AREA MOTORSPORTS: Reflections on a racing tragedy By CHRIS MARQUART Posted: Tuesday, August 12, 2014 10:32 am | Updated: 11:27 am, Tue Aug 12, 2014. I’m writing this week with a heavy heart for multiple reasons. Above all, there is nothing that can bring young Kevin Ward Jr. back from the accident that has gripped the sporting community. Ward, 20, lost his life Saturday in one of the most misunderstood on-track happenings I have seen in my professional career. He was racing at Canandaigua Motorsports Park with the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints. His car came to rest in the second turn after spinning. He exited the car, approached oncoming traffic in search of NASCAR star Tony Stewart. Ward felt Stewart was at fault in the spin. Stewart’s car made contact with Ward, throwing him several feet and killing the young man. Social media and its throng of new-found “experts” — some of whom have little more than passing knowledge of racing and a keyboard as their qualifying criteria — run the gamut of commentary and idiocy. I am dying for a Facebook MUTE button. Dozens are speaking out of turn, without full knowledge or understanding of what could have been going on inside those high-temperature heads and race cars Saturday. Acting with equally poor responsibility are countless national news agencies, replayed time and time over the entire snippet that has come to both define a weekend and polarize the whole of a sporting community. In the race to be first to report, the passing of Ward was lost, and his entire racing existence in some cases was reduced to the “guy Tony Stewart killed.” If local drivers such as Chuck Hebing, Steve Poirier, Jason Barney or Jared Zimbardi were in the role of Stewart in this, I doubt ESPN or FOX would even know the incident happened. And that’s sad. This is a difficult situation to deal with. Others have died on the track. Kramer Williamson and Jason Leffler, for example, died while racing sprint cars in accidents that took their lives while they were actually racing. In this situation, a driver — a person, a human being — passed away after being struck by a race car in arguable circumstances. Let the record show Canandaigua emergency staff did a remarkable job at staying calm and acting orderly, relaying difficult and emotional information as best they could in the trying and unpredictable circumstances. Still, this whole thing remains incredibly disappointing. The racing community needs to defend its family members and stop looking for something — or someone — to blame. Granted, that is part of the grieving process. But, slow down and think more clearly about a few things. For starters, I find it totally unthinkable that Stewart struck him on pupose. I’ve seen a lot of dumb stuff happen with people in race cars — helmets thrown, gloves, cars kicked, mud thrown, drivers swerving at officials or fellow drivers and even a jack handle being wielded as a baseball bat at a fellow four-cylinder competitor. But each instance — such as this — was a rash act with zero forethought given to the outcomes. Is it plausible that Tony Stewart — the competitor, not the NASCAR champion, not the IRL driver, not the team owner or principal at TSR — wanted to put a little scare into the guy coming toward him? Sure. Smart? Acceptable? Positively not. But plausible? I can see it... Stewart has a history of being a wound-tight type of guy, gruff and unapologetic. He’s in a race car, emotions are high, adrenaline is pumping. I can see it. Try this example: Sprint cars run significant stagger, making the car turn better. The right rear tire is larger in diameter than the left, making it turn to the left. Turn a plastic Solo cup on its side, open part to the right and sealed part to the left and roll it. It will turn to the left. So, in order to make a sprint car turn faster, you not only jerk the wheel, but you also stand on the throttle. It will kick to the left. Fast. Violently, even. Perhaps you want to run something over? You do the same thing. Is that what happened? The former: Plausibly. The latter? Unlikely, but again, given the discussion happening now, it’s plausible. Now, consider this: Visibility in a sprint car is low at best. Tony Stewart has a car next to him, a wing dipped down over the brow of the car, another wing in front of him, a wrap around seat and a restraint system. Peripheral vision is occluded. Now, under yellow, its common for ANY driver to make adjustments: Brake biases, wing adjustments, even checking of gauges. Furthermore, has anyone seen a sprint car generate wheel spin under yellow? To help hold heat in the tires? Is it plausible that Tony simply didn’t see Kevin? Again, plausible. Intentional contact, on board adjustments or attempted swerve? The physical response will be the same: The back end will swing around to the right and the car will want to turn left. Granted, the cars have brake pedals as well. Now, lets flip this to Kevin Ward. First and foremost, think of his family. They have to bury a child. And his passing is on every last media source and embedded on countless websites for the foreseeable internet future. It’s a gut-wrenching thought. Take some time and think of what their situation must be like. Now, stepping away from that, there seems to be a groundswell of people “dumbass’ing” of Kevin for exiting the car. Stop it. That’s ridicule that’s totally off-base. Watch any NASCAR highlight reel following Bristol, or Martinsville. You’ll see National media highlight the same thing. Additionally, how many National telecasts or advertisements have you seen with NASCAR drivers throwing helmets or gloves? Dale Jr. has been there, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Ward Burton... But no one was hurt there. Yet the whole exit the car and display displeasure with assumed assailant is glorified. Its part of the good ol’ boys draw. I can’t even think of the number of drivers I have seen exit a car at the local level. Crowds eat it up; Tony himself did it last August at Bristol after locking horns with Matt Kenseth. How many times at any given track has a driver exited the car to gesture or whatever. Smart? Advisable? Acceptable? Blanket ‘no’s.’ Brewerton and Fulton have enacted this week new policies that result in suspensions for drivers exiting their cars unnecessarily. Did Kevin Ward expect to be hit by a car? No. Consider this: Kevin was also in a race car. He believed he was just dumped by Tony Stewart, the competitor. Tony Stewart is also a multi-time NASCAR Champion with dozens of other National accolades. Ward’s night was over unjustly; his car likely damaged and his points season possibly took a severe blow by a guy who has money and is only racing for money. Plausible that any combination or all of those thoughts went through his mind? Wouldn’t you be upset? And how else express that in racing than to confront the car during the caution laps? In racing, there isn’t another option. Minds are bent, logic is gone and decisions are made as fast as the laps are turned. This time, it went horribly wrong. This sort of thing happens time and time over during every racing season at every local track. This time, it ended in terrible, unfortunate circumstances. Its important to not jump to conclusions and instead put energy where it’s needed: Be a positive force, support the family and the grieving community. Ultimately, this was a perfect storm of bad timing and bad decisions, resulting sobering penalties and horrific outcomes. What really happened will never be known. Only two people know for sure what transpired in those moments, one isn’t talking about it and the other never will again.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 20:36:21 +0000
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