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 ...
IF you can, get a chance to sit in the seat of a WINGED sprinter. The view to the right fore & side is severely restricted.
The above view is far away to the right side of the vehicle, much further to the right than the victim was at or near the point of impact. In fact in this view, one can see the entire right side of the vehicle, at an almost broadside view.
The drivers helmet/eyes can clearly be seen even from this far right front angle
uh no. It's clearly stewarts car. And since sound travels slower than light it makes it even more damning. In addition, more importantly, you can clearly see the car speed up.
Also stewart had talked about wanting to run another driver over and he's attacked several other drivers in fits of rage.
Granted some more vidoe analysis may come out. But IMO at this point it looks like manslaughter to me
It would. But It would not cause the car to speed up. Which if you watch the video it clearly did.
In addition Stewart has attacked several drivers in the past and has even said he wanted to run one over.
The people who run the sport should have kicked him out long ago, before something like this happened. Too late now.
Stewart crash probe focuses on lighting, track
On Sunday, Ontario County Sheriff Philip Povero said that investigators also don’t
have any evidence at this point in the investigation to support criminal intent.
But he also said that criminal charges have not been ruled out.
....
“I’ve seen it many times in NASCAR, where a driver will confront the other one,
and a lot of times they’ll try to speed past them. And that’s what it appeared
to me as if what Tony Stewart did, he tried to speed past Ward,” witness Michael
Messerly said. “And the next thing I could see, I didn’t see Ward any more. It
just seemed like he was suddenly gone.”
end snip
Comedy break..
A woman called her elderly father who was driving in his car. She told him to watch out as it was being reported there was a wrong way driver on the freeway...
Her father said, “big deal, I have hundreds of them coming right at me.”
Columbo ,
Rockford,
Sgt. Friday,,,?
give Us a Hint,
That's just ignorance talking.
The driver who was killed, put himself in that position. he was wearing a dark suit on a dark track. Stewart's view was blocked until the car ahead of him dropped down to avoid the kid and that left Tony with about a half second to avoid him, assuming he saw him, as he would be looking at the car that was the cause of the yellow flag.
Sprint car has no transmission and no clutch, they have no brakes either in the normal sense. They have one caliper on the left front, used to help turn the car and for parking.
You essentially turn a sprint car on a dirt track by a combination of steering input and wheel slide. It appeared to me that Tony tried to spin the car to the low side of the track in the half second he had but it was way too late.
What you saw was not manslaughter with intent, it was a accident caused by a gross violation of normal track and race safety.
Stewart sped up. and all your obamalike excuse making will never make up for that fact.
manslaughter.
Well, I agree it is a point worth discussing without someone asserting some negative connotation to it, saying something like “that’s ignorance speaking”. Heck, the Sheriff’s department is reviewing it, nothing wrong with looking at the situation though here we are kibitzing, I listened to sports radio and though they did not assert this is what happened, they certainly alluded to it in discussing all aspects.
Could I see the video link which shows that?
Thanks!
We fault liberals for making decisions based upon ignorance, but it's something you can see on FR all day.
I'd venture that before seeing the video, 99% of those faulting Stewart had never seen a sprint car before. I'd be surprised if any had ever been to a sprint car race, and I'd bet this week's lunch money none have ever driven one...and if you asked any what WoO was, they'd say it was a clandestine organization working toward one-world government.
Someone up the line said visibility was practically non existent, and that's true. The wing complicates things.
There's no point in trying to "steer" a sprint car. The steering wheel is used for loading it onto the trailer and for fine tuning the steering. The real steering is done with the throttle. Take a car that weighs as little as 1100 pounds, add an engine with somewhere between 600 and 1400 HP with no clutch or flywheel, with skinny tires on the front and wide, STAGGERED tires on the rear (meaning the outside tire is noticeably taller than the inside).
With any kind of hookup on the rear tires, many sprint cars will lift the inside front tire through turns. So no, the car does not "steer."
The kid was not run into the wall by Stewart...he was where he shouldn't have been. Skilled open wheel drivers can run side by side, at 90+ MPH, through turns...sideways. Stewart had position.
(sigh...)
You see that big wing on the top? Well that blocks your view so the cars tend to stagger a bit on a yellow so they can see.
There is not a lot of room and there are no straightaways...It's essentially a circle with your views of what is ahead, blocked most of the time by the infield and other cars.
The lighting was very poor as well.
He did not see the driver who had moved away from his car and walked down the track grade into the only traffic lane available. The view Stewart got was from the time the car in front moved out of his line of sight to the guy standing there, and assuming he saw him at all until the last second or half second which was all he had, it was not enough time to avoid contact.
If you look at the tape of the accident you see Stewart's rear end sliding slightly to the low side of the track. had he just goosed the car, the slide would have been in the opposite direction to the top of the track.
I think he braked (left wheel only in these cars, and tried to spin the car to the low side to avoid the guy, but he did not have near enough time or track to do the maneuver.
So what looks like Stewart goosing the car to hit the guy as believed by people who do not race and do not understand the mechanics of a sprint car, was only the beginning of a maneuver to pirouette the car to the low side and avoid contact with the guy.
There just was not enough time.
Again, there are no brakes per say, and a limited turning radius. There is no clutch and the way you turn these cars is to spin the rear end and use the throttle to control the direction of movement, the steering is not what turns the car quickly.
This was just a tragic accident, and one that could end Stewarts driving career.(self imposed or otherwise) So there will be multiple victims here. There was no intent to hit him...that is a totally wrong speculation and I find it to be insulting.
Nor do I ever accept being compared to Obama, as a underhanded way to end debate.
So I'm not even going to ping the bozo to my comment. You can, if you wish.
And how do you know that, are you a mindreader?
Nor do I ever accept being compared to Obama, as a underhanded way to end debate.
Right, like the way you call other people names first and then cry when you get a taste of your own medicine? Yeah, that's not like Obama, either is it?
Now back to the evidence--its apparent from the video that stewart sped up, his car is moving faster after hitting ward than it was before. the sounds of the engine reving seems to come before impact. it appears that he veered into him, although striking the body my have caused the car to turn.
In addition Stewart has physically attacked several other drivers and even said he would like to run one over.
I hope that there is more analysis of this video and if it exists, other video. Perhaps slowing it to listen for whether the reving occurs before impact. Measuring the car speed before impact and after by how many frames versus distance traveled. And seeing if Stewart veered prior to impact.
Until then tho my opinion is it looks intentional, but, quite unlike you, my mind is not closed if other evidence comes to light contradicting my view.
What I observed after viewing the video was the last vehicle to pass the victim prior to impact, was clearly on the lower or inside the track. The suspect vehicle clearly appeared to be higher or much more to the outside of the track.
This would seem to suggest there was no other vehicle directly blocking the forward view of the suspect vehicle prior to impact.
To be honest I’d really like to see other video, other angles of the event just prior to victim impact. No doubt this is what investigators are also looking for.
With lots of people and spectators there, you’d think they would exist from multiple angles. Hard to believe none has surfaced...yet.
It's always possible that it has but we just haven't heard about. But you'd think police would be publicly asking anyone with any video to come forward with it. Also a slowmotion analysis of the known video might reveal something as well.
Speaking of here is a slow motion video but it is of low quality. IMO its difficult to tell, but it sounds like the engine revs and it appears that the car veers to the right before impact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XvhrPu64Co
The reality is that all of this could have been avoided if the kid had lifted when Stewart slammed the door on him on his high side pass move. The kid got out of the groove and didn’t have the power to effect the pass. Stewart being down low in the groove, and having position on him, stayed in the groove and moved up the track to shut the door. If the kid lifted he may have lost more than one spot, but he would still have his life and a promising career.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.