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Time to lay off Tony Stewart
Washington Examiner ^ | August 13, 2014

Posted on 08/13/2014 6:01:44 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

I drove race cars for three years. I know race cars and race car drivers. It's time to lay off Tony Stewart.

Don't get me wrong. Whatever should be said about him as a human being, Stewart is a phenomenally talented race car driver, likely one of the all-time greats of motorsports.

By comparison, my racing was infinitely more humble, including three years of competition in the Sports Car Club of America and the International Motorsports Association — i.e. club and semi-pro — levels.

I raced on asphalt road courses like Watkins Glen and Summit Point with left and right turns, never on super-speedways or dirt tracks with only left turns.

But here's the thing: The physics of driving a race car are the same whether you are going 130 mph in a Formula Ford in the rain on a road course, 190 mph in a NASCAR stocker on a bright sunny day at Daytona's superspeedway or 100 mph at night on a little dirt track bullring in Canandaigua, New York.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: auto; nascar; racecar; tonystewart
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To: Big Red Badger

“get a clue..”

Wow! Such an informative post. ;-)

See post #20 and maybe you will ‘get-a-clue’.


21 posted on 08/13/2014 7:01:10 AM PDT by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (Why does every totalitarian political hack think that he knows how to run my life better than I do?)
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To: wita

It should have read ‘lay off of’ him


22 posted on 08/13/2014 7:05:54 AM PDT by stanne
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
One of the best I've read regarding the accident, especially from an in-the-car perspective, and I have to agree that there was nothing Tony Stewart could have done to avoid what happened.

Racing in general, but definitely racing Sprint cars, is for a select few and I hope Stewart continues racing, pro and hobby.

23 posted on 08/13/2014 7:30:12 AM PDT by GBA (Here in the Matrix, life is but a dream.)
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To: cripplecreek
Indeed. I laughed out loud when some media golden girl got all upset when she issued a breathless report that Stewart "revved his engine aggressively". - that's how you steer a dirt car, little miss.

Speaking of fatalities, you should have seen it before seatbelts became mandatory! Seat belts add weight! - whaddaya need thems fer?

24 posted on 08/13/2014 7:32:32 AM PDT by atc23 (The Confederacy was the single greatest conservative resistance to federal authority ever)
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To: spel_grammer_an_punct_polise
Fat Boy?

Why he was not banned forever for that incident is beyond my comprehension.

I'll bet alot of things are.

25 posted on 08/13/2014 7:34:56 AM PDT by McGruff (Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Obama golfs while The World burns.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
An interesting and an informative piece.


And 100% correct.

From what I saw on the video, Stewart was trapped by the circumstances and the position of Ward on the track.

Sprint cars do not like turning right even in the best of circumstances and Ward was positioned directly in Stewarts path but slightly to the upper right.

No way Stewart could have swerved right to miss Ward an if he tried to he would run directly into Wards crashed car.

Instead, Stewart tried to turn left but by the time he saw Ward it was too late .

One issue the article neglects to mention is that the viewpoint of the driver in an open wheeled race car is very different than from a street car. You sit very low in open wheel car and the viewing perspective is very restricted.

To get an idea of what the driver sees in a sprint car, get a couple of bricks and a board and set them up so you are in a semi reclining position with your eye level about 18-20 inches off the ground.

Even a normal 8” curb looks like a wall from that perspective

26 posted on 08/13/2014 7:36:26 AM PDT by rdcbn
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To: rdcbn
Lots of blind spot on the right side of a sprint car.


27 posted on 08/13/2014 7:42:36 AM PDT by cripplecreek ("Moderates" are lying manipulative bottom feeding scum.)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
Tensions fly high and the BS runs deep on the racetrack.

Yes they do - saw it on a NASCAR truck series team at Texas Motor Speedway when the entire crew almost came to blows. The funny thing was they were all Yankees rather than the deep south good ole boys that most think of when thinking of motorsports. Those accents, along with the expletives and insults, made for interesting post-race entertainment.

28 posted on 08/13/2014 7:43:58 AM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: rdcbn

I’ve also driven race cars for a hell of a lot longer than three years, as did my uncle, and my grandfather. In a nutshell, if anyone’s temper was to blame, it would be the spoiled brat who jumped out of his car on a racetrack. If you have an urge to get run over, I can’t think of a better place to be running around than on a racetrack. You have a 20-yr old kid whose parents spent $100000 on a play toy for their boy, who behaves like a spoiled kid on the track. Wonder why? It was an accident, but would never have happened if Ward had stayed put in his car, instead of grandstanding and taunting another driver. I don’t watch NASCAR, so have no feelings for Stewart, positive or negative, but have no sympathy for people who make dumb decisions. Ward made a dumb decision, and paid the fee.


29 posted on 08/13/2014 7:48:30 AM PDT by nobamanomore
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To: cripplecreek

I don’t think a jury could convict Stewart after see just a few minutes of that video.


30 posted on 08/13/2014 7:49:07 AM PDT by logitech (It is time.)
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To: T-Bird45

The shorter the track the shorter the tempers.


31 posted on 08/13/2014 7:52:43 AM PDT by cripplecreek ("Moderates" are lying manipulative bottom feeding scum.)
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To: logitech

And left side visibility is considerably better. You also might notice how loose the steering is.


32 posted on 08/13/2014 7:59:52 AM PDT by cripplecreek ("Moderates" are lying manipulative bottom feeding scum.)
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To: McGruff

“Fat Boy?
Why he was not banned forever for that incident is beyond my comprehension.

I’ll bet alot of things are.”

I have noticed since joining FR that when people do not have valid arguments/responses then they immediately resort to insults. I always dismiss those kinds of posts and assume that the posters are Dumbocraps. ;-)


33 posted on 08/13/2014 8:15:11 AM PDT by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (Why does every totalitarian political hack think that he knows how to run my life better than I do?)
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To: spel_grammer_an_punct_polise
Why he was not banned forever for that incident is beyond my comprehension.

You need to get edumacated boy, start with post #4

34 posted on 08/13/2014 8:18:24 AM PDT by McGruff (Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Obama golfs while The World burns.)
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To: atc23

“Speaking of fatalities, you should have seen it before seatbelts became mandatory! Seat belts add weight! - whaddaya need thems fer?”

That was also at a time when race cars used a lot of magnesium (which also saves weight). A lot of them preferred being thrown from the car to being trapped in a car that might burst into flames any second.


35 posted on 08/13/2014 8:25:08 AM PDT by ZirconEncrustedTweezers (I'm not anti-government, government's anti-me.)
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To: McGruff

“You need to get edumacated boy, start with post #4”

“Edumacated boy”? I suggest a remedial class in English spelling for you. ;-)

Boy? I am 70 years old. ;-)

YOU should read Post # 20. ;-)

Oh, and the insults reflect upon you, not I. ;-)


36 posted on 08/13/2014 8:28:34 AM PDT by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (Why does every totalitarian political hack think that he knows how to run my life better than I do?)
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To: spel_grammer_an_punct_polise

I’m still trying to figure out what his temper in bed has to do with his attitude on the track.


37 posted on 08/13/2014 8:34:32 AM PDT by Mastador1 (I'll take a bad dog over a good politician any day!)
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To: Mastador1

“I’m still trying to figure out what his temper in bed has to do with his attitude on the track.”

Oops! “Bed” should be “bad”. ;-)


38 posted on 08/13/2014 8:50:42 AM PDT by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (Why does every totalitarian political hack think that he knows how to run my life better than I do?)
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To: spel_grammer_an_punct_polise
"...when people do not have valid arguments/responses then they immediately resort to insults."

Well, the first words in your first post were "Fat Boy".

Now, I may be a little thin-skinned, but I would consider that an insult.

Therefore, your entire argument/response is invalid, by your own criteria.

I do hope this is not beyond your comprehension.

39 posted on 08/13/2014 8:51:03 AM PDT by diogenes ghost
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To: diogenes ghost

“”Fat Boy”.””

Ah, but that insult was not directed at YOU, was it? Besides, he IS fat, is he not? Some posters keep me laughing all day! ;-)


40 posted on 08/13/2014 9:00:08 AM PDT by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (Why does every totalitarian political hack think that he knows how to run my life better than I do?)
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