The kid was almost blocking the track. No way to swerve above him because of his car there. Stupid and regrettably fatal mistake.
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 ...
Stewart’s car veered to the right. The kid was on the right. Why would that have happened if he was trying to miss him?
Even I know you dont walk across a race track. Even with a yellow flag
The kid was almost blocking the track. No way to swerve above him because of his car there. Stupid and regrettably fatal mistake.
The dead driver did something really stupid, and paid for it.
You don’t wander around on a race track during a race waving your arms, and try to confront another driver who was still in his car.
The hot head went looking for trouble and found it.
deliberate and malevolent on Stewart’s part
True, but Ward was looking for Stewart cart...
It's hard to tell, but it looks like once Ward spotted Stewart cart he moved toward him...
Certainly a dumb ass move which he paid the ultimate price...but did Stewart aim for him and hit him on purpose, I don't think so...
At some point more video will come out with better angles and a clearer picture of what actually happened...
Sometimes a person guns it to avoid an accident, if the guy was charging across the track, which it looks like he was, Stewart might have gunned it to be ahead of him
but, the car was angled to the outside of the track a little
spin in the dirt?
try to accelerate too fast?
.
.
or aiming to scare him and he misjudged it?
I have doubts he meant to hit him...
Boy...I just watched the video....It sure looked like Stewart wasn’t trying to avoid him...in fact...it almost looks like he wanted to tap him. But that’s only one view.
Watching (and listening to) the video, it seems pretty clear Stewart accelerated and veered right BEFORE hitting the other driver. That looks like intent.
It looks feet are planted at this point
Stewart probably just meant make the kid poop his pants but misjudged and Stewart will pay
Stewart should be banned from racing
he is an ass
actually no, looking at it frame by fram as I could, Stewart didnt head to the outside until he hit the guy, like his tire was struck by the guy when he hit him and the car slid as he dragged the guy
So, also, look where the inside of the track is, Stewart was down inside and the guy was running to the inside
Looking at this view, I would not blame stewart, I would have to see a head on or from behind shot to make final judgement, but looks like Stewart hit huim by accident
And before anyone with a bruised ego lashes out at me, what would the comments on this thread be if Tony Stewart was black?
I am sure he did, he meant to scare the kid and killed him instead, still malicious intent on Stewart’s part
I know! We should ask the other driver who passed by just before Stewart...he veered towards the bottom of the track to avoid the kid...wonder why Stewart made a different decision? Must be lack of experience.
This is a ‘sprint car’ on a dirt track. Because of the wings and hardware inside, there’s almost no visibility out of the right of the car.
When turned, the rear wheels slide in the dirt in the opposite direction of the turn. If you want the car’s rear to slide left to avoid something on the right (as opposed to something in front), you would indeed turn right and hit the accelerator.
Looked to me like Tony saw his right rear was going to hit the kid so he steered right and gunned it to slide the rear end away from him.
But the kid was too close.
So much for wearing my Home Depot tee shirts. I bought like 30 of them for $1.00 each when they were getting rid of them. I might as well have Charles Manson shirts now.
If you've watched the video not a still shot you'll see that he stopped, then moved farther down the track. Almost like he was trying to block the track. These tracks are narrow anyways and his car was blocking the top part of the track.
For those who don't know these type of cars don't have a clutch where you can stop the restart without getting a push truck out there. It's common for them to continue to circle the track until a restart.
In the end I believe it was a young man with too much adrenaline making a mistake. A sad day for the racing community. But it's a dangerous sport.
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