Fight breaks out between NASCAR drivers
Sink was also found guilty of simple assault against another man who came to Peters’ aid.
Sink, of Winston-Salem, was sentenced to 29 days in jail and three years probation. Judge Henry E. Frye Jr. also ordered Sink to pay $20,146 to cover the men’s medical bills. Peters’ injuries required surgery to repair fractures in bones around his eyes and a broken nose.
Sink had faced three felony charges linked to the incident. Frye dismissed two of them and told the jury not to consider the third for lack of evidence.
“We obviously weren’t happy to get convicted of anything, but I was happy that the court threw out the felonies," said Sink attorney Don Tisdale, adding that his client will appeal.
08/20/05 Three men — a car owner, a driver and the driver's brother — are charged with assault in connection with a bloody fight after a NASCAR-sanctioned race at Bowman Gray Stadium. NASCAR has already indefinitely suspended driver Kris Bradley and car owner James Rupert Sink, saying they were being punished for actions detrimental to stock-car racing, failure to follow directives from NASCAR officials and fighting.
The victim in the melee one week ago was another driver, Maynard Peters, 47, who required surgery to repair fractures in bones around his eyes and a broken nose.
Sink, Bradley, and Bradley's brother, Robert D. Bradley, were charged Friday. Sink, 37, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of assault inflicting serious injury and two felony counts of habitual assault. He was convicted of assault last year in Forsyth County after a fight with another stock-car driver. The Bradley brothers, both 19, each were charged with one felony count of assault inflicting serious injury. AP Story
08/17/05 A bloody fight after a NASCAR-sanctioned race at Bowman Gray Stadium has resulted in the indefinite suspensions of a driver and a car owner, NASCAR officials said. The victim, Maynard Peters, 47, was released Tuesday from Forsyth Medical Center after surgeries on his face and nose. He said he had 15 fractures in bones around his eyes and a broken nose, and that he can't work or eat solid food for at least six weeks.
In notices issued to driver Kris Bradley and car owner James Rupert Sink, NASCAR officials said that they were suspended for actions detrimental to stock-car racing, failure to follow directives from NASCAR officials and fighting. Jerry Cook, NASCAR's competition administrator, said he was still gathering information from police and stadium officials. He said it was too early to say how long the suspensions will last.
Peters said their cars made contact during the first stadium-stock race of the night, causing Bradley to spin out. The fight started because they disagreed on who was at fault.
Peters said he remembered about four men kicking and stomping on his head outside the Bowman Gray field house, where drivers collect their money when the races are finished. "They were kicking me in the face," he said. "I was hit so many times that I just kind of rolled up in the corner beside the field house."
Sink has been involved in a racetrack fight before. He was convicted in Forsyth District Court last year of misdemeanor assault inflicting serious injury after he and other drivers were involved in a fight with driver Gary Brewer on Aug. 21, 2004. More at Yahoo! Sports