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Wow!!! Tony Stewart runs over fellow driver and kills him on track.....

Ponyboy said:
In TS's defense, it looks like Ward moves back and forth, so maybe TS did try to avoid him by going back and forth. Just no way to tell without more data.
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Exactly! Every time I'm with someone who hits a squirrel I ask them this, have you ever thought about what just happened from the squirrels point of view. The squirrels running straight across the road. He's thinking your driving straight down the road at a set speed give or take a a couple miles per hour. He's making his way across the road with that set of parameters... Then all of a sudden he sees you swerving, speeding up and slowing down, bam he's dead but his last thought is, damn that asshole just intentionally ran me over! I'm sure some think, well a squirrel can't think. All I can say is this, I don't speed up, slow down or swerve and I haven't hit an animal in years.

The squirrel scenario is what happened on the track but in reverse. Ward was all over the place. Stewart most likely thought Ward would stay put but the chemicals running through a 20 year old body didn't allow Ward to use good judgement, that and most likely being upset about the damage to his car. That stuffs not cheap. We're talking about a twenty year old kid without the bottomless pockets a professional race team has. I'd like to know what if anything transpired before the race, between the two or between Ward and the people he knows? Since the day he knew Stewart would race I'm sure Ward was thinking that this may be his big break to make the next step up in racing by beating Stewart. I'm guessing he also wasn't a Stewart fan, more likely a jeff Gordon fan as Wards career and life more closely tandems with Gordon's. Either way the kids dead from a series of totally poor decisions that he solely made on his own. He should have stayed in his car. If you were wiped out on the highway by someone else would you try and jump out then chase down the person who caused it? I know I wouldn't now at my age, but I did exactly that when I was 19 and almost got clocked by another car. I didn't have collision coverage and the asshole who pinched me off the road drove away from the scene leaving me with four years of car payments on a lump of useless metal.
 
Do they hand out serious suspensions for people that leave their cars? It seems to happen so often.
 
Totally senseless tragedy, I think solely the fault of the kid. After the grief wears off, and anger sets in, that kid's family is going to be knocking on Tony Stewart's door looking for a big check.
 
TURBO2GO said:
Do they hand out serious suspensions for people that leave their cars? It seems to happen so often.
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They should. Maybe a race suspension for the first offense and increase it two fold for additional offenses.

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NSX-Files said:
Totally senseless tragedy, I think solely the fault of the kid. After the grief wears off, and anger sets in, that kid's family is going to be knocking on Tony Stewart's door looking for a big check.
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No doubt, and they'll probably get something too.
 
steveny said:
(...) The squirrel scenario (...)
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That is even better than the Chewbacca defense ! :biggrin: I had a chuckle reading this quote (*)

Joke aside, i think there are regulations for racing and wading across a racetrack is strictly prohibited in many cases, so responsibility will be determined by theses rules they signed when they registered.

(*) sorry for the families, collateral damage, etc. and no squirrel was harmed while typing this comment.
 
steveny said:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hFuxfIDZFrU

Last years race. Interesting comments at 7:50

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Here's an interesting hypothetical... What if all things were the same but the drivers were swapped? Do you think the kid would already be in custody? What would the public opinion be?
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good point, but ultimately people would still blame the idiot who got out and started trying to fight cars....as they should....

TS will be found innocent as should anybody in this case....but it does certainly look like TS wanted to teach this kid a lesson and ended up teaching him and any other idiot who pulls this move the ultimate lesson...STAY THE F@#k IN YOUR CAR!!!

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here is another interesting video of someone else getting out of the car and what the other driver does about it....

 
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Scarlet mist mixed with poor judgement.
Sadly the sport has a habit of waiting until after a fatality before making changes. Allowing a driver to get out of their car and run around is never a good idea. Back when Cup allowed drivers to race back to the finish line to make up a lap seemed OK until a dazed Dale Jarrett wanders around on the track and the lucky dog was born, and it was the exception.
 
I think it's pretty common for drivers to do this in certain series "getting out of their car after an altercation on track", where we're taught in HPDE NEVER get out of your car unless it's on fire, and I'm certain F1 drivers never run across track anymore.

The incident sucks but you figure you're on a dirt track, there's less control so it's not like someone can easily swerve out of the way. Coupled with the factor of him moving back and forth sometimes in those situations are to just keep going straight or the line since any other direction may be in the way the person swerves too, at least the drivers actions would be predictable.
 
I don't think there was anything purposeful done by Stewart, although I would love to have a view of the track from turn 2 to see if he turned close to Ward or was going straight and there he was, and tried to avoid him.

But I have viewed the video a number of times. I don't see any contact, as has been reported, that caused Ward to spin in the first place. He might have been squeezed out (although even that doesn't appear to be the case), but I see little to no evidence that Stewart spun Ward out, which was the basis for the youngster to demonstrate his anger. It looks to me that Ward lost it on his own accord. Anyone else see it that way?

We have always been taught that unless the car is on fire or there is another compelling reason, you don't leave the protection of the roll cage. Stay in the car until told to exit by the track marshalls.
 
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dquarasr2 said:
We have always been taught that unless the car is on fire or there is another compelling reason, you don't leave the protection of the roll cage. Stay in the car until told to exit by the track marshalls.
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Yep that's the rule for all official race competitions i know of, and if it's a fire you have to run STRAIGHT over the barrier and STAY OUT of the track... And these rules are pretty clear and signed off by pilots. I think the driver here is out of trouble for this reason.
 
Zoom said:
Yep that's the rule for all official race competitions i know of, and if it's a fire you have to run STRAIGHT over the barrier and STAY OUT of the track... And these rules are pretty clear and signed off by pilots. I think the driver here is out of trouble for this reason.
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As well trained Turn Marshals (Flaggers) for over 25 years, my wife and I have known that's pretty much rule 1 for drivers involved in a non-fire incident that has them stuck in a broken race car on track. STAY IN YOUR CAR until help arrives!

Our local road racing circuit (Waterford Hills- www.waterfordhills.com) was paid a visit yesterday by a news crew for comment on this incident;

http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/oak...react-to-death-of-sprint-car-racer-kevin-ward

Brian
(no, that's not our NSX in the background of Danny's interview ;-)
 
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This was tragic on so many levels. As for the first part of the "altercation", Ward appeared to be trying to pass a Hall of Fame driver on the outside and high in the corner. And Stewart wasn't going to let Ward dive the corner on him so he held him high until he lost traction and/or space. And when I looked at the video that steveny posted from last year's race, I could tell by the commentary of the locals around the camera that there may have been a little jealousy of the rich professional hijacking the local track. And Ward's reaction after his car stopped looked like some of the same. He was going beat his chest to send a statement to the rich driver when what he needed to do was impress the rich race team owner with his skill on the track and show that he learned a lesson after being schooled by Stewart. That obviously, would have done more for his future in racing than trying to show up Stewart by calling him out in the middle of track with cars moving as much as 50mph like a spoiled kid. I don't think Stewart knew how to maneuver when he saw the kid in a black racing suit on a dark track coming at him. If he could see him at all because the right side of those cars have a very obscured view. That stunt not only ended Ward's life. It devastated friends, family and fans. And, may have ruined Stewart's racing career in the process. I feel bad for everyone involved.
 
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sca037 said:
As well trained Turn Marshals (Flaggers) for over 25 years, my wife and I have known that's pretty much rule 1 for drivers involved in a non-fire incident that has them stuck in a broken race car on track. STAY IN YOUR CAR until help arrives!
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That rule doesn't apply to WWF NASCAR. Stupid acts are shown live and replayed on TV; almost encouraged.
 
Miner said:
That rule doesn't apply to WWF NASCAR. Stupid acts are shown live and replayed on TV; almost encouraged.
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Agree 100 %. And yes, I realize this particular race has nothing to do with NASCAR. In that series accidents are just a part of the show. How many times have you heard a commentator announce "they are going to crash, it's just a matter of when" waiting for the "big one". So, the culture of NASCAR has permeated other race series as well whose young drivers want to emulate their "heroes".

NASCAR "heroes" have done alot more than just point a finger at another driver after walking out on track from their wrecked car. They just haven't been run over. If the series was serious they would automatically ban any driver who doesn't stay in his car until crews arrive or throws a helmet at another car. But this might detract from the entertainment value so the punishment is usually a slap on the wrist. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. The only thing NASCAR is concerned about is their own image, they have even gone so far as to sanitize their history. They are a very poor role model for the sport.
 
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Jumping out in the race track during a race will pretty much get you the....

darwinawards.jpg
 
steveny said:
In his defense Stewart was most likely trying to roost him with dirt and misjudged the distance and or the kid stepped closer to the Stewarts car.
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After watching the video a few times and reading some journalist(who was there)'s comments I feel this is most likely the scenario that played out.

The kid was dumb but it is still tragic.
 
Ritesh said:
After watching the video a few times and reading some journalist(who was there)'s comments I feel this is most likely the scenario that played out.

The kid was dumb but it is still tragic.
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i dunno. i was racing ovals on dirt (montery fair grounds) with a motorcycle and this fellow fell in front of me. i hit the brake and slid right into him. lot of people got mad at me. one or two people came up to me later and said they saw it and there was nothing i could do but brake and hit him. but... if instead of braking i had gassed it i probably would not have slid into him. you have less than a second to make the call. no way would i gas it with someone falling, and if i did, maybe charged with assault and battery? racing is inherently dangerous, that is why we all sign releases. and no one hits some one on purpose, no matter what it looks like.
my 2 cents.
 
I may have read some of the same accounts Ritesh has. More than a few fellow racers on track state that Ward was entirely visible even with the limited line of sight and that, they think, TS intentionally got close to Ward. However, I got the distinct impression that the amateur racers were more than a little upset that professionals are participating in the events and that that bias more than tainted their views.

Something of note, TS was involved in a crash last year at the same track where one of drivers, in the 15 car crash, was seriously injured. Racing…dangerous business.
 
This will all be over as soon as some money changes hands. Despicable.
 
steveny said:
I'm sure some think, well a squirrel can't think. All I can say is this, I don't speed up, slow down or swerve and I haven't hit an animal in years.
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Interesting you say this, last year on the FL turnpike a posum ran straight into my car, while I was doing 70 MPH with cruise control on...I couldn't believe it...on top of it, i pulled over and it was stuck in my grill, still twitching(have pictures for ins reasons)...160 mile tow back to Orlando.:mad:

Anyway, I think Billy's assessment is best, he walked onto a track in the middle of the race and with cars that you don't just steer by a wheel but with throttle input. It's a shame to see such young life lost over something stupid.
 
Is anyone here good enough with Photoshop to extract out the frames around where ward is just before he's hit to when he's laying on the track then change wards body to white and Tonys car to black so we can see if he stepped to the car or tried to grab the spoiler and bend it maybe? Would that work?
 
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