This happened today at the Glen(proper spelling). It took them over hour to replace the guardrail and then there was another weird accident right at the end where they took out the pit rd. barriers.
I think Stewart was startled a bit and like others said hit the gas to turn left. The car in front of Stewart looked like they swerved at the last minute. I’ve been to lots of races at Canandaigua back when the world of outlaws ran every year. The tire on the right rear is much bigger then the left rear - to turn left fast, hit the gas. It was probably instinct. Plus, you can’t just push in the clutch (doesn’t have one) and grab the brakes in that short of a time - that’s why Stewart started that big sprint car wreck earlier - these cars don’t stop well - brake is very biased as well as tires. Either way, Ward was way to close to the car - throw the helmet, flip him off, throw up your arms, but he was way to close to a open wheeled car. In NASCAR, you have to be in front of the car to get ran over, but he was way to close to one of these open wheeled things.
Tony Stewert’s car insurance is definitely going to go up.
With a real car, yes.
All I keep hearing from people is “I feel so bad for Tony, I cant imagine what hes going through” Ugg how about feeling bad for the family of the guy that just lost his life. This country is fucked.
That’s wild / sad to watch.
I feel bad for both parties involved here. As someone who is a dirt track racing fan and has been to many races over the years at a few different tracks, this just seems like a racing deal gone wrong.
It’s not uncommon for drivers to exit there cars after they feel they have been wronged, especially on your local dirt track. Typically, they do not get THAT close to the cars as they parade around on a caution. Have I seen helmets thrown, arms in the air, yes. Have I seen a driver get that close to another car? Maybe once - but the other car was going extremely slow, even crawling around the track.
There is no ‘rule’ that states you cannot get out of your car after you are in an accident. Will their be one in place because of this? It’s a possibility. This is a very emotional sport when wrecks happen and cars torn up, or cars bump and a driver feels he was wronged. Its very hard if not impossible to control your emotion in times like that. The adrenaline you have, the anger, etc. It builds up very quickly. Should the driver have left his car? Of course, common sense and 95% of the population will say no and he is at fault. But they are not the racers, they have not been in that situation before.
Prayers to all involved, especially the Ward family.
I bet you’ll see some big rules changes after this. Getting out of your car before the safety truck arrives will be a big fine and anyone doing it like this will bring out a full course red.
I seriously doubt this was an intentional act by Stewart. Ward was in a black fire suit with a black helmet and walked down to a section of track that wasn’t all that well lit. Ward made a terrible decision in the heat of the moment and it cost him. End of story as far as I’m concerned.
There was a caution out. Stewart was only going approx 40mph and those cars can actually steer just fine without having to throttle it at those low speeds. It’s kind of obvious Stewart was trying to frighten him at the very least. I don’t think he wanted to kill the guy, it’s just his temper fueled idea of a prank back fired.
So many people are acting like the judge, jury, and executioner. Just because he got out of his car (which Stewart has done plenty of times) does not mean he deserves death.
I don’t think anyone is saying he deserved to die, but that his own actions were a much greater contributor to his death than Stewart’s…
Agree.
Yes, these cars are set-up for throttle steer, around a 200 foot radius turn (not Miata-esque throttle steer around an auto-x cone). These cars turn fine in the pits and into the infield for post race inspections to go over the scales. If you “have to” throttle steer then the #45 driver must be amazing because he moved closer to the infield without upsetting throttle response.
This conversation would be different if Tony’s front wheels were full lock left and he slid into the guy with brakes locked. Every race commentator, veteran race correspondent, media person has taken such a neutral stance. Except Tim Packman? on Shred & Regan this morning (please excuse the paraphrasing) “there are 30 different situations that could have happened, he could have driven further to the infield, he could have stopped, the safety officials could have arrived sooner and held Ward back”.
That throttle blip was some sort of poorly executed ass hattery, or poorly executed avoidance. In either case it was poorly executed.
And what is up with all the replays on ESPN and network news editing out the audio?
If I’m going to assign blame:
51% Kevin Ward for getting out of the car.
33% NASCAR/circle track sanctioning bodies/safety officials for allowing the “come at me bro” mentality
15% Tony Stewart for not driving down to the infield, not laying on the brakes.
1% to the camera guy for having a shaky hand.
my friend was driving the blue #45 car… that was the car before tonys… he said he couldn’t even see the guy at all…
he must have seen something, you can see him swerve to avoid the kid
I watched the video and initially thought it was a move Stewart intended to do, and it went wrong. Then I listened to some who thought he may have been trying to avoid him with the “throttle steer”. After watching it again multiple times I’m of the thought that it was a “gesture” he was trying to convey and it went horribly wrong. I think Stewart is the only one who will ever know for sure what his intentions were. Again, I don’t think that guy should’ve been running around on the track in the first place. Nothing saying someone else could’ve hit him just the same.
he said he barely missed him and didn’t even see him until the last second…
those cars don’t fucking steer you simply cant just turn out of the way… you are better off trying to throttle steer
Contrary to popular belief, they actually can turn just fine without having to throttle it at the speeds they were going under the caution. Your friend in the #45 did it in the video.
Definitely doubt anyone thinks this guy deserved to get killed. If so, they are pretty f*cked in the head.
I have a feeling that your friend is going to get some questions asked of him (about what he was able to see) by investigators.
This is a tough one for me to openly comment on. I have family in CNY and my cousin’s now wife is a relative of Ward’s. I feel as if it truly was an accident, but it’s certainly sad all the way around.
RIP
these cars are welded rear diff, right? even more of a reason you have to to throttle to react fast.