Tony Stewart runs driver over, driver dead on arrival at hospital. RIP Kevin Ward, Jr.

mitch079

mitch079

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Tony Stewart ran a driver over in a race after a crash.  The driver was dead on arrival at the local hospital.  Video is in the link.  Granted, the kid put himself in a dangerous position but Stewart damn sure should have avoided him and not hit the throttle.  It was during a caution lap.

http://deadspin.com/reports-tony-stewart-ran-over-opposing-driver-during-1618893708

I think Stewart should be charged and arrested with vehicular manslaughter.  RIP Kevin Ward Jr.

 
I'll let the courts decide his punishment but it's certain Ward was being a total dumbass walking into the track and pointing.

 
That was my initial reaction too till I watched the video. Lots of drivers though get caught up in the moment. I was at local dirt track last year and another driver got out after a wreck and threw either his helmet or steering wheel at the other driver etc. Crazy how dangerous is to get out of your car after an accident and go after a guy in a moving race car.

From the video it looks like he gunned the throttle right as he started to go by the other driver causing the back end to fishtail.

Zoglog said:
I'll let the courts decide his punishment but it's certain Ward was being a total dumbass walking into the track and pointing.
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Eh, I dunno. What does the guy think is going to happen when he stands in front of a moving car? Very stupid on the guys fault and I wouldnt think Stewart should be charged with anything. It is sad that the guy died... but it was 100% his fault.

 
Pretty stupid on both accounts. Not sure Stewart should be charged with manslaughter, let alone murder... but I don't think he should be allowed to race either.

I love all the factually incorrect dramatic descriptions from fans like "he was thrown 50 yards".

 
Some people think they are invincible and over-estimate how much control people have over their vehicles.  They teach you to aim high while driving, especially when going at high speeds, so Stewart probably had no idea he was that close, he was looking down the track/turn, and thought the other guy was smart enough to stay out of the way of the racing cars.

 
You mess with Smoke, you get smoked...

Too soon?

Tony's nickname is Smoke, get it?

 
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I go to 3 or 4 sprint car races a year, and one thing I can say is that things on the track are not anything like what you see in the stands. I've never been in a car before, but even being in the pits next to the track during a race is a hazy event. Not only are the cars going a lot faster than it looks in the stands, but visibility is also much worse than it is in the stands. And depending on several variables, including tire and track conditions, a driver could have full control over their vehicle, or none at all. None of us will ever know exactly what Tony was thinking at that moment, but I can say it was absolutely a bad idea for Kevin Ward to get out onto the track like that, and Kevin Ward knew that.

I don't know whose fault this is, if anybody's, but Kevin Ward certainly should not have been on that track, and this was certainly a sad day for sprint car racing.

Also, for those that didn't watch the video, it's not an exaggeration to say that Ward was thrown at least 40 feet from where he was hit.

EDIT: I've watched that video about 15 times now, and it certainly looks to me like Stewart didn't hit the throttle until after he already made contact with Ward. I'm not sure why he hit the throttle, but I'm not going to pass any judgements, since we've all made poor split-second decisions before.
 
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Yeah, so his team just announced he won't be competing today.

Honestly all I see is a man walking onto the track (wtf?) and getting hit by a car. Of course I don't know anything about racing but I don't see how it can be interpreted as anything other than an accident.

That was horrifying to watch, though. Just for the curdling screams. Jesus, what was he thinking?

EDIT: Oh, so he got out the car to confront him. wtf.
 
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really sad video but Ward was a complete dumbass going on the track like that.  No way Stewart should face any criminal charges.  Racing though...that may be a different story.

 
lol @ all these comments full of hyperbole.

He was wrapped around the tire going round and round like he got flattened by a steamroller. Acting like he got catapulted like he was in the circus.

 
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Haven't seen the getting hit part (just before it though), and yeah Ward was dumb to stand that far down the track. Generally not smart to stand anywhere on the track I'd assume, but not like we haven't seen it before on caution laps after a wreck.

I don't know if Stewart should be charged, I've never raced so can't say what drivers can see, how time Stewart would have had to react etc. Be interesting to hear what other drivers, especially in the race think (they may have said something, I haven't read any articles yet).
 
I feel like the worst you could say is maybe Stewart was wreckless. But all of that hinges on IF the investigation proves that he hit the throttle BEFORE hitting Ward (maybe to show him up for confronting Stewart), and that caused the car to fishtail, which then hit Ward. There's no way in hell any of it was intentional though. That's ridiculous. It was an accident...created by someone being stupid, and another person possibly being wreckless.

For Ward's part in it, the way he comes out onto the track, his movements are pretty jumpy himself. He does a little stutter step move that almost makes it look like he's going to run out to the middle of the track. The angle isn't great, but it looks like the driver that went by right before Stewart was pretty damn close to him as well. Look at the track when he goes by and look at it when Stewart goes by...it looks like they're on basically the same line...at least until Stewart hits the gas. So, either Ward got even closer, making it difficult for Stewart to avoid him with that little amount of time...or Stewart hitting the throttle made things worse...or both.

All speculation of course, but you can see how it easily adds up to an accident...that was still 100% created by Ward's own doing. It feels wrong saying "at least nobody else got hurt", but he seriously could have caused a major accident if more cars had been involved.

 
I find it really hard to have any sympathy for the guy. Racing is dangerous enough when you're a car but you're gonna walk out into the track? Why not just walk in front of a bus because you're mad at the driver?

 
All the other racers missed him no problem, and Stewart is a professional driver. Are you telling me he couldn't avoid him? Honestly I think he was trying to scare the kid and clipped him by accident.

With that said if he is charged with anything Tony will get off. It's impossible to prove the hit was intentional beyond a reasonable doubt. All he needs to say is "I didn't see him", "he jumped in front of my car" etc. and he's clean. Regardless it will be a huge stain on his career.

 
Rodimus said:
All the other racers missed him no problem, and Stewart is a professional driver. Are you telling me he couldn't avoid him? Honestly I think he was trying to scare the kid and clipped him by accident.

With that said if he is charged with anything Tony will get off. It's impossible to prove the hit was intentional beyond a reasonable doubt. All he needs to say is "I didn't see him", "he jumped in front of my car" etc. and he's clean. Regardless it will be a huge stain on his career.
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I listened to a lot of interviews with current and former racers on the radio, they all said the same thing.

1. Stewart has a reputation on the dirt tracks to show up to these mom and pop races for publicity and then he goes out there and drives like he's in a demolition derby. The other guys, this is their livelyhood and he just takes them out. So that was part of the reason Ward got out to confront him, which Stewart himself has done before even launching his helmet at drivers as they passed him running at them.

2. The drivers said that when it does happen they will get near the person and rev the engine to scare them and put them in their place. I believe Stewart was doing this and after doing a slower lap, his tires cooled and he slid when he accelerated causing the rear tire to hit Ward.

Overall, was it unpurpose? No! But Stewart should be cited for involuntary manslaughter.

 
What a bunch of bullshit sensationalized by the media. The proper headline should be "Man walks in front of race car, wins Darwin award". But because a well known driver is involved they know they can drum up some nonsense opinion pieces and racy headlines and watch all the comments roll in from the armchair drivers. The only quotes these "reporters" will give you are the ones that further the story in the direction that makes the most money.

They couldn't even be bothered to do basic fact checking when they were falling over themselves trying to claim the the guy was 17 years old because that's what it said in an obviously out of date bio on the guy's website. (Two sentences before the line that could have told them that his age would have to be closer to 20).

 
Maybe this just makes a case for not acting like a dipshit in a dangerous environment. Ok, so Stewart has done it himself...and other drivers say it's common to rev the engine at the guy to scare them. Well, guess what...this time there was a consequence. Yes, the guy revving the engine might be in the wrong...but he wouldn't have anything to rev his engine at if the dumbass stayed in his car. This is why there are rules/fines/penalties/etc. Sometimes, when you go looking for trouble, you find it.

 
bestkeeper14 said:
I listened to a lot of interviews with current and former racers on the radio, they all said the same thing.

1. Stewart has a reputation on the dirt tracks to show up to these mom and pop races for publicity and then he goes out there and drives like he's in a demolition derby. The other guys, this is their livelyhood and he just takes them out. So that was part of the reason Ward got out to confront him, which Stewart himself has done before even launching his helmet at drivers as they passed him running at them.

2. The drivers said that when it does happen they will get near the person and rev the engine to scare them and put them in their place. I believe Stewart was doing this and after doing a slower lap, his tires cooled and he slid when he accelerated causing the rear tire to hit Ward.

Overall, was it unpurpose? No! But Stewart should be cited for involuntary manslaughter.
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I agree. If it can be proven TS accelerated beforehand it should be involuntary manslaughter. But I don't think they will charge him.

 
If I may...I am a race fan and have followed racing for over 25 years.....

Ward had a few things working against him: he was wearing a dark firesuit, dark helmet, on a dark dirt track that was dimly lit at night.

Keeping that in mind...

These cars steer with the throttle more than they do with the steering wheel.  The right rear tire is much larger than the left.  Instinctively, a driver who wanted to turn the car immediately to avoid hitting anything would have likely applied power.  The car in front of Stewart appeared to move down to avoid Ward.  Stewart was following close.  Just like following a vehicle down the freeway if it moves out of the way suddenly and you are fairly close your reaction time to avoid is shortened dramitically.  Also of note it appeared to me Stewarts car swerved (to the right) just as he hit Ward, not before.  

Winged sprints weigh just over a half ton.  That weight hitting something over 1/10th of its weight (in this case a human being) could have made the car veer especially considering the collision was with the right rear wheel.

The throttle burp that was heard was Stewart correcting the car from going right (these cars turn left by nature on application of the throttle) and/or as I mentioned before, instinctively to avoid a collision, throttle was applied.  If the later, then obviously it was too late.

All of these things happening are within split seconds and without slowing everything down and taking a closer look at video other than this amateur video we have, I'm not sure any positive judgements can be made.

Stewart relishes competition in any form; all racers do.  He generally races others like he is raced.  Is he high tempered? Yes.  Aren't most all race car drivers in the heat of the moment? Yes.  If you think this was an isolated incident of one driver being mad at the other you are wrong.  They all get mad at each other ALL the time and they all do stupid things like throwing helmets, wrecking others, etc.

In the end a life was lost and that is the most tragic part of this.  If Stewart was convicted of even involuntary manslaughter I would be very surprised.  I don't think anything will come of this except:  Stewart will likely set up a fund for Ward and his family and changes will be made throughout the sport of racing.  Drivers will be made to stay in their cars, unless on fire, until such time as safety crews arrive and will not be allowed to traverse the track except to get out of harms way.  Guarantee that rule will happen sooner rather than later.

My .03 cents worth...

 
I was going to post some of the same things that powercreep posted. Very excellent points. In addition, I'd like to add:

1. It's hard to see out of those cars. My uncle raced for about 20 years, and he says that sometimes you can't even see the front tires in your car. And with the way that the wings are nowadays, with the right side hanging so low, it's very hard to see out of the right side of the car.

2. Track conditions play a large part in the handling of the car. Depending on how late in the race it was, how much rubber was on the track and how wet the track was, the car could handle well, or like shit. And from the video, I think it's hard for anybody to definitively say what track conditions were that night.

3. Air conditions play a large role as well: mainly, how dusty was it? I've been in the stands before where I couldn't even see the other side of a half mile track because it was so dusty. Sometimes it's better on the track, sometimes it's not. That further hampers visibility. Plus, we don't know if Tony's helmet was clean or not. Last Thursday Brian Brown won at Knoxville, but ran out of tear-offs in the process. I'd like to know if Tony wasn't in a similar position.

So, were tempers running high? Of course. Does Tony Stewart have a perfect track record? No. But don't be so quick to jump to malice. Driving one of these cars really isn't anything like driving a normal car, and that has to be taken into account.

Again, I don't think any of us will ever truly know what happened on that track. But at this point, I don't think there's enough evidence to convict Tony Stewart of anything. He'll probably get a fine, and they'll probably ask him to sit out a few races to appease the mass media, but that's about it.

Even though I know it will probably happen, I really hope the general public doesn't stick their fat noses in racing business, forcing a bunch of new rules to be created for 'safety'. All of the additional rules are what killed Nascar, and I really hope they don't do the same to sprint car racing.
 
Access_Denied said:
Even though I know it will probably happen, I really hope the general public doesn't stick their fat noses in racing business, forcing a bunch of new rules to be created for 'safety'. All of the additional rules are what killed Nascar, and I really hope they don't do the same to sprint car racing.
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They should though. They should add a rule (which may already exist) stating if your car is wrecked, GET THE fuck OFF THE TRACK. Do not run in front of the moving cars. If youre pissed at a driver then go confront him after the race is over. If you get in front of a car that is going fast, the car will win every time.

 
Good to see some knowledgable posts in here. What you guys said all basically adds up to "Kevin Ward should have stayed in his car". Even if it's a practice that drivers "do all the time", it's dangerous and immature. And really, what claim to safety do they really have at that point?

I can understand not wanting a bunch of rules, but handing out heavy fines/suspension for anyone who gets out of their car seems reasonable. The sport should be about the competition, not the sideshow.

 
RIP, but I'm reminded of the episode of King of the Hill where Hank crossed a racing track to kick a guy's ass, because he had been taking advantage of Bobby.  I can't find a clip.

 
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