Quote:
Originally Posted by jsceash
I continue to be astonished about the number of irrational comments made by people who in my opinion have never been to a dirt track or seen a sprint car up close, or seen one raced in real life.
The car them selves have little to know side view even if you not in a helmet or buckled in. They have a very large end plate on the wing on the right side that hangs down, and then a net, then add the HANS so you can't hardly turn your head, and helmet side rest you can basically see in front of you and 10 to 15 degrees to either side. Last the right side rear tire hangs out almost but not quite, 1/2 the total car width, and can't be seen by the driver. The cock pit is just big enough for the drivers seat and driver. The drive shaft runs right between the drivers calf's, just under his nutz so to speak. There is a big tire size difference from the right side to left side tires which also makes the car miserable to drive slowly, but they accelerate like a drag car. BTW they cant be driven to slowly either, the limit is about 20, they stall and have to pushed to be started.
The track should have thrown a red flag as soon as the the driver was on the track and didn't!!! My guess is they didn't see him or didn't have time to respond either.
KW got out walked along his car, then ran down the track several lanes almost clipped by the first driver step back then came down again as TS approached. 2 to 3 lanes down from Kw's disabled car.
In sprints like all other forms of racing, in yellow the track is still HOT, the car are prohibited from PASSING only, and that doesn't mean they can't or don't run at high rates of speed in an effort to close ranks and compress the field and move up and down the race line in order to align them selves in the correct running order. This can be seen at a dirt track near you every Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night.
TS was at least 2 lane and possibly 3 below the accident which means he did give way. Could he have been lower maybe but a car had just changed up below him. as he approached KW which he moved up from.
I doubt TS saw KW walking down until it was too late. At that point you are focused on the cars around you, and lining back into your correct position.
Iv'e been around dirt tracks most of my life, doubt it look up Eash in PA dirt tracking. This is nothing more than a tragic accident. In the end I have no doubt Tony and the track will be sued.
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You think it's irrational to point that of the cars that managed to stay as far as possible from the disabled car TS was not one of them?
And why did the other drivers manage this and not TS? Because precisely of what you describe, acknowledgement that there is poor visibility during a night race, inherently poor visibility from a sprint car cockpit, and recognition that there are track workers walking on the track as well as driving on ATVs. You can either drive as safely as is within your control or you don't. Some drivers did this and some didn't, unfortunately for TS he's one of those that didn't and was the one that ended up running over the guy that died.