Tony Stewart hits and kills fellow racer

That's really fast.

I barely avoided a small fawn on a heavily travelled road here in Michigan Friday night - - I was going 45 mph and I was a good hundred feet away AND the deer was running to get out of the way and we barely avoided it and it was still light out.

This kid was standing still then walking toward oncoming traffic, track is dark, albeit lit with lights - - - sorry, I don't care if TS is a pro, it's hard to avoid an object that is walking toward you especially when you're NOT expecting it.

We have those yellow signs depicting a deer jumping all over the place; people expect them and it's still hard to miss them. We know deer are out there, did TS expect this? No way.

 

Again, nope.

Ward is certainly responsible. However, it's not difficult to make the argument that TS' hitting him while under a caution is irresponsible, too. Criminally? Don't think so. But, civilly? Very possible.

You're going to have to try to "see" a little harder.

CW

 

This occurred at the site of the original incident. There was a caution and safety vehicles were converging on that very spot. What if it had been a safety worker running in front of TS' car? What if Ward had a concussion and was just wandering on track before personnel got to him?

The point is that TS was under caution and should, therefore, have been able to avoid a collision.

And, there is also the possibility that he was going to teach Ward a little lesson by giving him a scare. And, it went wrong.

CW

 

I think the video on Deadspin makes it more clear that it's from TS' car...although since it's the same video, I don't know what they've done to enhance it.

 

BS, you've obviously never raced a car before. There were no vehicles or corner workers near the racing line and no corner worker would run into a line of cars. The only person not where they were supposed to be and doing what they were supposed to be was Ward. Hell, the guy in front of TS had to swerve to miss Ward and had a clear view of what was going on while TS didn't.

 

Oh, obviously! Gimmebreak. I can see you're on the level of an F1 pilot.

No track workers? Certainly you must be blind, because safety crews were rolling up at the time TS ran over Ward.

You want to keep repeating yourself? Fine. But stop acting like yours is the only opinion out there. Ward this, Ward that. Blah, blah, blah.

Despite what you want to tell yourself, TS hit a guy under caution, and that's serious in the racing world. And, there's certainly the possibility that TS may have wanted to give the kid a scare in the first place, which makes it even worse.

In denial much?

CW

 

I think you nailed it. Most people probably don't know anything about Sprint cars. I'm no expert but Sprint car racing is BIG around here. These cars do nothing but turn left...so the right tires are far larger than the left ones. The rear track is also wider than the front track-like a farm tractor.

I suspect TS was trying to graze Ward or come close enough to scare him. But the combination of getting too close with the front wheel and Ward's movement toward the car alerted TS that the rear tire would make contact with Ward. Knowing that the rear of these cars will break left if juiced, TS gunned it in an attempt to fishtail the rear wheels to the left, and avoid Ward. This accounts for the revving people hear in the video that they mistake for TS gunning the throttle in an attempt to run down this dumb kid.

 

What are you talking about?

There were no safety officials there. Kevin got himself out of his car and proceeded to walk down the racing line looking for TS.

As the camera focused on Kevins wrecked car, look at all the cars passing and the line they were taking.

TS took the same line not knowing Kevin was out there and pretty much out to block him to throw a fit.

 

TS hit a guy under caution, yes, but a guy who was not where he was supposed to be and doing exactly what I (and most likely everyone at that race or that has raced) have been told not to do: "Don't leave your car unless it's on fire or directed by a marshall." It'd be one thing if he got out of his car and TS came up the track and hit him, but he walked down into traffic. FFS, it's ridiculous that anyone is trying to apportion blame to TS here.

 

how is the view from the right?

Pretty much Zero.

The "wings" go on opposite direction from the right and left side.
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I'd say you've got it spot on there.

 

I'll look at the vid again. The guy on the quad and the guys on the tail of the pickup converged after TS hit Ward. I don't know where they were, and what is the time differential between when the yellow flag came out and when Ward was hit?

I really think it's going to be a tough burden for the prosecution if they decide to try TS for a crime.

Just my 2 cents.

Again, I've never raced on a track, so I am ignorant and am only going by what I see.

 

Whether or not TS did it on purpose, this will loom over the rest of his career.

The thought of him killing someone will haunt him for ages.

Kevins family and friends will never get him back.

The damage has been done on both sides.

 

Its times like these I'm glad I've never gotten a youtube account. A quick scan of comments from people who have no idea about sprint car racing is a @_@ HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!! moment.

I need to just sign off the internet for a few days. I trust the officials will gather the required information to make an accurate assessment.

Intentional is what KB did at I believe Texas in the truck race. Although no one died in that incident, I can't rule out any intent on Tony's part, as Tony and KB are both prone to extreme red mist when in a race car. I do consider an intentional "intimidation" move by tony to be unlikely as main or critical factor in what happened, but I won't rule it out. Honestly, we don't have the information required to say that.

Steve - a lot of these tracks have 15 second lap times, from the time the caution comes out, to the time you pass the wreck is just a few seconds. Its not like large paved circuits where there may be two + minutes before you come around the same corner again. This means "under yellow" when the yellow just comes out is still a very freakin' dangerous time as car's come down from speed and bunch up.

 

Lets see what happens to the go pro footage and the telemetry/radio if any. This reminds me of the Williams business when Senna was killed. I hate the sight of him in Williams coveralls now. Can't bear to look at it.

He took the outside line and Stewart closed the door on him. I was pretty sure he'd hit the wall anyway. Not sure he was forced into it. Tempers and all, on the track he should have stayed back a couple paces, especially with the other car in front of Stewart. It all happened very quickly but yeah Stewart ran over him.

 

Watch Tony's wheels in the 5 second loop in post #160 -- to my eyes it looks like both of them are through the turn and set for the straight and then Tony's wheels briefly jog full right to put him into the wall. I agree it's possible Ward may have brushed the wall anyway, but not with anywhere near the same impact.

 

I have given in and downloaded and done a frame by frame on it.

First - the preceding incident, Ward tried to get off the corner too hot, got off the "groove" of high grip and into the dust, and lost control. The other part of this, is just like on the road where many states have an "automatic" fault for certain situations - a trailing driver on the outside is at fault even if he's squeezed into the wall when it comes to dirt racing. The driver's have a view to the left and forwards, and are responsible for what is to the left and forwards, but not the right and backwards. This may seem wrong to those of us who race karts on pavement with plenty of room, and huge visibility, but its the way it is. When a bunch of dirt racers show up at a kart track, I generally advice anyone that doesn't know this to stay off the track. I'll go out, have fun, and mix it up with them, but I know if I'm outside trailing - I'm going into the wall or I'm giving them room. Doesn't matter if I have "run" , or whatnot.

Second thing, if you look at the groove relative to the car in front of Tony, Tony did not go up the track. And finally, the kid was still moving towards Tony, when the car obstructs the view, he was moving quite quickly still. Ultimately - and tragically, the kid walked into Tony's tire. At this point, no matter what tony did as a driver, I doubt the kid would of made it. There is no way Tony could of gone left or right to dodge the kid that walked into his car.

Whether Tony had any intent with a throttle blip to intimidate or chuck dirt would not make a difference in the kid's life - the kid had forwards momentum into Tony's car at a rate faster than Tony could steer the car. Odds are - the kid was seeing red, and missjudged the fact that the cars jut out - the kid was wanting to hit/punch Tony, and his focus would be on the area within the cage - not the rest of the car.

The kid is lurching forwards at the time the front of tony's car gets to him, he may of even been trying to throw himself onto the roll bar like this guy did.

http://youtu.be/S1t5-0aZHpM

If he did jump at Tony's car, that would totally explain a natural human reaction to bug the hell out, which would be why Tony hit the gas.

Btw, for a human body to stop forwards momentum - it has to throw itself forwards of its CG. Since the kid still had forwards momentum at the last frame(in fact, building it), and the fact that the car in front of Tony almost hit the kid, there would be no reaction time for Tony to move left or right because the kid halted coming down the track momentarily when the car in front of tony was beside him, then resumed running down the track after it passed by.

There is *nothing* reasonable that Tony could of done from the limited viewpoint of this video. Other angles would(and could) surface to say otherwise. If this video is all the evidence - Tony will not be charged. Something else will have to surface.

 

Thanks -- this is incredibly helpful insight because otherwise the situation is impossible to understand. One question though: Given that you don't have responsibility for what's on the right and the track is constantly turning left, what's to stop drivers from constantly slamming competitors into the wall? Very poor kart drivers often find themselves (briefly) in first place using this technique (until the officials take them out).

 

you must be new to roundy round racing...getting out of the car on the track is unheard of?

first, the track was yellow. please post for me the next time you see a driver riding in his/her car while on the hook or flatbed after an incident.

furthermore, keep in mind that on an oval, you have no outer run off area...so drivers have been known to walk across the track under yellow.

oh and last comment...for now, it is also not unheard of for a driver to get out of his car and kick another driver's azz after an incident...and sometimes the cars are still on the track!!!

crazy insane huh? Saturday night thunder at the local dirt track. great people, personalities and competition!!!

next time you respond to my posts do your homework. I have raced two and four wheels for many years of my life from wera to imsa and have memorized many a GCR and been to many a riders/drivers meetings...just an fyi.

 

I've been thinking about this.

The most popular link to the video shows the revving noise synchronized perfectly with Stewart's maneuver. This leaves the strong impression that he goosed the throttle. Watch it again with the sound off, though, and it's less clear. Sound effects can be very suggestive.

If the sound is from Stewart's car, though, we should not expect the audio and video to be synchronized. I recon the distance from the camera mic to the collision site is at least 500'. At that distance one will hear things about 1/2 second _after_ one sees them.

Lots of technical things can screw up audio sync, though. Case in point: there's another link to the exact same video where the engine noise occurs a half second earlier. If only the clip was longer, and showed something nearby, we could restore the sync and get a better idea of what happened when.

Sorry to get all Zapruder film on you all, but I think it's important to note that we can't even say conclusively that Stewart hit the throttle based on this evidence alone. Maybe he did and maybe it will be corroborated, but this video is not proof.
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What speed do they slow to? Are you saying a sprint car traveling at 25 - 40 mph couldn't kill someone if hit directly?

Pretty sure that riding a bike at 10mph running into a tree would kill you, or hurt you real bad. Now we are getting WAY out of fact into complete conjecture (e.g., for all those absolving TS, a yellow flag means slow down)...do you KNOW he didn't slow down? He didn't look like he PASSED anyone, so I would have to say he did slow down.

Complete and utter conjecture to suggest otherwise.

I mentioned a petit jury I served on. Long story short, a woman was involved in an accident, and decided to stand IN BETWEEN the 2 cars involved. The police officer on the scene TOLD HER TO COME OVER THE GUARD RAIL AND OUT FROM IN BETWEEN THE TWO CARS.

ALL of the other people involved in the accident were over the guard rail. This lady chose NOT to do same, even after told by the cop to do so.

Well, one of the cars was tapped by a truck turning on the highway (misjudged the turn)...guess what? The lady had her leg crushed in between the 2 cars.

Who was at fault? I'll spare you the gory details, because THE TRUCK DRIVER WAS PRACTICALLY CHARACTER ASSASSINATED BY THE JURY WHO SAID "OHHHH THE POOR LADY".

Ever HER REPRESENTATION could not believe that she was NOT found at fault. HER OWN ATTORNEY!!!!

Point is, we know 2 facts: 1) Ward got out of his car; 2) Tony Stewart hit him.

Neither is debatable. Now, if you want to get into criminality, short of having a brain scan of what TS was thinking, I don't know HOW you prove intent (A GoPro can't see through a helmet visor, and whatever onboard tracking he had wouldn't be enough to prove that)??

What I can say is if Ward DID NOT GET OUT OF HIS CAR, the TS WOULD NOT HAVE HIT HIM.

Previously noted - I do NOT LIKE TS. I think he's a little arrogant and probably needs to be put in his place. Under NO circumstances do I remotely believe he had intent. Even to "scare" the kid...no way. There's no way to prove that short of building an almost complete circumstantial case.

 

The character assassination begins. See Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman for reference.

Tony Stewart had a "simmering rivalry" with a virtual unknown because perhaps they bumped into each other in a few races??? REALLY???

Holy cow this is one of the crappiest pieces of sensationalized garbage passing off as journalism I've ever seen...

 

Only going by the comments you've posted - I think you are in denial. You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but what you are stating is that "TS hits a guy under caution, and that's serious in the racing world"...the implication - or my interpretation - is that you are suggesting intent, or minimally negligence. I can think of 2 VERY SIMILAR cases - tell me what your thoughts are:

Willy T. Ribbs runs over Jean-Patrick Hien at Molson Indy, 1990. I remember this well. Clearly Willy T. saw the track workers, he moves the car out of the way, and yet STILL RUNS OVER AND KILLS THE TRACK WORKER. Is there intent? NO. Is he negligent? Not sure how anyone could say he was, since the track worker basically runs into the tire. Short of STOPPING on the track, there's no way Willy T. could be at fault here. And since he doesn't have ESP to know that HE'LL BE THE ONE TO KILL THE GUY, why would he stop? Then all full cautions should now be RED FLAGGED.

Second incident is the more well known Tom Pryce incident at Kyalami. Pryce hits Jansen Van Vuuren. Investigation showed that Pryce's vision was likely shielded by Hans Stuck's car, and he could not react in time to Van Vuuren running across the track. We know what happened, both were killed. Again, who here is at fault? Tom Pryce or Van Vuuren?

Very, very similar. You are implying that TS did "something". I'm suggesting the opposite...he simply didn't see him.

Let's assume my opinion is truth - is TS "negligible"? Did he do something "serious" in hitting Ward? Operative word is "do"...something serious certainly HAPPENED, but was it caused by Tony, or by Ward?

 

come on. How is that comparable to walking on track, into on coming (RACING!!)cars just to confront some other driver? I suppose you find it ok to walk out into the freeway to do whatever you want?

well, where I come from, people value their lives and have enough brains to assess danger and act accordingly. Apparently too much to ask for people that are into 'roundy round racing'.

oh yeah, being red fazed enough to put your own life and that of your competitors on the line just because you want to confront some one for putting you into the wall (which is, well, part of racing to begin with). No great personality there. Give me a break.

If you find it acceptable that people walk into the track like Ward did, I can only hope past tense is appropiate when you talk about your on track experience. Idiots like Ward should have no place on a track.

 

My condolences to the Stewart and Ward family's.

^^^^^ I think all you conspiracy theorist need to step back and accept a opinion from someone who was actually there and witnessed the accident, just saying.