Tony Stewart

[duckman1911]

Originally Posted by Goooh

He was following another car, they were all going that speed for the most part. Cautions are held at about 40mph, those cars won't even run much slower than that - they have to be push started at about 25mph or more.

He came out of a corner behind another car and would have had little time to see the guy in the track once the other car moved.

This is very true. Those cars have a single gear transmission that setup for the specific track they are racing that night. It doesn't have neutral. If its running its rolling. Roll too slow for your gear ratio you may stall the engine.
They are extremely powerful cars. 1.2lbs of weight per horsepower or so. You talking a 1250lb car with around 950 horses.

[Goooh]

Originally Posted by duckman1911

This is very true. Those cars have a single gear transmission that setup for the specific track they are racing that night. It doesn't have neutral. If its running its rolling. Roll too slow for your gear ratio you may stall the engine.

They are extremely powerful cars. 1.2lbs of weight per horsepower or so. You talking a 1250lb car with around 950 horses.

Add to that the fact that they really aren't made to "steer" with those front tires, they're basically drifters. You hammer and feather the gas in a controlled spin on that slick dirt.

Imagine trying to jerk the wheel with those tiny tires at 40mph on wet dirt, of course he hit the gas to steer away (like a boat, gas it for more maneuvering).

I don't see him running down a 20 year old kid.

[Dogface]

Originally Posted by Goooh

Add to that the fact that they really aren't made to "steer" with those front tires, they're basically drifters. You hammer and feather the gas in a controlled spin on that slick dirt.

Imagine trying to jerk the wheel with those tiny tires at 40mph on wet dirt, of course he hit the gas to steer away (like a boat, gas it for more maneuvering).

I don't see him running down a 20 year old kid.

I don't think there is any way Tony was trying to run this kid down. Tony is a great driver and these cars are very hard to drive. Like Gooh said, they are in a controlled spin almost the entire way around.