Will Tony Stewart Change?

Motorsport is dangerous. I realise that to virtually everybody that doesn’t come as a surprise, heck for motorsport over here it even says it on the tickets. Tony Stewart breaking his leg is another example that we didn’t really need of this fact. It has been a terrible year for injuries and deaths so far in the sport not just in the US racing leagues but worldwide, and the inevitable calls either for the series in question to be stopped or for the top name drivers to stay away from it. Although why the top name drivers should have these pleas and not the ‘regular’ drivers if people view it as so dangerous is something I don’t understand.

But then so many things we do day-to-day are dangerous, cooking for example has, knives, hot stoves, boiling water, ovens with searing hot temperatures. Crossing the road, with cars going 30mph in different directions is dangerous. But we would never stop doing these things instead we take precautions, we look both ways before crossing, we keep our hands away from the knife-edge and use oven mitts when touching hot objects. Motorsport is no different, drivers use helmets and are strapped in with harnesses, roll cages are fitted to cars, but still accidents will happen.

Jul 28, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Tony Stewart during drivers introductions prior to the Samuel Deeds 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Tony Stewart’s accident was just that an accident. It couldn’t have been predicted, if the lapped car had spun and stopped sooner Stewart may have sighted it better, or if it had come to a stop lower down the track he could have avoided it. If the 14 sprint car had hit the lapped car more full on or at a different angle he may not have rolled. If Stewart’s laps had been a little faster he may have missed the spin or a little slower it may have been cleared by the time he got there. It really is a case of wrong place wrong time and no precautions could have prevented the accident or the injury. Sure there are accidents that could have been prevented or the injury risk minimised, such accidents lead to innovations like the HANS device and crumple zones that make the whole of the racing fraternity a safer place to be.

Wanting drivers like Stewart to stop racing sprint cars is also never going to happen. He’s a racer who loves nothing better than going fast in what ever he can get his hands on. He owns a sprint car team, a late model race team the Eldora race track and of course half of a NASCAR Sprint Cup team, he is the very definition of a racer. I think that if you asked him to stop racing anything other than his Cup car he would lose his edge, he’d get frustrated at not being able to race and that would be reflected in his racing. In fact only a week earlier he rolled his sprint car five times and was uninjured and when asked about it he said:

"“You guys need to watch more sprint-car videos and stuff. It was not a big deal…It’s starting to get annoying this week about that. That was just an average sprint-car wreck.”"

But more telling about his view on racing and his love of it was when he said:

"“…That was the worst part of the week when I was told I was not going to be allowed to race this weekend because we only had one new car left.”"

Of course there is the commercial argument that as a ‘top Cup driver’ who is in with a real shot at making the Chase that this will jeopardise his chances of making it and at the same time mean a dip in earnings for Stewart-Haas Racing and therefore that should be a reason to stop racing. But everybody knows Stewart and would have known what they were getting into with him and one would have to wonder if he would ever agree to go into business with someone if there was a limit put on his racing time. I suspect that he wouldn’t.

Jul 24, 2013; Rossburg, OH, USA; NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Austin Dillon receives the trophy from track owner Tony Stewart after winning the Mudsummer Classic at Eldora Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Talking of making the Chase his chances have taken a real hit (excuse the pun) with this injury. It is already announced that he wont be driving this weekend at Watkins Glen (ending an amazing streak of 521 consecutive races), with Max Papis stepping into the 14’s driving seat. Who will no doubt do a good job at getting some valuable owners points for the 14 team, he has raced three times at WGI and achieved an 8th place finish in 2009. But for Stewart who currently sits in 11th place only 5 points from 10th place it will be a real challenge to make the Chase now. Brad Keselowski is only 2 points behind him and he will more than likely fall to 18th place after the race.

Smoke is a tough character and if, and it’s a very big if, he can somehow find a way to drive before Michigan in two weeks than he will still have an outside chance of making the Chase as with the win he got at Dover helps his chances of getting a wildcard spot. But with an estimated recovery time of 4-6 weeks and only 5 races until the Chase starts realistically his season is over. However what I would put money on is if Stewart had the chance to do that race again he would still do it and that won’t be changing any time soon.