rubbins racin wrote:
Captain Oblivious wrote:The cars naturally drift on the curves.
Except when they're going 25 mph under a caution.
I didn't realize that you were also allowed to jog on the track under a caution.
rubbins racin wrote:
Captain Oblivious wrote:The cars naturally drift on the curves.
Except when they're going 25 mph under a caution.
I didn't realize that you were also allowed to jog on the track under a caution.
I don't think there's a fine for doing that. I'm sure there will be now, along with many other rule changes for approaching others.
I just visited a forum with a lot of dirt track drivers and fans. The feeling there was unanimous. It was Ward's fault.
These Sprint cars are built with offset wheels. That's to facilitate sliding the rear wheels to the outside (right) going around the turns. Thus, it's possible to miss someone with the front wheel and still hit them with the back wheel.
When Stewart hits the gas, the back of the car slides LEFT and the front of the car goes right. Ward was on the right side.
Stewart, seeing that Ward was too close, was trying to slide the back of the car AWAY from Ward. Anyway, this is the consensus opinion over at a forum where they're more familiar with dirt track racing.
They also agreed that Stewart is sometimes an A__hole, but that's not why he hit Ward. Ward just ran down the track too far and couldn't back up fast enough... it's uphill and sticky on those dirt tracks.
fisky wrote:
I just visited a forum with a lot of dirt track drivers and fans. The feeling there was unanimous. It was Ward's fault.
These Sprint cars are built with offset wheels. That's to facilitate sliding the rear wheels to the outside (right) going around the turns. Thus, it's possible to miss someone with the front wheel and still hit them with the back wheel.
When Stewart hits the gas, the back of the car slides LEFT and the front of the car goes right. Ward was on the right side.
Stewart, seeing that Ward was too close, was trying to slide the back of the car AWAY from Ward. Anyway, this is the consensus opinion over at a forum where they're more familiar with dirt track racing.
They also agreed that Stewart is sometimes an A__hole, but that's not why he hit Ward. Ward just ran down the track too far and couldn't back up fast enough... it's uphill and sticky on those dirt tracks.
Oh, and for those who didn't watch the video, Stewart's car misses Ward with the front wheel and hits him with the rear wheel.
But another poster said only uneducated opinions who had never driven competitively were defending Stewart
actually driven an indy light wrote:
as "rubbins racin" quoted from the article, all true aspect to dirt track. clearly indy lights are vastly diff from dirt track but I've played on dirt tracks as well and can verify the following:
when you drill the accelerator on a sprint/midget car, the car gets sideways
when all the other cars are easing through a caution flag & one single car guns it, yes you can hear that car "all the way" across the track. across the neighborhood, actually.
despite sh**y views from the cockpit, Stewart could very clearly see Ward, as he was squared up to him.
Ward was stupid to walk out there, but it's interesting that stewart has done the exact same thing (as have many other drivers- none resulting in another driver intentionally striking them, IIRC)
Firearms are deadly. you treat them as such and be responsible with them, regardless of if you are shooting a 3gun match, speedshooting, whatever. Cars are also dangerous, and you treat them the same, regardless of how fast you're driving. When a guy cuts a tire, you check up, period.
From the looks of the first two pages of posts, most TS apologists have either never driven competitively nor have they watched the video. cut-&-dried, it was an intentional assualt w/ a deadly weapon (doesn't matter that stewart thought he would win the game of "chicken") than ended up with contact that resulted in a homocide. You don't "accidentally" drill the throttle, knowing full well that the result is a 26"+ tall tire plus wing whacking the guy you are playing chicken with. Only equitable ending is with Stewart in prison for life, sorry.
The biggest thing to me is that Tony Stewart has a TON of experience. These race car driver fans defending him can't have it both ways. If, you're a professional, and you're in control of your car and know what you're doing at all times...including driving inches off another racer's bumper at 200+ MPH. How can you excuse this obvious abuse of your car that resulted in the death of another racer?
Tony Stewart meant to at least scare Ward. And that "scare" resulted in his death. At the minimum it should be vehicular manslaughter.
Let me give you another scenario that I luckily avoided when I was young. I was at a crosswalk, and a teenage punk decided to brazenly walk across a red light in front of a bunch of cars forcing them to stop. I was also a teenager, so I revved my engine to let him know I was coming and then I floored it and missed him by inches. I wanted to scare him, but if I had hit him and killed him, I expect I surely would have been charged with at least vehicular manslaughter. Tony Stewart, a professional car racer, should at least be held to the same standards I would have been.
fisky wrote:
When Stewart hits the gas, the back of the car slides LEFT and the front of the car goes right. Ward was on the right side.
Stewart, seeing that Ward was too close, was trying to slide the back of the car AWAY from Ward. Anyway, this is the consensus opinion over at a forum where they're more familiar with dirt track racing.
The car spun right due to impact with Ward's body, not due to throttle input. Stewart hit the gas well before the impact. Remember, the video is being filmed from across the track and up the stands; at least a half-second delay on the sound.
Can we get a link to this dirt track forum thread? Thanks.
I'm surprised that at the least, Stewart's racing license hasn't been suspended till an investigation is completed.
Barry Badrinath wrote:
fisky wrote:When Stewart hits the gas, the back of the car slides LEFT and the front of the car goes right. Ward was on the right side.
Stewart, seeing that Ward was too close, was trying to slide the back of the car AWAY from Ward. Anyway, this is the consensus opinion over at a forum where they're more familiar with dirt track racing.
The car spun right due to impact with Ward's body, not due to throttle input. Stewart hit the gas well before the impact. Remember, the video is being filmed from across the track and up the stands; at least a half-second delay on the sound.
Good point... I'm just relaying the opinions from a forum that's familiar with dirt track racing.
F*** the police wrote:
Can we get a link to this dirt track forum thread? Thanks.
+1
Still waiting for the link.
Billsfan4 wrote:
Out of respect for Kevin Ward and his family, Tony Stewart should not race today. Tony Stewart's camp says "Business as usual"... are you kidding me?
WTF DO YOU KNOW? it's your own fking subjective way looking at things. how can you come up with a sentence like "out of respect". people like you make me sick, seriously
Barry Badrinath wrote:
fisky wrote:When Stewart hits the gas, the back of the car slides LEFT and the front of the car goes right. Ward was on the right side.
Stewart, seeing that Ward was too close, was trying to slide the back of the car AWAY from Ward. Anyway, this is the consensus opinion over at a forum where they're more familiar with dirt track racing.
The car spun right due to impact with Ward's body, not due to throttle input. Stewart hit the gas well before the impact. Remember, the video is being filmed from across the track and up the stands; at least a half-second delay on the sound.
The rear of the car drifts right from the throttle.
He gets to race if he wants to, this is just some as!shole thinking he's big shi.t as usual in this bigas!s turdworld. Screw Kevin ward!
Captain Oblivious wrote:
Barry Badrinath wrote:The car spun right due to impact with Ward's body, not due to throttle input. Stewart hit the gas well before the impact. Remember, the video is being filmed from across the track and up the stands; at least a half-second delay on the sound.
The rear of the car drifts right from the throttle.
Correct.
really hard to call that intentional from the video linked on p.1, because you just see the car enter the video as he's pointing his arm at a car out of sight and then he's hit. That was amazingly foolish to be walking out there while those cars were still moving by that fast. RIP.
Once again, the Onion was very prescient...
Tony Stewart Calls Upcoming Race 'A Great Opportunity To Kill Someone':
http://www.theonion.com/articles/tony-stewart-calls-upcoming-allstate-400-a-great-o,5357/
Another Man's Shoes wrote:
Maximus wrote: Whether it was on purpose or not, he did KILL the guy. How are you not understanding that.What YOU are failing to understand is that using "kill" in this context implies that there was some sort of intent or neglect on Stewart's part. Not the case. I don't mean to be insensitive, but the reality is that Ward made the mistake. It was an accident and no one should be blamed, per se, but one could accurately suggest that Ward himself neglected to execute proper caution.
Let's say you are driving through your neighborhood and abiding by all traffic laws when suddenly a small child darts in front of you from behind a tree or parked car. You run over the child and the child dies. Are you seriously going to go through life calling yourself a KILLER? By your own rationale, you would have to. Personally, I'd give you a pass and blame the kid's parents for neglecting caution on their child's behalf.
Are people really this stupid. Ward was KILLED when he was hit by the car. The driver of the car was Stewart. Therefore he killed him, whether it was intentional or not. If I am driving down the street and a kid jumps out at the last second and is killed by my car, I killed the kid.
Maximus wrote:
Are people really this stupid. Ward was KILLED when he was hit by the car. The driver of the car was Stewart. Therefore he killed him, whether it was intentional or not. If I am driving down the street and a kid jumps out at the last second and is killed by my car, I killed the kid.
Wrong!
The CAR killed the kid. You just happened to riding in that specific car. Idiot.
Some basics for people to understand.
--You don't step out on to a HOT track, rule #1
--These cars have no lights
--Track lights reflect off helmet face shields and make it more difficult to see when racing at night
--Helmet face shields get covered in dirt/mud during racing which you which you wipe by hand to remove, normally ending up pushing a build up of dirt covering your peripherals
--Ward was wearing an all black racing suit
--You don't step out on a HOT track (this deserves to be written 10 more times)
---
I'm not a fan of Tony Stewart but this was simply not his fault. Under night racing conditions, and wearing all black it is acceptable to believe you simply couldn't see him having his tantrum on track. It has nothing to do with "being a professional", it's track and lighting conditions.
Tony Stewart is known for bullying around himself so it's possible also he did do the throttle blip at him as a "Fcuk off you spoiled little rich kid", and instead of scaring him, clipped him.
Ward also cut off a significant section of track for Stewart to even pass on and kept walking closer seconds before Stewart him, making it likely the scenario mentioned earlier--he blipped the throttle because he knew Ward was get too close and he kicked out the rear to fade it away from him.
You get out of your car on a HOT track, even when caution is up. You stay in your car, have your pissing contest in the pits.