Tony Stewart sprint car wreck leaves young female driver injured

Tony Stewart took the blame for a wild sprint-car accident Tuesday night at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park that has left a young driver hospitalized with a back injury.

Stewart tried to make a pass on a restart in the middle of a three-way battle for third. Several cars were involved, and 19-year-old Alysha Ruggles’ car went airborne after it hit the wheels of another car.

Ruggles was later taken to a local hospital by her mother, according to the track’s Facebook page. Her father finished fifth in the race, according to the (Rochester) Democrat and Chronicle.

“As of now, she is at Strong Memorial Hospital with a back injury,” the track stated on its page. “She is going to be put in a back brace and, as of right now, doctors are evaluating whether further steps need to be taken.”

Stewart was not injured in the race, which was for winged sprint cars with 360-cubic inch engines on the half-mile slightly banked dirt oval.

“I have never seen anything this bad in a sprint car race, I don’t think, or this many cars being taken out in one wreck,” driver Mike Stelter told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. “At least Tony Stewart manned up and said he caused the wreck.

“He tried to put the car where it didn’t belong. He said it was his fault for trying to force the issue, I guess is a good way to say it.”