Auto Racing

[Deleted]

For those who like to play NASCAR Fantasy, my league (Smokin' 14's) is up!

Go to Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com), click on Sports, then click on Fantasy Auto Racing.

Group ID: 11689
password: tonystewart2014

[waytoocheerful]

Juniorrrrrrrrrr!

And all is right with the world. North Carolina's population is bleary-eyed this morning after staying up watching that Daytona 500 finish.

[aibohphobia]

I just woke up and saw this depressing story on a sports messageboard that I follow, Tony Stewart's Car Hits, Kills Driver Kevin Ward Jr..

[Deleted]

Aug 10, 2014 9:18:56 GMT -4 aibohphobia said:

I just woke up and saw this depressing story on a sports messageboard that I follow, Tony Stewart's Car Hits, Kills Driver Kevin Ward Jr..

I have seen a lot of people posting about this on Facebook. So crazy. And originally Tony Stewart's team said he was still going to race today and it was "business as usual," but I guess they realized that was a bad idea when they saw all the backlash from fans and the media.

ETA: from what I have read, this incident occurred because of carelessness all around. The driver who died, Kevin Ward, got out of his car to "confront" Tony Stewart (on a race car with cars whizzing by?!). In the video you can see another car almost hit the guy when he gets out, but they managed to swerve and miss him. Tony gunned his engine when he came by, I guess as an "F-you," and it caused his back tires to fishtail out, hitting Ward and dragging him under the car, then throwing him out. Very sad and easily avoided accident. I'm not sure of the history between these two, but it sounds like this may have been a case of hotheaded stupidity on both their parts (Ward was 20, just a kid, and Tony Stewart is obviously known for his bad temper).

[pathtaken]

Quite a few on my Facebook were talking about this also. It amazes me how everyone sees something different in the video of it.

[discoprincess]

Aug 10, 2014 11:25:46 GMT -4 @madefortv said:

[I'm not sure of the history between these two, but it sounds like this may have been a case of hotheaded stupidity on both their parts (Ward was 20, just a kid, and Tony Stewart is obviously known for his bad temper).

I don't think that Tony Stewart intended to kill Ward. I'd like to think he might not have seen him. (Some pointed out that driver visibility on the track would be limited.) However, he obviously has a rep, so that's why everyone is giving him the side eye (as opposed to writing this off simply as a tragic accident).

[Deleted]

I don't necessarily think he meant to kill him, either, but I do think that he acted irresponsibly by revving the engine and causing his car to fishtail and drag Ward underneath. I also think that he definitely saw him, because the engine rev was intended to be intimidating. Of course, Ward was also extremely irresponsible for being out on the track and so close to the speeding cars in the first place. That's basically asking to be run over.

[MrsCatHead]

any Formula 1 fans here? I was into it in the late 80s, early 90s but stopped watching after Senna died. But my fiance is super into it so I kind of fell back into the fandom. Would love another place to chat about the races, drivers, teams, etc.

[MrsCatHead]

Just talking to myself: OMG the Austin race today! My fiance is convinced Verstappen is a god. But to take away his podium spot was just cruel. He was already in the podium room!!!

[Ginger]

Aug 3, 2017 23:42:52 GMT -4 MrsCatHead said:

any Formula 1 fans here? I was into it in the late 80s, early 90s but stopped watching after Senna died. But my fiance is super into it so I kind of fell back into the fandom. Would love another place to chat about the races, drivers, teams, etc.

So this message is four years old, but my sister got me into Formula 1 over the past couple of years. She even drove a couple of hours yesterday so we could watch the Monzo Grand Prix together. I said it kind of seems to me like Formula 1 has become more popular lately, and I don't think it's just because algorithms are driving Formula 1 stuff into my social media feed.

The Verstappen-Hamilton rivalry has made it interesting. It's always boring to me in any sport when one person is so dominant and there's no suspense.

In terms of the fault yesterday for the crash, we replayed several times and thought it could go either way. Verstappen was passing and Hamilton didn't give him room. Or on the other hand, Verstappen should have backed off when there wasn't room. Official verdict was that Verstappen had not yet achieved enough ground on that overtake to have held on so it was his fault.

In any event, SUCH a huge lack of class on Verstappen's part to stalk away from the crash without even seeming to give a glance back to make sure Hamilton was ok let alone talking to him and hanging around to make sure. Verstappen's CAR landed on Hamilton's HEAD! It seems to take an enormous amount of effort on Verstappen's part to be minimally polite. In a sport full of self-centered egomaniacal dudes, he stands out as one of the worst.

And as always, Hamilton stands out for being extraordinarily classy, thoughtful and gracious.