NASCAR Driver Tony Stewart Involved In Fatal Accident

Here is a Liveleak video that shows that Kevin may have grabbed the car as it passed by: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a0d_1407932282

 

I c no vid...

 

I have a feeling Tony Stewart is regretting his decision of trying to scare or piss of Ward... No way he meant to kill him but it sure seems he came closer than he needed to.

So sad

 

What will be interesting is when tony starts racing again, every
Media outlet and even some fans will be scrutinizing him, if he makes an aggressive move on track now

 

maybe ward kept walking toward him

 

how about the lucas oil off road racing series. Those guys take a beating

 

Lucas Oil Off-Road series is pretty awesome, I go every year when it's here and the kids love it. Much more fun and exciting than any Nascar event IMO. Plus you get to watch little tikes rip it up in pint sized trucks.

 

Got any information supporting why you think it was an actual "decision" to do something intentional?

 

the video was removed from offline BTW

 

I asked my uncle last night what he thought of this whole incident, his opinion (as a former sprint car driver) is that there is slim to no chance that Stewart even saw Ward.

I have to agree with him.

 

I concurr jake, I don't think tony saw him either or if he did it was too late

the kid should've never gotten out obliviously & to take a few steps towards him was a death sentence

 

I just watched that video. There is no way Stewart could have stopped or really even seen the guy wearing an all black racing suit.
Here's what I watched,
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=969_1407652422

 

how long does it take to stop a sprint winged car? They have no clutch and are always moving correct?

 

No info, just a feeling. I don't think it was intentional to hit him.
I do think that Ward was 100% to blame

 

I've been a crew chief for them, and I've driven them (not raced, driven). I'm pretty familiar with the sight lines out of a sprint car. Let me just say that you don't get much of a view. What you see from the seat is the top wing above, the top of the hood and nose wing below. The view is very narrow vertically. It's enough to race, but you don't sight see. Because the wing panels are offset, up on the left, down on the right, the view out the left side is pretty good. The view out of the right side flat sucks. I'd say you get about a 30 degree view to the right before the wing gets in the way. The body work on the right side is also at about shoulder height. You pretty much don't see anything unless it's right next to you and all you get is a portion of it. Add in the full containment seats that are currently in use, and you don't get to move your head much either, especially to look right.

I wouldn't say that Stewart couldn't have seen Kevin Ward, I would say that from the right side, he would have to have been looking for him and there is a point at which he wouldn't have seen him (or much of him) at all as he approached the car. When you're idling around on yellow, you're not looking for a nut job running at your car, you're looking for wrecks, emergency vehicles, emergency personnel and the other cars around you. Because of the crummy visibility, you are pretty busy just trying not to hit the rest of the stuff on the track much less someone who is trying to get in your way.

 

No clutches, they have a cable they pull to disengage the transmission. IIRC, they only have one disc brake on the front driver side, and one on the back, either on the passenger side or one is fixed to the axle. Those wings create huge downforce, so those guys are flying. Seemed like a huge recipe for disaster, when the guy exited his car to gesture at stewart.

 

That is correct. The sprints are direct drive. More than likely the right sail panel on the wing blocked his view. The cars are probably running 35-40 mph under caution. Its a sad deal and feel for the family. With that said the young man had no right to be upset with in the first place. Stewart placed a slide job (common in dirt racing). Ward had 2 options back off or try to keep the nose of the car in there. He chose the latter and ran out of room. That is called racing. Most dirt tracks I have been too (including the one I work/volunteer at) have rules about not getting out of your car unless its on fire, flipped, etc. Its a sad day when a life is cut short and parents have to bury a child.

Fact of the matter is, had that been Joe Schmo driving the car, we would have never heard about the accident.

 

And the brakes aren't brakes like you think of them. They are set up to turn the car to the left. They are used to moderate power output, or to turn the car into the corner. The 360 CI sprint cars are putting out around 750-800 HP, it takes a lot of brake to stop that program even at idle. These cars don't have that much brake. To get them stopped, you have to pull them out of gear then brake. Out of gear first, because if you are braking it binds up the mechanism that disengages the rear end. There is no transmission per se, the engine is connected directly to the rear end via a drive line (enclosed in a torque tube) to the rear end. There is a mechanism in the rear end that connects, disconnects the drive line. You are in gear, or out of gear. Once you are out of gear, you have to stop and shut the engine off to get it back into gear. To fully stop a sprint car, you have to go through a deliberate process. There are no panic stops unless you are crashing.

 

Umm did you not have the volume up when you watched what happened. Tony clearly revved his engine at Kevin, probably not to hit him but to scare him and Tony took it to far. Put on your listening ears, 10 million people cant be wrong.

 

I'm no expert on Sprint Cars but from the discussions in this thread it sounds like you use the throttle to help turn the car. Also, it seems that you have to constantly rev the engine in order to keep it running.

Someone please correct me if Im wrong