Random Thoughts Thread

[flex wood]

Yea after watching that video a couple of times it's pretty obvious it's the guys own fault for getting hit. You don't get out of your car and walk TOWARDS oncoming cars on a race track, especially on a dirt track where just hitting a tire track wrong will send your car in a different direction. That is just common sense and I'm pretty sure somewhere in the rules of sprint car racing.

My favorite part is that people are saying he accelerated from watching the video. The video couldn't pick up sound from that far away it picked up a car revving at around the starting line.

[Gunstar Green]

My favorite part is that people are saying he accelerated from watching the video. The video couldn't pick up sound from that far away it picked up a car revving at around the starting line.

You may be right about that, though sprint cars are loud suckers.

And no the guy should not have been parading around on the track throwing a temper tantrum.

[Luke]

I can't make sense of it though...

That's exactly what I think. Wait for the investigation to go through proper channels. No doubt there will be a board of drivers who will be asked how they thought the situation played out. They'll get the bottom of this.

None of us are "professional race car drivers" but we are entitled to say "man...it kinda looks like so and so may have happened". I'm not judging the guy, but given his past, I do not rule out foul play. I also don't rule out it was a tragic accident, so there is no need for a kerfuffle.

[flex wood]

My favorite part is that people are saying he accelerated from watching the video. The video couldn't pick up sound from that far away it picked up a car revving at around the starting line.

Do you know how freaking loud those sprint cars are?

Yea but the stands at every single track I've been to are right in front of the finish line. But yea you can hear the cars making noise but it sounds more like downshifting than revving. Also if you watch the car that passes just before he hit the driver also has his car fishtail a bit too from trying to avoid him.

Also on the topic of hitting deer, it's best to accelerate not swerve. To many people swerve and end up damaging their car, themselves, or other drivers, more than they would if they had hit the deer.

[Gunstar Green]

Eyewitnesses, including another driver, is saying he did accelerate: http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/stor ... kevin-ward

He may not have done so to intentionally hit the guy, but it may have been what caused him to veer into him.

Edit: Obviously the other racer they interview is a friend of the deceased so it's not an unbiased opinion.

I'm not judging the guy, but given his past, I do not rule out foul play. I also don't rule out it was a tragic accident, so there is no need for a kerfuffle.

Yeah, I'm certainly not proclaiming he's guilty or anything and the guy parading around on the track wasn't exactly showing intelligent judgement but I think there's reason enough to at least have an investigation and it's being investigated so.

People are going to call him unequivocally guilty or innocent all over the Internet, but they're not the forensics experts.

[Luke]

Yea but the stands at every single track I've been to are right in front of the finish line. But yea you can hear the cars making noise but it sounds more like downshifting than revving. Also if you watch the car that passes just before he hit the driver also has his car fishtail a bit too from trying to avoid him.

God those races are LOUD.

Again, the drivers will weigh in and drop science.

And again, my question is about if the caution flag was waved or not.

"In case of a yellow flag, maintain your position until crossing the start /finish line. If you are the cause of the caution or stop momentum as a result of the caution you will line up on the tail. Once under caution if your car stalls you will get your position back"


I can't make heads or tails of the rule, but from I has been said is that "You slow down when a yellow flag has been waived". Maybe I'm wrong. AGAIN I'LL WAIT FOR THE INVESTIGATION.

[Gunstar Green]

And again, my question is about if the caution flag was waved or not.

According to the article I posted the caution flag was out.

"Tony pinched him into the frontstretch wall, a racing thing," Graves said. "The right rear tire went down, he spun on the exit of (Turn) 2. They threw the caution and everything was toned down. Kevin got out of his car. … He was throwing his arms up all over the place at Tony for most of the corner.

"I know Tony could see him. I know how you can see out of these cars. When Tony got close to him, he hit the throttle. When you hit a throttle on a sprint car, the car sets sideways. It set sideways, the right rear tire hit Kevin, Kevin was sucked underneath and was stuck under it for a second or two and then it threw him about 50 yards."

Again, it's a friend of the guy who was hit so it's not an unbiased observation but I doubt he's lying about the caution flag.

[flex wood]

And again, my question is about if the caution flag was waved or not.

According to the article I posted the caution flag was out.

"Tony pinched him into the frontstretch wall, a racing thing," Graves said. "The right rear tire went down, he spun on the exit of (Turn) 2. They threw the caution and everything was toned down. Kevin got out of his car. … He was throwing his arms up all over the place at Tony for most of the corner.

"I know Tony could see him. I know how you can see out of these cars. When Tony got close to him, he hit the throttle. When you hit a throttle on a sprint car, the car sets sideways. It set sideways, the right rear tire hit Kevin, Kevin was sucked underneath and was stuck under it for a second or two and then it threw him about 50 yards."

Again, it's a friend of the guy who was hit so it's not an unbiased observation but I doubt he's lying about the caution flag.

I was talking with my friend who races about this over brunch. A down shift sounds almost exactly like acceleration though. You would have to down shift to slow down in a corner like that to avoid the guy since braking would just fishtail you a hell of a lot more then that and gunning the engine would put you sideways not just put his wheel out the tiny bit that it went out. In a corner anything you do is going to change the momentum of one of those cars is going slide out your rear tires, acceleration just much more than what was in that video.

There was also probably a camera on Stewart's car so if that video gets released we'll know for sure.

[JsGameRoom]

. A down shift sounds almost exactly like acceleration though..

Whoa whoa..

wut?

[Forlorn Drifter]

. A down shift sounds almost exactly like acceleration though..

Whoa whoa..

wut?

Downshifting increases the RPMs, because it takes more RPM to keep a vehicle going at the same speed in a lower gear. This sounds the same as accelerating, up until the shift when accelerating.