the front of his car, and he wasn’t on the lookout for a pedestrian. Kevin got in the way of the back side because it was still out there from the corner. It’s the rear tire he went under. If Tony quits racing or is banned for the rest of his life, it’s going to be terrible for his team. They all had a steady job and were bringing paychecks home to support their families. I watched the whole thing because I knew the regular nascar fans would have their knives out for Tony Stewart because he’s from Indy Racing. I wanted to see what really happened. It’s not as graphic as you think it is, but it is still sad. It’s not a pleasure to see any living thing hit by a car. If you don’t want to watch it, fine. Just don’t write about not seeing what happened and then start telling us what happened.
I do NOT know a single driver in ANY kind of motor sport who is expecting to have a PEDESTRIAN on the track....
PERIOD.
The only way Tony could have avoided him would have been to get off the track instead of going another lap.———
The accident occurred on the FIRST yellow lap.
Let’s get some facts out here:
The track is 1/2 mile long in total.
The track surface is ‘dirt’, which is slick from water put down before each set of laps, etc. They need to keep ‘dust’ down.
The yellow flag is thrown only at the start/finish line.
Drivers ‘race to the yellow flag’.
There is no set of yellow lights around the track.
The distance from the start/finish line to the site of where Ward walked into Tony’’s car is less than 1/4 mile.
All the cars were slowing down because of the yellow.
This was the FIRST lap under the yellow after Ward’s car hit the outer wall & had a flat tire.
The speed allowed under the yellow is between 35 & 40 MPH. I don’t know the exact racing speed involved on the lap before the yellow, but 60-70 MPH would NOT surprise me.
Tony is looking FORWARD inside his car to make sure he doesn’t hit a car in front of him who MIGHT be slowing down a bit quicker.
Tony has a guard rail on his left side, which he doesn’t want to hit.
It is night.
There are ‘lights’ at this track, but it is NOT DAYLIGHT conditions.
Ward is wearing a black driving suit.
No peripheral vision to speak of out the right side of a Winged Sprint car.
NO driver in ANY race is expecting a PEDESTRIAN coming into his path.
There is a difference between being competitive & being stupid. The kid was stupid.
Tony did nothing wrong.
Try to find a video of the lap prior—where Ward’s car comes down off the cushion & gets into the path of Tony’s car. Ward was NOT running as fast as Tony.
Sorta like a driver changing lanes in front of you on the Interstate—and that car isn’t running your speed.
Try to find a video of the lap prior—where Ward’s car comes down off the cushion & gets into the path of Tony’s car. Ward was NOT running as fast as Tony.
Sorta like a driver changing lanes in front of you on the Interstate—and that car isn’t running your speed.
Thank you! This tread’s author needs as much help as possible to understand what happened and what’s on every racer’s mind during any race. First thought should be, don’t get killed, second if you get in an accident and don’t get killed, THANK GOD, AND DON’T DO SOMETHING STUPID TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE!
No, the writer of the article.
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