Published: Aug. 12, 2014
Safety challenges
Area drivers chime in on Tony Stewart
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
A fight broke out on the race track moments after the
checkered flag flew over the 1979 Daytona 500, between Donnie Allison and Cale
Yarborough.
The fight took place after Allison and Yarborough crashed on
the last lap of the race while battling for the lead.
For the first time, it was caught on live national
television. On-track feuds and confrontations were around well before then and
only continued in the years that have followed.
However, in light of Saturday’s incident involving NASCAR
superstar Tony Stewart and 20year-old sprint car driver Kevin Ward Jr., which
cost Ward’s life, the practice of on-track confrontations are being challenged.
“That happens all the time,” said Shane Wenninger of
Kewaskum, who races sprint cars like the ones Stewart and Ward raced Saturday
in upstate New York.
Stewart and Ward were involved in an on-track incident that
sent Ward into the outside wall, damaging the car and brought out a caution
flag. In moments, Ward jumped out of his car and charged toward Stewart, with cars
traveling at an estimated 40 mph still circulating the track, to confront the
three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. In the process, Stewart clipped
Ward with the rightrear tire of his car, dragged Ward underneath and threw him
about 30 feet down the track.
Ward was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital late
Saturday night, according to The Associated Press.
“I feel sad,” said Kewaskum’s Don Goeden, a sprint car
driver at Plymouth Dirt Track. “I know in the heat of the moment that’s what happens.”
But nobody ever thought it would have this grave of a
consequence.
“I was extremely disappointed,” said Warren Luedke, a member
of the race committee on the Sheboygan County Fair Board, which runs Plymouth
Dirt Track. “It shouldn’t happen. But it’s going to be a problem because the
adrenaline is pumping so hard.”
The incident took place at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in
Canandaigua, New York, about 30 miles southeast of Rochester, New York. Stewart
was in the area to race with the Sprint Cup Series on Sunday, which was at
Watkins Glen International Raceway in Watkins Glen, New York, about an hour
south of Canandaigua, New York.
Stewart withdrew from Sunday’s NASCAR race and, according to
media reports, has withdrawn from a sprint car race event schedule for Saturday
in Plymouth, Indiana.
Since then, opinions and accusations of Stewart’s intent
have run rampant through social media and the Internet. Stewart has been
labeled a murderer and should be in prison for life. Others have been in
defense of him, saying it was an accident and putting blame on Ward for getting
out of his car and getting so close to the cars still circulating around the
track.
“I don’t think he hit him intentionally,” said West Bend’s
Paul Pokorski, who has raced sprint cars for more than 20 years. “I think it
was accidental. I don’t know why Kevin Ward walked onto the race track,
especially as far as he did. He could’ve stayed by his car, made a gesture.
That’s typical.
“I guess only Tony knows what he saw and did.”
According to media reports, local authorities are gathering
evidence to see if criminal charges will be brought on Stewart.
Pokorski and other area drivers just can’t piece together
why Stewart would run over another driver intentionally.
“I think it’s sick that people are saying it,” Wenninger
said. “There’s no doubt in my mind he didn’t do it intentionally.”
According to witness accounts from media reports, there was
belief Stewart revved his engine or sped up when he was near Ward.
“My first thought (of Stewart) was it was more of a gesture
at me, acknowledging the gesture, maybe saying the heck to you,” Pokorski said.
“That’s typical. Most guys will gun their motor as their way of disagreement.”
Wenninger, a 10-year sprint car veteran, along with
Pokorski, said with a sprint car, the best and quickest way to make a sharp
turn is to step on the gas because that’s the way the cars are designed.
Wenninger said Stewart may have been caught by surprise at
where Ward was on the track.
“You do a lot of steering with the back tires because it’s
such a short wheel base,” Wenninger added. “You can use the throttle to direct
yourself around. It’s nothing like a regular car.”
Beaver Dam Raceway and Plymouth Dirt Track have rules
against drivers confronting other drivers on the track or getting out of their
cars before safety crews arrive on the scene and rules are enforced.
“They either go back with their car on the wrecker or in an
ambulance; they can’t walk back,” Luedke said, adding the only exception for a
driver to get out of their car before the safety crew arrives is if there is a
fire.
Todd Thelen, co-promoter at Slinger Superspeedway, didn’t
want to comment on if such a rule exists at Slinger, but said “it’s standard
unwritten policy at every track that I’ve ever been to that you need to stay at
the car until safety gets there.
“It’s common sense.”
Stewart has raced in the region on a handful occasions, most
recently in 2013 at Plymouth.
“He was an extremely good competitor and good man to work
with, really easy to work with,” Luedke said. “He wanted to be treated like the
rest of the guys. He wanted to come to town and be like the local guy.”
While the hope is to eliminate future incidents, the hope is
far-fetched.
“Your adrenaline is so high,” Wenninger said. “When it’s
happening, you’re not thinking about it at all.”
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