I've never raced sprint cars myself, but I've always been told that throttling the gas is how you get those to turn harder, so my guess is he saw him last second and throttled it to try to turn before it was too late.
Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
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Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
I've never raced sprint cars myself, but I've always been told that throttling the gas is how you get those to turn harder, so my guess is he saw him last second and throttled it to try to turn before it was too late.NFL: Bills
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Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
Before watching that video the reports that I had read made it seem like Stewart had stopped and then gunned it slinging him into the fencing. Watching that video, it's obvious that the person who crashed was an idiot for getting out of the car in the first place, and then walking into oncoming traffic. What did that kid think would happen when he goes onto a live track?Rangers - Cowboys - Aggies - Stars - Mavericks
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Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
There's so much wrong here. Why would you get out your car? Why would you walk into the racing line? Why wasn't the race halted? Why is Stewart racing today if he's so shooken up?And may thy spirit live in us, Forever LSU
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Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
It's not like Stewart has no history of having a temper to go along with a massive ego. I imagine having a young sprint car driver trying to show him up like that after the two tangled on track would tend to make him ticked off a bit. Again, I'm sure he had no intention to hit him though.Comment
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Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
It looks like the car that passes right before Stewart narrowly avoids hitting Ward too. Legally speaking I don't know how you can prove it was Stewart's car that revved based on cell phone video from a long distance away. There surely has to be more fan footage and probably official race footage. Either way it's absolutely ridiculous for anyone to claim that it was intentional at this point.Comment
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Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
Just saw the vid after hearing accounts of the incident.
Seems like an accident to me. Guys in the middle of the track like he's invincible, caution or not. I doubt Stewart tried to hit him, that's insane and probably impossible to prove. Maybe brush him/scare him to get him off the track but that's about as far as I would go.
I know drivers do this stuff walking onto the track after a tough wreck. Probably not so much anymore. This was bound to happen.
Gonna stir up a lot of talk about respect and the rules of racing. Everyone loves those confrontations but when you're doing something this dangerous it's a very thin line before someone gets hurt or worst case scenario like this, loses their life.
I find it hard to place blame on Stewart when the other guy puts himself in such a vulnerable position. I don't care how bad your temper is, hitting someone with a race car on purpose is the most extreme. Stewart didn't even get wrecked so I find it hard to believe he was so incensed he decided to hit this guy to teach him a lesson. But I guess proving his mindset either way is a crapshoot.
People can't be on the track when the race is going on, full speed or half speed. It's way too dangerous out there to throw in a human obstacle. Take it up with him in the pits.Last edited by slickdtc; 08-10-2014, 09:04 AM.NHL - Philadelphia Flyers
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Originally posted by Money99And how does one levy a check that will result in only a slight concussion? Do they set their shoulder-pads to 'stun'?Comment
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Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
Some of the differences of when it happens in NASCAR are that many of their races are during the day, and if not, the tracks are well lit. Being in a black firesuit, black helmet, on the backstretch of a sprint car track is not the best position to be in if you are trying to make a point. You can tell on the video it's very dimly lit. NASCAR guys also have spotters and tracks are usually much larger. If a driver is trying to make a point and doing hand motions on a 1 mile track, your spotter will give you plenty of heads up that he's out there. In most of the sprint car races I've been to, spotters are few and far between, if at all. Not saying NASCAR drivers get a free pass to do it and they are still pretty stupid, but most fans are going to ask what is the driver thinking if they get a little too close. At the same time, there have been drivers that get their cars a little too close to the on-foot driver.Comment
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Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
I'm kinda surprised that he even entertained the idea of racing today in the first place.
A life was lost and that would have been enough for me to pull out but everyone handles things differently.Last edited by Flightwhite24; 08-10-2014, 09:43 AM.The poster formerly know as "FLIGHTWHITE"Comment
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Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
I've raced the sprint cars a lot in iRacing and they are easily the most difficult car on that service to master. They are beasts that are all power with no downforce and they will spin at the slightest mistake. You can't manhandle them, they require a feathery touch with both the throttle and wheel.
I'm not saying this makes me an expert on real world dirt track sprint cars but I doubt it's too much different. The last place you want to be is on foot as they go by, even at slower speeds. And that's especially true on a dimly lit track wearing a black fire suit and helmet. You can't just wrench the wheel sharply in these cars to avoid something you weren't expecting without losing the back end, even at slower speeds. It looked to me like Stewart gunned it for a second to get by him while keeping the wheel straight to maintain his line, but Ward was just too close and got caught by the rear wheel.
It was a tragic mistake on Ward's part.Last edited by Seahawk76; 08-10-2014, 09:50 AM.Comment
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Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
The track wasn't live though. It was under caution. It's quite common to see NASCAR drivers, Stewart included, do the same thing under caution as well when they're pissed at another driver. I'm sure Stewart didn't want to hit the guy. However, he may very well have intended to give the guy a scare or spray some dirt at him as he went by and misjudged it.
Second, we don't know what the intentions were on Stewart's part since he only comes into the frame late in the video. You can see the intentions of Ward however as he goes against the force of traffic; nearly get's hit by the blue and white car, and then moves his way into the path of Stewart. That's just plain stupidity on Ward's part.Rangers - Cowboys - Aggies - Stars - Mavericks
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Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
Just wondering; if Kenseth goes near Stewart to "scare him" and runs him over and kills him, do we absolve him also??
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Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
Just wondering; if Kenseth goes near Stewart to "scare him" and runs him over and kills him, do we absolve him also??
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Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver
The guy getting out of the car and going straight into oncoming traffic was just foolish. He also was putting other drivers in danger that had to avoid him. What if they suddenly had to swerve & they lost control & crashed into a wall or other cars. It's unfortunate that it happened but walking onto the track while cars are flying by isn't a smart move."If you don't have anything good to say, say it often"- Ed the sockComment
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