I'm sure you've all heard and seen the video. Briefly he and Ward tangled, it looked like Stewart was pushing the guys front end out and he drove him into the wall. Yes Ward should have given up the line but Stewart shouldn't wreck the guy. They had had incidents previously and Stewart is aggressive to say the least and has a temper. So Ward gets out of his car and starts to walk down the track to give the finger or point or yell or something. The caution is out and they are only doing 35mph. One car swerves left a little to stay clear of Ward. Stewart is the next car. It is hard to tell from just looking at the video but it appears Stewart fish-tails as Ward tries to get out of the way. Stewarts rear end fish-tails right and ward gets caught under the car and the right rear, these are BIG racing slicks. The car goes about 50 feet and ward is thrown out from under by the tire. He is dead on the spot. Witnesses are now saying that Stewart sped up. That would account for the fish tailing. These cars don't fish tail at 35 mph even on a dirt track. The only way to get the car to do that is to hit the throttle and turn the wheel. That would be an intentional act. As a professional race car driver he would know that doing what he did would cause the car to fishtail and fishtail at Ward. Was he intentionally trying to hit him, no I would never think Stewart would do such a thing. Was he trying to scare him back? Spray some dirt on him? Apparently some have listened to the audio closely and say you can hear his engine rev up just before he hits him. That could be negligence and manslaughter, a negligent homicide. One witness who confirms the fish tailing and the speeding up says that he must of just wanted to get away from him Well all he had to do was turn the wheel left, he was doing 35 already and would pass by quickly and the guy was just waving his hand and yell, with his helmet on, so don't know what threat Stewart thought he was under in his car and roll cage and helmet. These drivers know full well that if you turn the wheel and accelerate quickly the back end is going to swing out. What do you think about the situation?
In my opinion, I doubt Stewart intentionally sped up to hurt or scare the kid. this kid. These cars have no brakes. I don't think they even have clutches, but rather are direct drive. I can't recall form my days watching these cars at the local speedway. I think in all likelihood he did not see the kid until the last second as there was another car in front of him, with the wing blocking his vision uphill in the corner. That being said, I think this kid behaved in a less than mature manner that contributed to his death. I think he went into the wall, either through the fault of someone else or not, and he reacted based on not what happened but who he thought was at fault, a famous driver. Hitting the wall in a car that you turn with the throttle and front wheels barely touching the ground is part of sprint car racing. In my opinion, the kid thought he would be a badass and point his finger at Tony Stewart. He had been racing since he was 4, I believe, racing sprints for 4 years, and he should have darn well known that he should have stayed in his car unless it was on fire. That being said, I certainly don't think the kid in any way deserved that due to his behavior. It was just an accident.
To hurt I don't think for a minute he would intentionally do that, to scare is another matter. They have one disc brake up front and one on the rear drive shaft, they use the brakes to throw the car out. It is an in/out transmission, they have a handle they engage or disengage it, one gear ratio. He would have seen the car in front of him swerve and the gut reaction would be to swerve with him. But the speeding up is stated by several witnesses, there is no need to speed up especially hit the throttle enough to fish tail it to swerve. I agree but it is not an uncommon occurrence in race Stewart himself has done it throwing his helmet at cars he had a gripe with. It was definitely Stewart pushing him into the wall giving him nowhere to go, that's racing except you should never purposely wreck someone. We can both stipulate the kid was acting a hot head and immature and bad-ass, that's part of the whole game go to the local track and see how many fights there are. But if Stewart purposely sped up and tried throw some dirt on the guy or otherwise use his car to give the finger back and express his retort to the guy that could be a reckless homicide, manslaughter just as if I tired to scare you by shooting a bullet past you head and mistakenly hitting you and killing you. I hope it was just a tragedy, but witnesses are starting to assert in may have been an avoidable one on Stewart's part. That would make it even more a tragedy. The kid didn't deserve to die because he was acting like a hothead and Stewart had a responsibility to NOT hit him with his car and not do anything that may have caused it to happen. You see the guy jumping back, wouldn't your first instinct be to hit the brakes not the throttle?
Fair enough. I would think so. However, I am still of the mind it was a tragic accident, with at least one person acting poorly, and certainly could have been avoided.
It went to the Grand Jury today. If it goes to the GJ, it's serious.......Tony may be done. He may be serving jail time this time next year. You have to remember where is happened, in probably the most litigious state in the union. It's too bad, I am a huge Tony fan. I saw him win BOTH of his Brickyard 400s in person.
Yep, with reports of more video than we have seen and some enhanced ones. If he tried to spray him with track dirt and lost it and killed him he's in trouble.
the guy ran in front of the moving cars... that was stupid..... he paid for it with his life.... I would call it suicide .
He was not in front he was to the side and moves back as Stewart approaches. The track was under caution, people are EXPECTED to be on the track and it is the duty of the driver to make sure he doesn't hit anyone. Yeah the guy was acting pissed, Stewert had run him into the wall, but it Stewert attempted to spray him with track dirt by spinning his wheels and sliding the back end out and lost it and hit him, he's in BIG trouble.
I have almost hit a deer before and I know it's a guessing game as to what the stupid deer is gonna do, if you go right, the deer might go right, ect...., I expect people to be smarter then deers, he should not of went out in the middle of traffic like that, cause one could get killed .
Once the yellow flag comes out it is EXPECTED people will be on the track, course workers, rescue, fire marshals and yes even a driver exiting his car. The fact remains if Stewert spun his tires on purpose, to try and spray him with track dirt and lost it, he's in BIG trouble.
Does matter, they were under caution and had been under caution for more than half a lap when Stewart came around turn two. What does CAUTION mean? And if the car was filling up with gas or already on fire guess what, the driver is going to exit the car. It doesn't matter if it is a fire and rescue, and official or the driver, it is EXPECTED people will be on the track under a caution, that is WHY they throw it. The fact remains if Stewart gunned his throttle knowing it would slide the rear end out to try and spray him with dirt he is going to be subject to prosecution. HEY I'm a Stewart fan, he's a great driver. He also has an ego and a temper. Both may have gotten him in trouble.
oopsie.... Kevin Ward was high at levels that affected his judgement.... pretty obvious his judgement was affected by jumping out on a racetrack and running at a moving car....
I had a highschool stoner of a friend back in the day... he said, the two things smoking pot made him want to do was F*** or fight. The stereotype of the calm relaxed stoner is not a rule. I'm sure it does. Either way, he still had impaired judgement
One could make a coherent argument that everyone on that racetrack had impaired judgment. Risking death for the thrill of it is legal, though -- so long as you don't smoke a joint first.
Normally I'd totally agree with you. Actually, I 100% agree with you that he was impaired, not denying that...I just think that this is too small of a loophole not to go to trial. I look at the video and I can see a motive and cause for intent, enough to build a case. Just my opinion though.
pot changes everything from a legal standpoint. in a DUI crash.... even if the drunk driver was hit by a sober person, who ran the red light. If the sober person dies, it's still, legally, the drunk driver's fault Stewart may have gotten away with it... but it's a harsh lesson for DUI drivers everywhere.... I feel for the Ward family, but I think their anger is misplaced.... but had I lost a son... stoner or not, I would be upset.
THC shows up for weeks, wonder how they determined he was "under the influence". Funny just rewatched "Rush" the other night which goes into how F1 racer James Hunt would get high before he raced.
