Silver Supporter
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Here is a well written, balanced story on this tragedy. It rings true to me because I've been intimately involved in this style of racing for most of my life. The original crash is just what happens when you are racing. Sometimes two race cars try to occupy the same space at the same time, and neither driver planned for it.
As for getting out of the car to confront Tony at a night race, while wearing a black suit and helmet, on a slippery black dirt track with cars still moving at 40 mph, well, that's just a bad idea. The first car barely missed him, and it looked to me like a surprised Tony swerved to miss him, but caught him with the right rear tire. I've watched hundreds of thousands of laps run by these kinds of cars with the critical eye of a car builder and chassis tuner. I know every minute detail about how they react to throttle and steering on this kind of surface. I saw nothing intentional on Tony's part. It's just the tragic result of an emotional response to an accidental crash. The last paragraphs of the article below say it best:
http://www.motorsport.com/sprint/ne...iver-who-was-killed-but-know-the-whole-story/
As for getting out of the car to confront Tony at a night race, while wearing a black suit and helmet, on a slippery black dirt track with cars still moving at 40 mph, well, that's just a bad idea. The first car barely missed him, and it looked to me like a surprised Tony swerved to miss him, but caught him with the right rear tire. I've watched hundreds of thousands of laps run by these kinds of cars with the critical eye of a car builder and chassis tuner. I know every minute detail about how they react to throttle and steering on this kind of surface. I saw nothing intentional on Tony's part. It's just the tragic result of an emotional response to an accidental crash. The last paragraphs of the article below say it best:
Tony Stewart is as gruff as they come, but he has the biggest heart of any professional driver I have ever known. I can only imagine how his heart is broken for causing the death of another young driver, and to have people insisting that he did it on purpose.
I can imagine how bad that is: I can not imagine what the friends and family of Kevin Ward, Jr. – described in one Facebook post by a friend as "the nicest folks who ever walked the earth" – must be going through.
This story will be enormous, the repercussions far-reaching and likely devastating on multiple levels. No matter what happens at the NASCAR Sprint Cup race this afternoon at Watkins Glen, where Stewart is supposed to start 13th – the number of Kevin Ward's sprint car – this tragedy will eclipse everything, and will for a long time.
I'm praying for Kevin Ward's family, and for Tony Stewart. If you are so inclined, maybe you can, too.
http://www.motorsport.com/sprint/ne...iver-who-was-killed-but-know-the-whole-story/