Typically, they are powered by a naturally aspirated, methanol-injected overhead valve American V8 engine with a displacement of 410 cubic inches (6.7L) and capable of engine speeds of 9000 rpm. Sprint cars have very high power-to-weight ratios, with weights of approximately 1,400 pounds (640 kg) (including the driver) and power outputs of over 900 horsepower (670 kW), which give them a power-to-weight ratio besting that of contemporary F1 cars. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. If you are so inclined, maybe you can, too.Daryn Pittman's 2013 World of Outlaws winged sprint car I’m praying for Kevin Ward’s family, and for Tony Stewart. No matter what happens at the NASCAR Sprint Cup race this afternoon at Watkins Glen, where Stewart is supposed to start 13th – the number of Kevin Ward’s sprint car – this tragedy will eclipse everything, and will for a long time. This story will be enormous, the repercussions far-reaching and likely devastating on multiple levels. – described in one Facebook post by a friend as “the nicest folks who ever walked the earth” – must be going through. I can imagine how bad that is: I can not imagine what the friends and family of Kevin Ward, Jr. I can only imagine how his heart is broken for causing the death of another young driver, and to have people insisting that he did it on purpose. Tony Stewart is as gruff as they come, but he has the biggest heart of any professional driver I have ever known. About how, when he briefly owned a few racing Greyhounds, that he would fly them to new owners in his private jet when they retired. About how we once admitted to each other that we each had a Chihuahua dog, that happened to sleep in our bed, and how we must never again say that out loud in public. Having covered him since his original short-track days, I wish I could tell you about the charitable deeds you don’t know about. That's what I like to do when I have extra time.” The coming stormĪs I write this, it is difficult – impossible, really – to imagine the storm that is about to rain down on sprint car racing in general, Tony Stewart in particular. Everybody has stuff they like to do when they have downtime, and that's just what it is for me. I've always liked racing Sprint cars, and it's just what I enjoy doing. Some of those people will be waiting for a respectful time to pass before they say, “I told you so.” Others won’t even wait that long.Īs for what he gets out of sprint cars: He did a conference call with some of us just after he returned to sprint car racing on July 18, winning his first time out at the Tri-City Speedway, a dirt track in Michigan, where he showed up unannounced to run a 360 sprint with the SOD (Sprints on Dirt) series. Why does Stewart do it?Īfter Stewart’s own crash, he took a lot of criticism about how someone of his stature should not be racing sprint cars – that so many employees and sponsors depended on him, that he simply shouldn’t participate in something so dangerous. In fact, Stewart was in Knoxville earlier this week, cheering on his team, which also includes soon-to-retire sprint car legend Steve Kinser. The winner of the Knoxville Nationals, for the eighth time – Donny Schatz, who drives for team owner Tony Stewart. The feature there was just about to get rolling when Stewart’s accident occurred. And a final irony is that Saturday night, 820 miles due west from Canandaigua, New York, the biggest sprint car race of the year was being held – the Knoxville Nationals, in Knoxville, Iowa, featuring all the World of Outlaws sprint car stars, and the top drivers from other series.
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