First, the TL DR version. I'm in the stupid games, stupid prizes camp. I'm really trying to hold back in any grave dancing or such but I've yet to find a shred of sympathy for the deceased.
I'll try to break this down in points, could get long. I've been in the pits of a sprint car track since I was 5, 39 now. I was 16 for like 5 damn years to get in where I couldn't be sneaked in and was working on them in the pits. Higher tier sprints than these, 410 sprints in Central PA which is as good as it gets until the Outlaws come to town to get whipped. After taking a hiatus from that life I came back, drove 305 sprints for 4 years which are 200 or so HP less than the ESS sprints in question. In the future I will be back in a car, if I win powerball it will be a 410.
I've worked on about every aspect of running a dirt track, drive the water truck, grader, angriest flagman ever, etc. Apparently I will be part owner of a dirt track one crappy day in the future, if I have any money we'll run races, if not we'll run private races. So anyway, BTDT.
-Basic stuff, I have yet to turn my back on a running sprint car. They are 13-1700 lbs depending on class and the tire is big, probably won't kill you. The wing will. There is no clutch. The rear axle is a solid tube, if you mash the throttle it moves, if you mash the brakes it moves. The steering wheel is kinda far down the list on what to steer with when you are at speed. It is harder to go in a straight line than it is to turn. It is hard as heck to steer at caution speeds because the front tires find different grip and wobble everywhere and the rear tires do the same which kind of snakes the rear end around a little. Visibility out if the right side is extremely limited. The modern cars are paneled up and the wing sideboard drops down very low. Further with modern seats you usually have a right side head rest and a HANS device limiting your head movement.
-Don't know if Stewart saw him, as mentioned right side visibility. Black firesuit, dim lighting. When you are on the track you usually have a blinding light shining directly in your eyes no matter where you go and the rest is kind of iffy. If Stewart did see him I have no problem believing that he wanted to drive close to him. Don't really care, the kid constantly re-vectored to get in front of the car. My guess, he wanted to stall Stewart which is what happens if you just lock the brakes down.
-Why don't I care? Aggression beget aggression. Any decent sprint car driver is not backing down from anything. Here's where I blame society, reality TV, professional wrestling, and lawyers. In my view on-track retaliation is not good, once a car is wrecking it is just providence that no one gets killed. But it happens all the time, just listen to any Kurt Busch interview when he gets wrecked. If anyone every dies from his retaliation, intent is covered. Stewart isn't so great about that either, wish he'd stick to punching people in the garage. Which is what should happen. If you're that bent out of shape and you're out there both wrecked then step #1 don't take your helmet off, #2 drag the other guy out of the car and beat him severely. The little BS temper tantrums of throwing your helmet or whatever, running onto the track are behaviors that were learned from NASCAR and they didn't happen in the age where you could punch someone and not get sued for millions. Yes I know, punch equals potentially lethal force, but a lot less lethal than going through the barn roof outside of Williams Grove turn 1. And there is zero chance it accidentally involves another driver who ended up in the wrong place. Furthermore, the BS behavior was learned and enforced in go-karts and micro sprints. The kid drove since he was 4. I watch race car parents and they make soccer parents look like Mother Teresa. My opinion is you shouldn't be in a race car until you are old enough to fight your own fights. That'd be 18. For every John Bickford that brings forth a Jeff Gordon there are 1000 spoiled kids who think they should whine, stomp around, initiate un-neccessary contact on track and generally act like they are NASCAR stars.
-Idiots hear the video and say Stewart's car revved before impact. No, there was a lot of track and cars closer to the zoomed camera that are out of frame. The microphone doesn't zoom.
-Idiots say Stewart turned right. Yep, sure did after one or both right side tires were slowed by the deceased. Solid rear axle, if there is a force input it will turn the car. If you saw the guy and wanted to suddenly turn lower a little burp of the throttle would probably be needed to free the rear tires. When you are idling you have a fair bit of right pressure in the wheel to keep the car going straight, even in the turns. The car wants to turn left due to 10-14 inches of circumferential difference(stagger) in the rears. But to do it in a hurry, you still burp the throttle.
-On the incident, can't even really see that they touched. Wasn't really even a slide job, just moved him up some. At that point you are in loose dirt and looking at a sprint car's offensive weapon which is the right rear tire. That's your clue to give up, the guy inside never loses.
Anyway, sprint car racing is probably out of step with the modern lawyered up world. The era that produced AJ Foyt and Mario Andretti produced a lot of other great sprint car drivers. We don't know their names because they are dead. That era of risk would not tolerate behavior we see today, be it on track contact or hissy fits. Now cars are so safe that people forget that it is still the Roman arena and every time you push off it could be to a lethal incident.
On aggression, where is the line? We could roll over and never respond to any aggression from feral idiots. Then they would rule the world. Could I be in Stewart's situation? Sure, just driving down to the city this weekend I mistreated a car with New York plates who was acting extremely poorly to everyone. I'm fully prepared to place my car in contact with his and my blood pressure isn't even up. But where does that lead? Death is all around us constantly and where will we be if we all just take it lying down?
