Tony Stewart Kills Driver on Track

[zitothebrave]

http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/s...len-kevin-ward

How much you want to bet nothing serious happens to him? Certainly don't think he'll go to jail for life like he should.

[Krgrecw]

If it was a legit mistake, it was a mistake.

[zitothebrave]

That's a big if. Assuming they weren't lead, you have 2 separate people claiming they saw the same thing which was him intentionally stomping the gas to attempt to scare the guy. By the one description he clearly could have avoided the driver but chose not to.

[Bama9507]

I can't believe he ran at a moving car on a dimly lit track while wearing a dark suit.

[Krovahn]

That's a big if. Assuming they weren't lead, you have 2 separate people claiming they saw the same thing which was him intentionally stomping the gas to attempt to scare the guy. By the one description he clearly could have avoided the driver but chose not to.

There is video, but, I suggest not watching it.

Kevin Ward jr shouldn't have been out of his car and on the track; but a lot of upset drivers in those situations do it at some point or another. I can't speak to intent, but Tony's car did rev and speed up as it ran him over and dragged him, as well as fishtailed into him (which a driver with Tony's experience has to know happens when you accelerate in a sprint car). He also looked to be going faster than other drivers under the caution, even before you hear him rev it some.

Regardless of intent, it is a terrible, terrible tragedy that Kevin Ward jr was killed.

Now, my opinion on it: I personally don't think it was completely intentional, more Tony not paying attention/wanting to spin up dirt or something to scare/taunt him, which does make Tony at fault. Even if it isn't a murder charge, and though it happened on track... there have to be criminal charges of some sort with all of the witness statements and the video to back it all up. This can't just be let go, even if it was an accident. If I am driving and accidentally hit someone, you damn well know I would be facing charges. I don't think that this should be treated much differently, even if it was during a race, after seeing the video.

[Dalyn]

Wow.

[Tapate50]

Think I saw where TS intends to race today...

Now reports are he won't. Well duh

[Tapate50]

TS has always been a hot head out there. I would imagine he is at least partially found at fault for this. Guy shouldn't have been there, but TS obviously meant to scare him or something

[Carp]

Hard to say either way. Dirt tracks drive way different than regular tracks. You actually have to use acceleration to steer. More plausible that Stewart was trying to avoid creating another wreck by getting out of the way rather than braking and ending up in another cars front end.

Tony is known to be a hot head, but I do find it hard to believe there would be intent to injure someone out there. Whether we was trying to scare the kid or not is a different story. Certainly isn't enough information available to say either way right now.

[gilesfan]

Certainly looks intentional,but prolly just tried to scare him.

[Krgrecw]

Certainly looks intentional,but prolly just tried to scare him.

So reckless homicide?

[gilesfan]

Prolly no proof

[zitothebrave]

Hard to say either way. Dirt tracks drive way different than regular tracks. You actually have to use acceleration to steer. More plausible that Stewart was trying to avoid creating another wreck by getting out of the way rather than braking and ending up in another cars front end.

Tony is known to be a hot head, but I do find it hard to believe there would be intent to injure someone out there. Whether we was trying to scare the kid or not is a different story. Certainly isn't enough information available to say either way right now.

If I shoot a gun at someone only intending to scare them and they have a heart attack, You go to jail for involuntary man slaughter.

With the first car totally missing this dude Stewart if he was anyone other than a really rich and famous person would be going to jail for quite some time

[Carp]

Lol you are so FOS. And you don't know a damn thing about racing (particularly dirt track racing).

If you watched the video more than once (clearly you didn't) you can plainly see one of other cars narrowly missed Ward just moments before Tony hit him. The dude was walking on a track with cars flying by him. He walked INTO traffic. It isn't he got out of his car and someone would have had to go out of their way to hit him. He gets hit, and all of a sudden people are shocked?

It was a horrible accident, but as of now, that's all it is. An accident. No one knows and never will know if Stewart had intent on scaring the guy or not. It certainly looks bad. I won't say that Stewart wasn't trying to scare him. But you can't prove intent.

Whether or not Stewart is rich and famous is irrelevant. The dude walked into oncoming traffic. That was an accident waiting to happen.

[zitothebrave]

Wow that's some sick bias.

Look at the angle of the car before Stewart and Stewarts angle. Sure the kid was dumb but there was no ****ing way that Stewart should have even gotten close to him. Kid was dumb but Stewart made a move likely in an attempt to scare a "punk" kid and he killed the kid instead. He didn't have to do what he did. He could have easily avoided the kid and instead he gunned it which according to people who know way the **** more than you or I that has 1 thing that always happens. Again I think he wasn't trying to hit the kid but I think he was trying to scare him and got a little loose and hit the kid.

[Krovahn]

It was a horrible accident, but as of now, that's all it is. An accident.

If I am driving down the road, and there is someone biking or walking and I don't see them and I hit & kill them, it is still an accident. You can bet your ass I'd be in jail for it.

Just because it happened on a racetrack doesn't make it much different at all. It didn't happen during the course of a car accident (I.e. Dale Sr.), it happened under caution, when cars are supposed to slow down and drivers are supposed to be even more attentive to the situation around them, especially right at the site of the accident, with the driver out of his car. On top of that, TS is arguably in the top few dozen professional racers/drivers in the world. He knows how cars work, how to handle them, how to proceed under caution, and to stay alert.

Intent aside, TS ran over killed a guy; accident or not, he needs to be held accountable for Kevin Ward's death.

[Fredi Gonzalez]

Wow that's some sick bias.

Look at the angle of the car before Stewart and Stewarts angle. Sure the kid was dumb but there was no ****ing way that Stewart should have even gotten close to him. Kid was dumb but Stewart made a move likely in an attempt to scare a "punk" kid and he killed the kid instead. He didn't have to do what he did. He could have easily avoided the kid and instead he gunned it which according to people who know way the **** more than you or I that has 1 thing that always happens. Again I think he wasn't trying to hit the kid but I think he was trying to scare him and got a little loose and hit the kid.

I am no expert on NASCAR, or baseball for that matter, but it looks to me like Ward is the one trying to get close to Stewart not the other way around. How much is Stewart obligated to try and miss someone who is mad and trying to get in his way? Ward could have died a lot of ways from running around like that. If he got run over by one of the other drivers before Stewart got to him no one would blame them.

[bravesnumberone]

I'm going to wait until more information comes out. But if Tony was trying to scare him like witnesses seem to be indicating, his careless actions led to a death, and he should face some sort of actions. As for Ward, he was an incredible dumbass.

[gilesfan]

I watched it another 20x. I listened to the engines to see if what that says. Stewart clearly sped up. Not only did he speed up, but he veers toward Ward as opposed to the car in front that went much slower and veered inside.

It's crazy to think Stewart would intentionally do it, but the video certainly makes it seem that way. With his history of having a shirt fuse, you never know.

[Carp]

I posted yesterday on this but I dont guess it went through.

Zito, you're an idiot. The kid walked from the upper portion of the track down into the middle of traffic. It's a wonder some other car didn't hit him (one almost did 2 cars before Tony hit him).

You can't know if Tony had any sort of intent on "scaring the kid" or if he honestly didn't see him. And any notion that he did is pure speculation based on a 1 minute video online. It was dark and the kid was wearing all black. And as said numerous times, accelerating actually helps you steer on a dirt track. The kid was standing right at the end of a curve. When taking a curve on a dirt track, you steer away from the direction you want to go and you accelerate. So if he saw Ward at the last moment coming off the curve and was trying to avoid him, then that would not be uncommon or strange to see Stewart accelerate.

Being rich or famous has nothing to do with it. You can't prosecute someone on an assumption of their intent..

I don't know what Tony was thinking. I tend to lean more towards he was trying to scare him. But it's impossible to tell. If it's proven otherwise (it won't be), then I'll definitely change my stance.