Strap in five ways, let 'er go and turn left!/ "If it ain't rubbin', it aint racin'!"

[Uncle Ted]

To me it looked like Stewart didn't do much to try to avoid that guy. (Warning on the video: Language and the guy getting run over may be NSFW, etc.)

I have to wonder why Tony Stewart is even driving dirt carts.

As for the race today, it had a pretty exciting finish. Great race.

[Uncle Ted]

He should be banned for life from NASCAR and be up for vehicular homicide. That video is pretty compelling. He gunned it and it looks like the guy was getting out of the way as he gunned it causing his tail end to fish and run the guy over.

It is hard to say from that video and the engine gunning is most like that of a cart close to the camera.

[SoCalCoug]

That last, slow motion view of it doesn't look good for Stewart. You could see Ward suddenly try to run away from Stewart, and Stewart was driving in his direction at the time. They were under a caution flag, and the other cars didn't seem to be having trouble keeping their traction there.

I understand the D.A. is asking for any other videos of the incident. If there's any other angles showing Stewart driving at Ward. It looks to me that he tried to come near Ward, and then to a little fishtail to smack him with the rear of his car - I don't think the intent was to kill him, but he looked like he was trying to at least scare him a little.

This could go badly for Stewart.

[SoCalCoug]

Only Tony Stewart knows what was going through his mind as it happened and of course he'll always say it was totally unintentional.

That's the case with virtually any crime. Tony doesn't have to say anything at all.

The law allows a jury to look at the evidence, yes, circumstantial evidence which is still evidence, and infer intent. If he sped up toward Ward, that's not a difficult inference to make - not that he intended to kill Ward, but that he acted recklessly and/or intended to assault him (which means to give him reasonable apprehension of immediate harm).

[Moliere]

This could go badly for Stewart.

He killed a guy. Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, I think it's already bad.

I don't know how anyone can tell anything from that video other than the guy was outside of his car (WTF?) and almost got nailed by the car before Stewart hits him.

[DrumNFeather]

It has been interesting to hear the various takes on this incident on the radio driving in this morning. Some of the arguments have debunked a little bit of what others have said here, but the general principle of not getting out of your car before the safety guys get there has carried through. The one interesting thing I did here was that the lap that the kid got killed on was under a caution, so drivers should've been going very very slowly and that did not appear to be the case with Stewart.

Hopefully this will force NASCAR to crack down on these stupid on-track confrontations, ironically, which Stewart has been a part of frequently (or so it seems).

[woot]

I don't have an opinion, but I will say this reminds me a lot of every conspiracy theory ever. People with very limited knowledge of the context and no knowledge of the relevant science/engineering form concrete and aggressive opinions based on poor video footage combined with "common sense" (aka preexisting biases), and then can't be convinced otherwise because there are always questions remaining and if the experts can't answer everything, the fantasy version of events the internet mob pulled out of its collective ass must therefore be true.

Just an observation.

[dabrockster]

The other cars were lower on the track. Plus Ward wasn't walking at the other cars. He was going after Stewart. It's impossible to see from the video where Ward was in relation to Stewart. He very well could have walked directly in front of him and Tony punched it to try an avoid him. And we'll never know if Stewart even saw him. The wings on those sprint cars obscure some of the view on the right. And type of incidents? Going after someone in a pit post race is far different than running over someone in the middle of a race. And regardless of his history, why would Stewart run over Ward purposefully? Because he has anger issues? Do you honestly believe that someone pointing a finger at him is enough to make him incensed enough to murder someone in front of several hundred witnesses? I don't buy that at all.

I do not believe he purposely tried to hit the person, and my comment in regards to his history is more about the number of incidents and beyond normal racing aggressive behavior he has had his whole career. It is that style that has caused many racers to have a problem with him. He pushes the boundary and by so doing has a ripple effect that has been shown his whole career that is a direct result of a death and other incidents. Now Kevin ward is also culpable in getting out of his car, but would he have gotten out if it was a different driver? Who knows, but it seems drivers tend to have issue with Tony than any other racer.

Maybe this will finally have the impact needed to bring down his "take no prisoners" mentality out on the raceway that he has been labeled (Rightfully so) throughout his career.

[Surfah]

It has been interesting to hear the various takes on this incident on the radio driving in this morning. Some of the arguments have debunked a little bit of what others have said here, but the general principle of not getting out of your car before the safety guys get there has carried through. The one interesting thing I did here was that the lap that the kid got killed on was under a caution, so drivers should've been going very very slowly and that did not appear to be the case with Stewart.

Hopefully this will force NASCAR to crack down on these stupid on-track confrontations, ironically, which Stewart has been a part of frequently (or so it seems).

Even under caution these cars are traveling 50-60 mph. It's difficult to tell from the video but these sprint cars race at speeds over 140 mph. They have crazy power to weight ratio because they're basically a roll cage with wheels.

I agree though with your point about racing doing more about these kinds of confrontations. Anyone who gets out of a race car that isn't on fire for the purpose of confronting another driver should be penalized heavily. Though that's part of the sport's appeal.

[wapiti]

I read an article about this on Sunday morning. 90% of the article focused on Stewart's decision on whether to race at Watkins Glen later that day. He killed a guy less than 12 hours before and he was actually considering racing again? He's completely out of touch.

[Surfah]

I read an article about this on Sunday morning. 90% of the article focused on Stewart's decision on whether to race at Watkins Glen later that day. He killed a guy less than 12 hours before and he was actually considering racing again? He's completely out of touch.

Maybe. Or perhaps the only way he thought he could deal with having just hit someone who died as a result was to lose himself in a race. I understand how most would think wanting to race just hours after the accident is out of touch, but I can also see the other side even if it is less palatable.

[wapiti]

Maybe. Or perhaps the only way he thought he could deal with having just hit someone who died as a result was to lose himself in a race. I understand how most would think wanting to race just hours after the accident is out of touch, but I can also see the other side even if it is less palatable.

Either way, he's out of touch if he considered racing yesterday. But he did make the right decision so I'll give him that.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Just because 2 or 3 cars didn't hit an idiot standing on the race line on a dirt race car track, doesn't mean the 3rd or 4th wasn't going to finally hit him. This guy was one of the most flagrant Darwin Award winners you'll ever see.

[Surfah]

I do not believe he purposely tried to hit the person, and my comment in regards to his history is more about the number of incidents and beyond normal racing aggressive behavior he has had his whole career. It is that style that has caused many racers to have a problem with him. He pushes the boundary and by so doing has a ripple effect that has been shown his whole career that is a direct result of a death and other incidents. Now Kevin ward is also culpable in getting out of his car, but would he have gotten out if it was a different driver? Who knows, but it seems drivers tend to have issue with Tony than any other racer.

Maybe this will finally have the impact needed to bring down his "take no prisoners" mentality out on the raceway that he has been labeled (Rightfully so) throughout his career.

So you don't believe he purposefully hit him but think he should be banned for life from NASCAR and charged with murder?

I don't know Ward. And I don't know if it were another driver that had pinched him if he would have reacted the same. My guess is maybe. To provide some more context a lot of these cars are owner owned. These guys are working to get to Tony's level. There are probably more confrontations at this level and in this kind of circuit than others because of that. Someone goes into a wall and it's his wallet and weekend paying for those repairs. I am not sure if that was the circumstance with Kevin Ward but it is for many sprint car racers.

Again, I am not sure the video proves anything. As Uncle Ted noted, it's impossible to tell if that is Tony's car that revved. Based on the location of the cellphone recording the video it is most likely not but another car passing in front of the camera at the time. For those that claim Tony clearly saw him, check out this sprint car and the visibility the driver has out of the right side:



Now imagine this at night, on a dimly lit track, someone approaching your car from the right side wearing a black race suit. Also, what Shaka said is true. These guys go into these turns picturing their line and exit. They're not looking at what's above them. To even initiate these turns the drivers get sideways and stay on the throttle to drift though the turn. It's not like road racing where you're slowing into turns and accelerating out of them. It's completely different. These guys enter the turn on a line and stay on that line throughout the turn. Any correction in the turn would send them up the embankment and to the right off their line. Not enough throttle and you slide up to the right off your line. Too much throttle and you're going to spin out which will send you up too. There is no going left in the turn once these cars get sideways.

[Commando]

Just because 2 or 3 cars didn't hit an idiot standing on the race line on a dirt race car track, doesn't mean the 3rd or 4th wasn't going to finally hit him. This guy was one of the most flagrant Darwin Award winners you'll ever see.

As crude an opinion as this is in the wake of this guy's death, I have to agree. WTF exactly was he gonna do acting all tuff guy like that? Was that really his go-to act of intimidation?