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From the washinton examiner, another racer responds:
"Those of us who love racing grieve any time any driver — or crew member, or spectator — dies, regardless of the circumstances. It's a sickening thing.
But it's also sickening to read and hear the macabre sensationalization, vituperation and character assassination being heaped on Stewart, especially by journalists and sports commentators, hardly any of whom have ever raced competitively at any level.
It's bad enough that the ambulance-chasers will have a field day in the court system for years to come with this case. Nobody but the lawyers will win, regardless of the verdicts.
But it's absolutely nauseating to listen to click-hounds posing as experts who obviously have no clue what they are talking about.
There has been much discussion, for example, about "road-rage" among NASCAR drivers like Stewart. There have indeed been well-publicized incidents, including angry drivers tossing helmets at competitors and melees in the pits involving drivers and crew members.
But since the nationally televised fisticuffs between Donnie Allison and Cale Yarbrough at Daytona in 1979, there have been thousands of events run by legions of NASCAR drivers who collectively covered millions of laps during practice, qualifying and races.
It's simply preposterous to turn a dozen finger-pointing, helmet-tossing incidents during those millions of laps into what the Washington Post's Mike Wise called "the twisted, accepted culture of road-rage" that he blindly sees as racing.
I don't recall Wise branding Major League Baseball a mob culture because a dozen times during the typical season somebody gets beaned and bench-clearing brawls ensue.
That Stewart has been a hot-head on and off the track has zero relevance to the situation in New York, though its irresistible to some professional journalists who are supposedly paid to get the facts.
The fact is that even if Stewart had instead been a saint all of those years, it is all but certain he still would not have been able to avoid hitting Ward.
That's not a crime, nor is it road rage. It's a tragedy."
NASCAR racer Tony Stewart while racing on a dirt track in NY hits another driver who was not happy with Tony. Victim driver WALK onto a RACE track (as if that's a good idea), points angrily at Stewart...and Stewart accidentally hits him. Now I feel badly for both parties. Stewart obviously didn't mean to kill this kid, but what kind of fool walks into the middle of a race track? Come on. Not good.
I've read conflicting reports about the deceased drivers' age - 17-20, anyone?
Darwin comes to mind and this kid wins a Darwin Award....hands down.
i think the latest video should put to rest any question of whether tony did it on purpose or not. the video shows NOT. it was in the end a tragic event that was caused by the deceased due to his rage over a racing incident between him and stewart. to make it anything more is the height of stupidity.
At the base level, a driver charged another driver- who was still in a moving race vehicle, and made contact with vehicle and died. This is not the streets of Anytown, USA or NYC where pedestrians are the norm and vehicles must give right-of-way. This is a purpose-built facility for racing cars.
Racing deaths happen enough they're not rare. It's only because it involves a big fish in a little pond that most of the people (on the Internet) are reacting to. They have little to zero experience with racing in general, let alone a subset.
Nah, it's news both because a nascar star was involved and because he ran over another racer. That's incredibly rare, usually drivers die in their cars.
Charges still haven't been ruled out. Tony obviously didn't do it intentionally, but he is known for being a giant a-hole so I doubt you're going to have many sympathizing for him. It's a sad situation all around. A poor young man was killed, his family lost a son/brother/etc; and Tony has to live with this for the rest of his life.
Wait till Stewart sues the family of the deceased for mental anguish. What if Tony is so distraught over this kids actions that he can never drive again. What is THAT worth in a settlement? If you think the popular press is sizzling now, watch that onslaught.
(I would doubt that Tony would do this, but if the family files a civil suit for wrongful death against Tony, one of his legal "tactics" can be to countersue).
Charges still haven't been ruled out. Tony obviously didn't do it intentionally, but he is known for being a giant a-hole so I doubt you're going to have many sympathizing for him. It's a sad situation all around. A poor young man was killed, his family lost a son/brother/etc; and Tony has to live with this for the rest of his life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ted Bear
Wait till Stewart sues the family of the deceased for mental anguish. What if Tony is so distraught over this kids actions that he can never drive again. What is THAT worth in a settlement? If you think the popular press is sizzling now, watch that onslaught.
(I would doubt that Tony would do this, but if the family files a civil suit for wrongful death against Tony, one of his legal "tactics" can be to countersue).
the latest video shows the tony actively tried to avoid the kid, thus should rule out any civil or criminal proceedings against him.
the latest video shows the tony actively tried to avoid the kid, thus should rule out any civil or criminal proceedings against him.
May rule out criminal, but not necessarily civil. Fault always lies with the person behind the wheel.
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