What's Going On: Common sense life lesson learned from car racing tragedy
Here’s a sentence I’ve never written, or spoken before today:
There’s a lesson we can all learn from car racing.
No disrespect to car racing, but before this weekend, I haven’t paid much attention to it. While I know the names associated with it, and have been to a few races to take pictures, as a sport, it interests me at the same level as tennis, hockey and soccer, which is to say not at all.
But Saturday night, I started paying attention.
At a dirt race track in upstate New York, a 20-year-old driver named Kevin Ward died.
But that’s merely a portion of the story; who killed Ward and how he was killed is what makes this tragedy a national story that may change auto racing forever.
As I said, I know the big names associated with auto racing. I know my Earnhardt’s from my Gordons, and that ESPN used to like to occasionally feature a guy named Dick Trickle.
I also had heard of Tony Stewart.
Stewart has been atop the NASCAR circuit since the 1990s, winning three individual championships.
In the last 20 years, he’s been a top 10 performer in terms of races and money won. He’s not THE face of NASCAR, or one of the top three, but he’s definitely a major player.
Stewart likes racing on dirt tracks and even owns one of his own. He was supposed to race Sunday at a major NASCAR event at Watkins Glen, and as he’s been known to do, he decided to “warm-up” with a little dirt track action the night before, a couple hours away.
In terms of sports, this is fascinating in and of itself to me.
This is the equivalent of reigning MVP Miguel Cabrera coming up to Clarinda during an off day before a series in Kansas City to play a game with the A’s so he can get in a few swings.
Or Peyton Manning tossing a few passes in an arena football game a couple days before a game with AFC rival New England.
But regardless, Stewart was there and in the race’s 13th lap, his car struck Ward’s.
Based on video of the event, Ward got mad. Again, I’m no racing expert, but I know when drivers shall we say, compete in an unsportsmanlike manner, crashes can happen. And I know in the pasts, this has caused heated verbal and even physical confrontations.
What I don’t know is if Stewart was driving “dirty” causing the crash. Regardless, Ward clearly was mad so he got out of his car and started waving his finger at Stewart.
Ward walked into the middle of the track, with cars whizzing by, waving that finger at an approaching Stewart.
The video shows one car swerving to miss Ward who stands steadfast, confronting the NASCAR champ. As Stewart drove by though, his rear tire clipped Ward.
He died on the track, waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
A criminal investigation is underway, but based on what I saw, I can’t imagine Stewart will be charged with a crime. However, that doesn’t mean he won’t pay a penalty for this. I can only imagine the mental strain he’s now under as he’s consumed with guilt, knowing he’s partially responsible for this man’s death.
Typically, with a tragedy of this nature, change quickly follows and I’m sure that will happen here in the form of a rule change. Soon, NASCAR will be adopting rules that prohibit drivers from leaving their cars unless it’s an urgent matter of safety.
Regardless of Stewart’s role in causing the initial crash, Ward should not have been standing in the middle of that track, essentially playing a deadly and emotionally charged game of chicken with a man-driven rocket.
It’s unfortunate it takes something this horrific to happen before a common sense rule like that is enacted. But that happens every day in our own lives as well.
We don’t want to over-regulate or restrict our “freedoms” based on extreme what-ifs. Unfortunately, it takes a group of terrorists to hijack four planes and fly two into New York City skyscrapers until we decide to screen all customers for weapons and explosives before getting on a plane. Several children were shot in schools before administrators took the uncomfortable steps to secure the entrances to the buildings and classrooms.
As a manager of a business and a home, sometimes I’m guilty of being too lax regarding protocols and procedures that help ensure mistakes don’t happen. I justify my laziness on the premise “that would never happen,” so why make the effort to prevent it.
Next time that sentiment crosses my mind, I’ll think about auto racing and the lesson this incident can teach us all.
Gregory Orear is the General Manager/Editor of the Red Oak Express and Glenwood Opinion-Tribune. He can be contacted at publisher@redoakexpress.com.