Tony Stewart hits and kills fellow racer

EXACTLY! And, his past conduct will be a factor in this, too.

CW

 

Lots of track persona is for the fans like WWF wrestling. Not knowing TS the person it is unfair to consider the guy a hotheaded guy with possible intent to do harm. He is a racer but it is his job. He may be racing today not completely of his own choice. Also, video does not tell the whole story. One video can convict you and another angle can vindicate you. That's just the way it is. We will have to wait for the investigation.

 

it has always bothered me when drivers get out of their car, even under yellow, and go walk towards another driver to give him the finger/throw a helmet/etc. I'm not sure where the trend started but Smoke and the Busch brothers seem to have been frequent abusers. it has always amazed me that nobody has been injured or killed doing that...until now.

if there is any good to come out of this situation I hope it puts an end to this practice.

 

Possibly, let's wait for the investigation and if it IS determined that a "scare tactic" got out of control and killed the guy he's done.

But no one can go after Ward for this and exact any kind of punishment only Tony is left so ...

Ward doesn't walk onto the track and none of this happens.

 

agreed. it's only good fun and games until someone gets killed.

 

Of course Stewart has made some **** decision in terms of his racing in the past. However, you're making the ASSUMPTION he acted with intent to kill. There's a big difference between throwing a helmet or a couple of punches and intentionally running someone over in the middle of a race with the intent to kill them.


Mark

 

I don't think that pros are completely immune from what we amateurs suffer and fight while driving at or close to our personal 10/10ths. Sometimes you are distracted by other track conditions. Sometimes you get target fixated chase a car ahead and miss details. Sometimes you see things but your brain is slow to process the significance of them. When you drive near or at the limit an extra surprise sometimes ends up being a bad day. If we were in control all the time we would never wrecck a car or need any of the crazy safety gear we have today.

 

Ironic-Jose offerman just got a $1M bill for his antics years ago...and no jury ever even convicted him of actually hitting players on his charging the mound swinging the bat. I never pitched but only a scumbag would be swinging a bat at triple a players (or any players) to begin with and looks like a jury agreed he should pay even if it was incidental contact b/c he shouldn't have been doing that **** in the first place. Jose was taking his job way too seriously that day.

To be fair, I do hope the TS didn't even think of considering scaring or 'teaching anybody a lesson' because not only will he have to live with that-he also may be facing civil hoops even years from now like...just like Jose

 

Hmm...wear a black racesuit, race at night in a poorly lit track, and then walk down the track as the cars are going at decently quick speeds? What an idiot...I'm sorry, but Ward killed himself with those decisions. Even on my laptop monitor the guy was blending into the background with his suit and ambient lighting. And I'm not even viewing it through a plexi window covered in dirt like TS was.

 

Unfortunately, when an incident happens and a driver gets out of his car, starts pacing
around waiting for whomever it was he tangled with to come past again, the helmet
(or whatever) is thrown, this is all NASCAR media shows for the ensuing two or three
weeks.

So, to say that this type of behavior is looked down upon by NASCAR is simply not true,
quite the opposite in fact.

Once again, a change in attitude at the top will see to it that these types of incidents do
not continue to happen. They have to come down hard on this practice, you get out of
your car with the intent to go back on or near the racing line to shake your fist or throw
your helmet, it should mean immediate suspension for x-amount of races and points
deduction.

Having seen the indecent a couple of times now, it may be interesting to see a longer
version to indicate if Stewart and young Ward were playing games before the original
incident which ended up with Ward tagging the wall.

It is a shame and casts a pall over all of motor sports.

BHW

 

sure...I am making an assumption huh? I am indicating there is a history there and simply based on his past actions and behavior...it was certainly possible that he was trying to teach a lesson and the lesson went quite wrong. stewart's past antics goes to basis.

no one really ever talks about the intentional actions unless something bad ensues. I still think danica taking hornish out at Talladega at 180mph was seriously punishable but alas...just some sheet metal and some ego bruising. net, net nascar loved it!

stuff happens mark. I am not the judge and jury but I was painting a possible scenario and again did so with some history to support my thesis.

 

for the avoidance of doubt, many sprint car and midget racers wear black fire suits as they stay looking a bit better than,,,let's say white, by the end of the night. even the spectators wear goggles...it can get a bit messy.

 

There was a gopro on Stewart's car. If that footage doesn't come to light, you know it's on purpose.

My 2 pennies says he was trying to rooster tail the kid and he miscalculated.

Yellow flag, world champ racer should have known better

 

Deliberate move, unintended consequences.

 

What a shame. Kevin Ward should have never got out of the car & had his tantrum on the track, huge mistake on his part.

 

To me it seems like the worst situation to walk down the track while cars are running. If it was broad daylight, paved track, open cockpit racing, perfect weather, it would look very strange for Tony to slide into the guy. But with night racing, dirt tracj, closed cockpit with windows covered in dirt, poor traction at low speeds, on a banking, guy wearing dark suit, no lighting...really bad scenario.

Didn't know about fans getting covered with dirt as well, but I'm not surprised looking at full race speed clips of those events.

 

You were not theorizing, you were already convicting him. You said:

That's already assuming TS acted with intent AND the criminal justice and judicial system will fail at holding him accountable. The multiple levels of speculation are comical. It's a knee jerk reaction riddled with preconceived notions and incredibly thin on evidence.


Mark

 

It is wild speculation to suggest TS maneuvers his car on purpose to hit or scare Ward.

Yet it is an undisputed fact that Ward got out of his car in a black suit and intentionally stormed onto the line of racing cars on a dark dirt track to physically confront TS oncoming racecar. He was pointing and intentionally placed his body within inches of these racing cars as a show of force.

Maybe this is commonplace in dirt track racing, but I've never seen anything so dangerous in my life. Had he survived he would have never raced in my series again .

Its awful and very sad for his family and friends. A terrible mistake. RIP

 

Karma is a *****.

 

Tony is known for his temper but I do agree that some of it is acting similar to WWF. That's his persona for the fans. After the thousands of races he's competed in I don't think a small time race would've gotten him very worked up.

An idea of the track at night from a driver's point of view

8-18-12 Canandaigua motorsports park 305 sprint car incar win - YouTube

 

Thanks for the video. Even worse than I imaged driving at night at a track like that. Not only do the cars not have lights (already knew that part), but the track lights look like they serve to blind you as they don't do much a job of lighting the track itself. Wouldn't be surprised if Tony didn't see the guy til the last second in those conditions.

 

mark you are not all right and certainly not all wrong. I may be terribly wrong but I stand by my position. in sum: young gun gets a shot at the big fish. big fish decides to show the misguided youth a thing or two. no harm was meant but a tragedy ensued despite that being far from the intent.

i think my position is highly likely but will likely not stand up in court and tony lives to fight another day.

this incident must have nascar concerned too as if the worst outcome for tony did occur and he was put in the penalty box. nascar would be losing a huge personality and core racer but the team of 4 cars could be in some jeopardy or at least face an uncertain future...sponsors may run and hide as well.

at any rate, this is a sad incident for all. the ripple effect could be huge...or a complete non-event. time will tell.

 

I agree.

it's also worth noting this is the second time in two years a dirt track incident has sidelined Stewart's NASCAR efforts (broken leg last year).

 

Speculation, yes, but I don't think it is wild speculation...

CW

 

Ok, then speculation. But what is seen on frame is Ward intentionally stepping into the path of the car. After nearly getting hit by the 45 car he steps farther into the path of TS car to play chicken with TS in the dark with TS trailing another car with the intention of stepping out at the last minute, which of course he doesn't. Its clear ward intended to play chicken with his body. It is speculation to conclude that TS saw this game of chicken and decided to play it. It can be him trying to get out of the way. Either way its off frame. What is on frame, is the most dangerous thing I've seen. And if this BS is commonplace then there is something very wrong with this community of racing.