Hey Sonic, have you ever been to a Sprint Car race?
You should really go sometime, but wait until it's a World of Outlaws event or an ASCS event, so there will be more cars to check out. Buy the pit pass so you can walk around in the pits and sit right next to the track in the pit stands. Not sure where you live but name the general area and I'll recommend a track. If it's Seattle, it's going to be Skagit or Elma (Grey's Harbor). Ohio and Pennsylvania has the BEST sprint car racing in the east, but there are awesome tracks all over the place, even Australia.
When you go to the pit gate and pay your $35.00 entry fee and get your pink wristband, you'll be asked to sign a document with a lot of fine print on it. They will give you copies to take home if you request it. Read it and tell me if safety regulations and conduct aren't a huge concern, and whether you think any part of the activities are anything other than "at your own risk".
Then walk up to and, ask to assist, a young local racer unload and prepare his car. It will be fun.
If you ask, he'll tell you that he spent $300 for one right rear tire. "Wow!?" you'll say. In fact, he'll have spent about $5,000 for a used rolling chassis (with axles and nerfs), and his used 360 motor cost him around $10,000. You can help him adjust his $450 aircraft aluminum top wing and carefully adjust his air pressure with a $100 digital gauge that reads in .25-lb increments. Help him pour the prohibitively-expensive methyl alcohol in his tank and watch as he jumps into his $750 Sparko flame retardant racing suit and cinches-up the laces of his $285.00 Simpson racing shoes and puts on his $680 Helmet. He might ask your help as he slides into his $900 racing seat with the $250, 5-point Sparko harness set and his $700 HAANS device. You'll ask yourself "why would this kid want to break the rules like that when all this money has been spent?"
While taking all that in, and seeing the attention to detail that is put into checking every last little thing before the car leaves the pits, you can watch the etiquette displayed by the other drivers and crews putting a show on for the fans. Here the announcer say cool stuff. It's a blast.
After he comes in and you get to smell that alcohol exhaust and hear that beasty engine rumbling the earth, you'll see the steam rolling off the tires and smell the melted rubber. After he hops out soaking in sweat you can ask him how important it is to finish as high as he can to receive the biggest payout to offset his fuel and maintenance costs. Ask how important all this money from sponsors is to his operation and how important it is to make a good showing for them, the track and fans. Ask him how important championship points are to him. Ask him what he'd do if another driver bumped into him.
You can also ask him if a guy pinches him off and spins him out whether he would run out onto the track, abandoning all the money he and sponsors put in (not to mention a trailer and a truck and gas to pull it...) to make asshole faces and gestures at a 3-time Nascar champion driver he idolizes while standing in his lane of travel. Or, if he'd just sit safely in his car until the tow truck came to snatch him up and take him to the pits. Oh, and on the way, he can wave to the crowd telling them he is okay, and may even get a mic in his face so he can thank his sponsors and he can tell the 8500 folks in the stands how cool it was to race on the same track with a 3-time NASCAR champion. And stay ahead of him for a few laps!!!
Nope, sorry. That kid, Ward Jr., is a damn spoiled idiot. His priorities were screwed up, daddy paid for everything, he got caught up in the moment, got angry, and let his emotions ruin what could have been a great night for he and his family, and his sponsors. Spoiled hot-head brat. Sorry, but it is true. I have seen and raced with his type.
In all seriousness, If it was my kid, I would be devastated by embarrassment. I'd apologize to Stewart for the pain my son caused him with all this BS media circus.
If you ask me, Tony Stewart is the victim here. (and I say that, but wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire.)