Stewart out of the woods...

[John McCoy]

At least as far as the criminal case goes.

The Grand Jury declined to press charges. One big factor
seems to be the toxicology report, which showed Ward was
under the influence of marijuana.

IMO, this is also a big step forward for Stewart with
respect to any civil case. As Dan has pointed out, civil
awards are often proportional to the responsibility of
each party, and with this toxicology report, it would be
hard to see Ward not being found mostly (if not completely)
responsible.

It also sounds like the Canadaigua Speedway management
needs to take a close look at what's going on in the pits
and garage area at the track. If Ward was smoking at the
track, they need to be sure there aren't others doing
likewise.

John

[bob.p...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, September 24, 2014 5:20:02 PM UTC-4, John McCoy wrote:


> IMO, this is also a big step forward for Stewart with
> respect to any civil case. As Dan has pointed out, civil
> awards are often proportional to the responsibility of
> each party, and with this toxicology report, it would be
> hard to see Ward not being found mostly (if not completely)
> responsible.

The statement from the Ward family pretty much says they still think Tony was
responsible and they're not done with it. A big civil suit is coming for sure
but the chances of getting a big settlement just went down considerably.

> It also sounds like the Canadaigua Speedway management
> needs to take a close look at what's going on in the pits
> and garage area at the track. If Ward was smoking at the
> track, they need to be sure there aren't others doing
> likewise.

I'm flabbergasted that there's a race track anywhere in the country where you
can race stoned. I bet this sends a BUNCH of local tracks scurrying to be
sure their drivers are clean. Can you imagine how much a track would be
liable for if a stoned driver killed a spectator?

[John McCoy]

bob.p...@gmail.com wrote in
news:b6fe7f55-3885-4e3d...@googlegroups.com:

> I'm flabbergasted that there's a race track anywhere in the country
> where you can race stoned. I bet this sends a BUNCH of local tracks
> scurrying to be sure their drivers are clean. Can you imagine how
> much a track would be liable for if a stoned driver killed a
> spectator?

Well, you have to remember that most short tracks are low
budget operations. There's not a lot of staff, and often
times many of them (like the tech inspectors) are volunteers.
So they pretty much depend on the competitors to be self-
regulating, and most of the time that works - if a driver
is smoking weed or drinking in the garage area, other teams
will turn him in.

But you're right that tracks will probably have to take steps
to bolster that, and reinforce their rules on driver and team
behavior. And Canandaigua may have developed a culture of
laxness and tolerance, where teams became reluctant to report
on each other, and they'll need to correct that (of course,
it could be that Ward was toking away hidden in his trailer,
and it was the first time, and thus no-one noticed...but I'd
kinda doubt that scenario).

John