Tony Stewart In Big Trouble (3 Viewers)

[twostep]

I know this is the NHRA section but nobody will see it in the off-topic forum. NASCAR driver Tony Stewart apparently wrecked a young driver, Kevin Ward, sending him flipping several times during a sprint car race tonight in New York. Ward got out, ran to Stewart's car to confront him, Stewart gunned his car, clipping the kid with the RR of the car and dragging him 25 feet or so. The track action was shut down, people were sent home and at least one eyewitness says Ward was killed.

Doesn't look good for Stewart. http://carolinasportsthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/08/tony-stewart-runs-over-competitor-in.html

 

[Paul]

hearing all kinds of conflicting reports. Hope for the best for all involved. The sheriff is supposed to release something in 5 minutes.

 

[Dave]

The man has been confirmed dead on arrival. Rip.

Warning, Graphic video.

 

[none]

Didn't take long for that video to get removed. Nascar boards (and I've never gone on one until tonight) are going crazy! Rip Kevin Ward. Going to be interesting to see how all this turns out for Smoke. Sad deal

 

[twostep]

I've watched the video over and over. It's not clear enough to draw any definite conclusions, although it appears as if Stewart may have aimed his car at Ward to scare him a little, then whipped it out of the way at the last second to avoid him. But he misjudged the timing and apparently clipped Ward with the right rear tire. It threw him a LONG ways.

 

[vegasnitro]

I have seen dirt trackers do that in the past, to scare/throw dirt at people. Ward was definitely wrong for running out like that, he must have been expecting Stewart to stop or something, but Stewart could have just idled by. Just a terrible thing all the way around.

 

[Huge]

Here is some links to the latest reports and press conference on this incident.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/witness-tony-stewart-hits-driver-054737716--spt.html
http://chic.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/5270820/8_09_14_sheriff_povero_stewart_ward

 

[PJ]

Sad day for all involved. To early to speculate as reports are all over the place.

 

[ScojoDak]

My thoughts and prayers are with the Ward family. Regarding Stewart, I lost total respect for him when during a Daytona weekend in the early 2000's, he got spun out by someone and wrecked. He went on the media whining about how someone is going to get killed by their wreckless driving. Then the next day during the big race, he spins a driver out during the last few laps. IMO, he's a hot head. Now it's led to tragedy.

 

[justafan]

Horrible. And for all of those that haven't been able to watch a video of it, here's a brief clip that I found on imgur. RIP Kevin Ward.

http://imgur.com/gallery/ytVlzAf

 

[paoldtimer]

I know this is the NHRA section but nobody will see it in the off-topic forum. NASCAR driver Tony Stewart apparently wrecked a young driver, Kevin Ward, sending him flipping several times during a sprint car race tonight in New York. Ward got out, ran to Stewart's car to confront him, Stewart gunned his car, clipping the kid with the RR of the car and dragging him 25 feet or so. The track action was shut down, people were sent home and at least one eyewitness says Ward was killed.

Doesn't look good for Stewart. http://carolinasportsthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/08/tony-stewart-runs-over-competitor-in.html

Not that it matters but Ward didn't flip, he spun and hit the guardrail in a racing incident. This is a tragic situation with no good outcome.

 

[tx_trojan]

I know this is the NHRA section but nobody will see it in the off-topic forum. NASCAR driver Tony Stewart apparently wrecked a young driver, Kevin Ward, sending him flipping several times during a sprint car race tonight in New York. Ward got out, ran to Stewart's car to confront him, Stewart gunned his car, clipping the kid with the RR of the car and dragging him 25 feet or so. The track action was shut down, people were sent home and at least one eyewitness says Ward was killed.

Doesn't look good for Stewart. http://carolinasportsthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/08/tony-stewart-runs-over-competitor-in.html

'Stewart gunned his car' - come on Carl. Be a little more responsible than this, especially in light of someone passing under such horrible circumstances.

 

[Jimbo]

RIP Kevin Ward

Jimbo

http://www.nostalgicracingdecals.com

 

[Jeff]

There appear to have been two hot heads involved in the video I saw. Sad this happened, but it seems to me a pretty valid argument can be made for Tony being less wrong. When you want to "take control" of the situation, on foot while other cars are still on the track it shows that the adrenalin is pumping a bit too high .... choosing to trust a person whose trust you intend to question .... not so sure about that decision.

The best way to avoid a dirt spray like that is to have it hit you below the knee .... I think the kid initially wanted to get on the low side to point at Tony, but Tony wanted to keep him up on the track to spray him high for getting out of his car. Nothing good happened after that.

 

[turbo ken]

Getting out a of a racecar on a dimly light track, in a mostly black firesuit, and running out towards other running racecars (especially ones as unpredictable as a sprint car on dirt), Tony isn't 100% at fault.

Back when I was field mechanic for a construction company you had to stay within 10' of the machine your were working on, and your truck. They should have a similar type of rule for racecar drivers if they should wreck.

 

[You!]

It was an accident, plain and simple. Tony certainly never intended to hurt the kid, and I'm still not too sure if he even saw him until the last second. I mean, c'mon, who expects a driver to be on the race track after a minimal racing incident, on a dark track in a black fire suit and helmet?

Sad part is the kid paid with his life by using extremely poor judgment. If he had stayed strapped in the car, non of this would have occurred. His actions caused this to happen. Hopefully this will teach others in the future to stay put and not act out in this manner.

 

[twostep]

'Stewart gunned his car' - come on Carl. Be a little more responsible than this, especially in light of someone passing under such horrible circumstances.

My opening post was based on a preliminary report just minutes after the incident happened. Once a video could be seen (they took the videos down as fast as people were putting them up) it became obvious that Ward wasn't flipped. The first report I saw indeed said 'gunned the car' - I added nothing for theatrical value - and the video did show him whacking the throttle once, although personally, I believe it was Stewart's attempt to power-steer around Ward to miss him, not to clip him, as some reports are STILL saying today.

No way do I believe Stewart deliberately attempted to run over another driver. In fact, I don't believe Stewart intended to send Ward into the wall in the first place. If anything, Stewart decided to give him a little scare, got a little too close and perhaps Ward slipped a little trying to jump back out of the way.

My apologies for any initial confusion.

 

[FABMAN]

I'm not sure if the driver was mad at Tony, it seems to me he was after car 45 and Tony came around on the outside and saw the driver standing in front of him. It would help if you could see a few laps before to know what was really going on. It was said Tony told police that he didn't know there was an incident until he came back around when he saw it and the driver. I believe Tony had no intent to hurt anyone nor did he try to spray the guy with dirt"an action I've never heard of before" this is just a horrible incident and hopefully they will do something about drivers getting out the car and leaving it before safety people arrive.

 

[nwspeedshots]

Of course Stewart didn't intend to hurt Ward. Of course Ward shouldn't have been out in traffic. Tony did blip the throttle, likely intending to "send a message"; probably the vehicular equivalent to flipping the bird, maybe even treating him to a dirt-shower. It was a bad deal and there's plenty of available blame. I feel really bad for everyone involved and affected.

 

[nitrorookie]

As a dirt tracker more than asphalt, I grew up on sprint cars. He did not flip. It looks to me like he got up in the cushin and hit the fence and spun around. Tony probably did not know what happened. Yellow comes out and he slows down follows the car in front. You can not see real well with the big wing on top. If you watch the guy in front swerves to miss the kid. I don't know only spectilating (sp) he did not see him. I feel, yes Tony is a hot head, but this incident he knows was just a racing deal (the original accident). The only people that know are Tony and any turn workers in the corners. The video is far away to tell.