I thought they were under a yellow flag due to the initial wreck. I think Stewart did attempt to hit him with a glancing blow but did not intend to cause a serious injury. I think he might be guilty of unintentional manslaughter.
It's all part of the dikc-measuring contest that young guys play all the time. I've been intimidated on the track when I first started by getting bumped for no cause. They just want to let you know who's the boss at this track, and don't get in the way, you miserable pud-knocker.
Since I was also a crew-dog getting the car ready, and had to fix the car if I broke it, I was pretty careful about bumping and grinding with other cars on the track. It's considered bad form for a back-marker, or slower car to get involved with the Big Boys(sic - Stewart), and I would guess that this is what Stewart was doing on this track, this night before the crash. He was moving other cars out of the way with his front bumper, and got a bit too aggressive with one move, which caused all the heartburn.
I don't know about this kid, but likely he had a lot of his own money, and family time and energy wrapped up in his car, and for it to be damaged by Stewart is pretty galling. But - you can take it to the race steward, or track officials after the race and ask for sanctions or disqualification.
There is about a 0.000001% chance that Stewart would be sanctioned for a bump and run, and an even less chance he would be disqualified. That's what the deal is when you are a Big Dog, it puts butts in the seats, and beer sales pay for the race officials, so if this small track was to sanction him, Stewart would likely never come back, and tell his other buddies that the track was 'unfriendly' and they would never get any names to race there again.
What I would have done, is to limp back to the pits, fix my car enough that it would be let back in the race, and then ram Stewart on his next pass. Sure, I'd get disqualified, and they might even suspend my driver's card for a while - but, Stewart would know who I was, and not because of the obit.
It's all part of the dikc-measuring contest that young guys play all the time. I've been intimidated on the track when I first started by getting bumped for no cause. They just want to let you know who's the boss at this track, and don't get in the way, you miserable pud-knocker.
Since I was also a crew-dog getting the car ready, and had to fix the car if I broke it, I was pretty careful about bumping and grinding with other cars on the track. It's considered bad form for a back-marker, or slower car to get involved with the Big Boys(sic - Stewart), and I would guess that this is what Stewart was doing on this track, this night before the crash. He was moving other cars out of the way with his front bumper, and got a bit too aggressive with one move, which caused all the heartburn.
I don't know about this kid, but likely he had a lot of his own money, and family time and energy wrapped up in his car, and for it to be damaged by Stewart is pretty galling. But - you can take it to the race steward, or track officials after the race and ask for sanctions or disqualification.
There is about a 0.000001% chance that Stewart would be sanctioned for a bump and run, and an even less chance he would be disqualified. That's what the deal is when you are a Big Dog, it puts butts in the seats, and beer sales pay for the race officials, so if this small track was to sanction him, Stewart would likely never come back, and tell his other buddies that the track was 'unfriendly' and they would never get any names to race there again.
What I would have done, is to limp back to the pits, fix my car enough that it would be let back in the race, and then ram Stewart on his next pass. Sure, I'd get disqualified, and they might even suspend my driver's card for a while - but, Stewart would know who I was, and not because of the obit.
