Tony Stewart involved in fatal sprint car incident

[Moxie]

Don't apply the same rules of driving a regular race car to sprint cars, and dirt track racing in general. You use the throttle to steer with sprint cars.

Mind you that they were under caution when Ward got hit. Whether they slowed have down enough by the scene is debatable. And if they were running at pace speed, Stewart should have some steering authority, if not all of it. Stewart probably though Ward would retreat back at the last moment.

Was Stewart trying to scare Ward?
Was Stewart trying to throw dirt at Ward?
Was Stewart trying to harm Ward?

We may never know the truth. Sprint cars steer with the throttle. If charges were to come from this, Stewart would likely argue that he was trying to take evasive action from the oncoming driver running towards him. This argument would be supported by reports from other drivers stating that they also had to take evasive action. Intent is everything here, and a prosecutor would have a tough time proving intent to do harm, especially if the jury knows about sprint car racing.

[crbassassin]

So in other words....you have no actual proof.

Let me know when you have some.

You don't have any proof that he didn't do it on purpose either. I hope it makes you feel better

[bdr529]

Was Stewart trying to scare Ward?
Was Stewart trying to throw dirt at Ward?
Was Stewart trying to harm Ward?

Yes
Yes
I hope not

[GitanesBlondes]

So in other words....you have no actual proof.

Let me know when you have some.

You don't have any proof that he didn't do it on purpose either. I hope it makes you feel better

Except you' made this statement...

People do extraordinary things when they are in sudden rage, the strong impulse probably clouded Stewart's judgement that led him to commit the crime of passion.

Since you've already decided he is guilty of a crime, tell me, what is your proof that he is 100% beyond a reasonable doubt guilty?

My guess is you probably have no proof.

I prefer to take the long view and see what comes out in the way of facts, instead of resorting a knee-jerk, rush-to-judgment mentality that is fitting of mobs.

[crbassassin]

Was Stewart trying to scare Ward?
Was Stewart trying to throw dirt at Ward?
Was Stewart trying to harm Ward?

Yes
Yes
I hope not

We don't know for sure
We don't know for sure
Most race fans think not

[crbassassin]

People do extraordinary things when they are in sudden rage, the strong impulse probably clouded Stewart's judgement that led him to commit the crime of passion.

Since you've already decided he is guilty of a crime, tell me, what is your proof that he is 100% beyond a reasonable doubt guilty?

Since my claim is not substantiated, I, therefore, retract my statement.

[GitanesBlondes]

If he it can be proven that he is guilty of murder, or even manslaughter, then yes he should be prosecuted for it.

Regardless of whether any of that turns out to be true, the one thing Ward is guilty of, is being an absolute moron for even trying to confront on the track regardless of it being a caution situation.

[theblackangus]

So in other words....you have no actual proof.

Let me know when you have some.

You don't have any proof that he didn't do it on purpose either. I hope it makes you feel better

Shes a witch burn her!
Burn her!

Er... Ummm...How do you know shes a witch?

Well....


I seem to remember something that I hear in the drivers meeting before each meet I have been to.
If something happens stay in your car.
Only if the car is on fire do you leave it, and then straight away from the track to the nearest marshal station.

[crbassassin]

the one thing Ward is guilty of, is being an absolute moron for even trying to confront on the track regardless of it being a caution situation.

Like my claim, you cannot make that claim with 100 certainty. The initial impact with the wall could've given him a concussion or other forms of short term brain damage, impairing his cognition and motor movement. Running toward a moving vehicle is not consistent with normal conscious human behaviors, it looked as if he was aiming for the right rear wheel, it just doesn't seem right. The only plausible medical explanation I have is that he was under the effect of grade I concussion.

Since the dead cannot speak for themselves, no one can say for certain what was going on in their head before they die.

[Spacepace]

How I feel about this is that the mind set in not only in sprint racing but stock car racing needs to change. I see this kind of stupidity everytime I watch nascar. Guys purposely wrecking another guy is commonplace. They need to start setting examples for the lower levels of racing. I see --- on nascar that drivers would be banned in F1 for doing. I remember seeing 3 years ago when a guy was spun and waited until the driver that had spun him to come around and he t-boned him.

[GitanesBlondes]

the one thing Ward is guilty of, is being an absolute moron for even trying to confront on the track regardless of it being a caution situation.

Like my claim, you cannot make that claim with 100 certainty. The initial impact with the wall could've given him a concussion or other forms of short term brain damage, impairing his cognition and motor movement. Running toward a moving vehicle is not consistent with normal conscious human behaviors, it looked as if he was aiming for the right rear wheel, it just doesn't seem right. The only plausible medical explanation I have is that he was under the effect of grade I concussion.

Since the dead cannot speak for themselves, no one can say for certain what was going on in their head before they die.

Are you a doctor?

Nice effort to grasp at straws.

[bdr529]

the one thing Ward is guilty of, is being an absolute moron for even trying to confront on the track regardless of it being a caution situation.

Running toward a moving vehicle is not consistent with normal conscious human behaviors,

You have been watching nasca since 2000, you have seen a handful of drivers do this, along with throwing their helmet at the perceived offending driver Stewart has done this himself

[GitanesBlondes]

the one thing Ward is guilty of, is being an absolute moron for even trying to confront on the track regardless of it being a caution situation.

Running toward a moving vehicle is not consistent with normal conscious human behaviors,

You have been watching nasca since 2000, you have seen a handful of drivers do this, along with throwing their helmet at the perceived offending driver Stewart has done this himself

Thanks, you said what I was going to.

crbassassin just makes stuff up to fit his already formed notion of what happened in spite of lack of facts.

[GitanesBlondes]

Saw this post over on Reddit as it pertains to sprint cars...

For those not in the know, nearly all cars have what is known as a differential - a clump of gears that lets one wheel spin faster than the other, while still applying power to both. This is important because when the vehicle is turning a corner, the outside wheel follows a longer path than the inside wheel - if the wheels were forced to turn at the same speed, one would have to drag and/or skip across the pavement to make up the difference. Tires are designed specifically not to drag, skip and such (lose traction), so this would put a lot of wear on the tires, strain the mechanical bits of the car, and generally make turning more difficult... Keep turning difficulty in mind.

Unless a limited slip differential or solid axle is used, when one tire breaks traction, all the available engine power goes to spinning up that one wheel - the "peg leg" burn-out. Obviously this is a bad thing in a racing situation, and would be a frequent problem on a low-traction dirt race track. A limited slip differential would mean additional weight, complexity and cost, so they simply use a solid rear axle and drift (let both rear wheels break traction) around the corners. To compensate for this loss of traction when cornering, they use huge rear tires.

So... What happens when you combine huge tires (lots of traction) with a solid axle (difficult to turn) and reduced speed (due to yellow flag, resulting in still more traction)? The car becomes very difficult to turn (known as understeer). In fact, it would become far easier to turn by revving the engine to break the rear wheels lose (power-induced oversteer).

So, Stewart comes around the corner, the car in front of him dodges out of the way, revealing a road-raging driver running out in the track. Stewart tries to dodge: He turns the wheel and blips the throttle to get the car to rotate... To point in the right direction so when it regains traction it will miss the object (driver) he's trying to avoid. It was simply too late and/or driver too far out in the track for the physics to play out. The result? Driver gets hit by the rear tire.

[SectorOne]

Running toward a moving vehicle is not consistent with normal conscious human behaviors

Except that in the states, this happens all the time.

One incident that i remember just off the top of my head was a guy jumping feet first straight into another moving car.
Throwing helmets at guys is also something that´s "normal".

It´s not exactly the first time we have seen drivers on the racetrack with other cars around whether it´s NASCAR or some dirt track championship.