Tony Stewart hits, kills driver in sprint car race

[The_Admiral]

About the only company that would sponsor Stewart's ride now would be a company that has complete and utter disdain for public opinion.

In other words, every large American corporation.

[The_Admiral]

And another thing, why is a world-class stock car driver slumming it on a dirt track in the middle of nowhere behind the wheel of what appears to be some sort of flying tilted box? Yeah yeah yeah, I get that hockey players play in rec leagues in the summer and basketball players play pickup games at Rucker, but this is during the season, and it's some wack-ass go-kart dump truck! This would be like a baseball player having an off day before he plays the Yankees and being like "yeah, I'm good at baseball. I'm going to try to play it while I ride a bike."

[crashcarson15]

4. Crashcarson is over-modding the hell of this board. We should be able to put a spoiler or a "not for squeamish eyes" and post the video, etc. If it's that touchy a subject with you, either shut down the thread or let someone else keep an eye on this thread. Less is more.

I'm sorry that you disagree with how the board has been moderated. The biggest complaint that led to the appointment of new moderators was a perceived lack of moderation.

I don't see why we need a link to the video on the site. It's disrespectful to Ward and if you want to see it, there are plenty of places to do so.

[PSUcelticsWON95]

And another thing, why is a world-class stock car driver slumming it on a dirt track in the middle of nowhere behind the wheel of what appears to be some sort of flying tilted box? Yeah yeah yeah, I get that hockey players play in rec leagues in the summer and basketball players play pickup games at Rucker, but this is during the season, and it's some wack-ass go-kart dump truck! This would be like a baseball player having an off day before he plays the Yankees and being like "yeah, I'm good at baseball. I'm going to try to play it while I ride a bike."

It's not the "middle of nowhere". The NASCAR race for today wasn't far away from where he was racing. Kasey Kahne owns a sprint car team, Tony Stewart does as well. There's absolutely nothing wrong with NASCAR drivers racing in other series. Why not go back to your roots and have some fun on the side? It's not like he completely blows everyone out of the water whenever he races sprint cars. And it's not a "flying tilted box", it's a sprint car. Sprint cars are very popular in America and even in other countries such as Australia.

[floydnimrod]

And another thing, why is a world-class stock car driver slumming it on a dirt track in the middle of nowhere behind the wheel of what appears to be some sort of flying tilted box? Yeah yeah yeah, I get that hockey players play in rec leagues in the summer and basketball players play pickup games at Rucker, but this is during the season, and it's some wack-ass go-kart dump truck! This would be like a baseball player having an off day before he plays the Yankees and being like "yeah, I'm good at baseball. I'm going to try to play it while I ride a bike."

NASCAR/Racing in general is a little different than other sports when it comes to this. IN most of the country the NASCAR season is the only time during the year where you can race anywhere, so for Stewart (who isn't the only driver that does this) to want to race anywhere he can, the only time is during the season.

Also, you can't really compare most of the Cup drivers racing in the Nationwide or Craftsman Truck series to any other sport. A lot of these guys really love to race more than anything else. Stewart doesn't have a wife or kids to occupy time off of the track. He races because he loves it.

This incident is a tremendous example about how dumb social media is. I wish people would let the legal process play out before coming to such a bold conclusion (Stewart is a murderer/Hillbilly guy deserved to die).

This kind of reminds me of the Dante Stallworth drunk driving situation.

[Cosmic]

I think if you keep your eyes on the blue car in front of Stewart, it looks like the guy had to swerve to avoid the guy. I believe you can see the car shake from a correction after it passes the guy on the track. Stewart was relatively close to that blue car, and we've had a picture in this thread that shows that the view isn't that great while you're driving these cars. And it was night. Even if Tony Stewart expected the guy to be out of his car yelling at him, he probably didn't expect the guy to be so far away from the car and in front of it. The guy was so far away from the crashed car, I wouldn't even be surprised (warning: pure speculation) if Stewart's focus was towards the crashed car and didn't see the driver on the track until the last second.

[illwauk]

stare down drivers flying by at a million MPH.

It was a caution. Stewart floored it in the middle of a caution.

MOD EDIT

He was only 20. Did you do anything dumb when you were 20?

People can still grow and you know, mature, after 20. His stupid antics don't define his life as worthless and the earth as better off without his genes

If I were in a sprint race at 20 and walked on to the middle of a slippery dirt track to confront another driver, caution or not, my dad and grandpa (both of whom actually were sprint drivers) would've beaten my a~~ in the pits... and rightfully so. 20 years old is old enough to know not to do what that kid did.

I won't say he deserved to lose his life over it, but he was old enough to understand that was a possibility.

Either way, Tony Stewart's reputation is f~ed regardless of any criminal charges, and no major sponsor will want to touch him with a 10-mile pole.

[pmoehrin]

A couple of thoughts on this.

First of all I tend to agree with the notion that something like this has been coming for a long time. We've seen drivers getting out of cars countless times causing severe danger to others as well as themselves without receiving much more then a slap on the wrist. If nothing else that much change immediately.

Second of all I think the way both Stewart and NASCAR have handled things so far has been flat out awful. Whether or not Stewart should have races today shouldn't have even been a question. A man is dead in part because of Stewart's actions and for him and his group to try to pass off him racing today as business as usual was one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard anyone say. At best it paints him as someone with a complete lack of understanding for what he just did and at worst paints him as just an evil bastard who no longer has any business being part of society let alone participating in a sport such as NASCAR.

The third point I think still has a long way to go. I doubt we'll ever know for sure exactly what Stewart's intentions were. I'm almost certain he had no intention of killing Kevin Ware but no so

certain he had no intention of driving close enough to spook Ware or worse even make contact with him.

Stewart is a guy with one of those reps for being a hot head and this is not one of those situations where you can say "I let my emotions get the best of me" and expect to walk away with little to no consequences as he's done in the past. Nobody ever died in any of those situations. This time someone did. And if that was indeed the case, then this is someone who's career should be over effective immediately.

How close are to answering those questions I have no idea. Right now if I were NASCAR I would have suspended him indefinitely which I have no clue why they haven't done so already. There will at least a lawsuit from this and most likely charges as well and I would think it would be more beneficial to Stewart as well to focus on his legal defense and not driving a car at this point.

[DCarp1231]

Report has come out that no criminal charges are pending at this time and amateur video is wanted at this time. I think for as long as this investigation goes on, Stewart should sit out the upcoming races.

[illwauk]

And another thing, why is a world-class stock car driver slumming it on a dirt track in the middle of nowhere behind the wheel of what appears to be some sort of flying tilted box? Yeah yeah yeah, I get that hockey players play in rec leagues in the summer and basketball players play pickup games at Rucker, but this is during the season, and it's some wack-ass go-kart dump truck! This would be like a baseball player having an off day before he plays the Yankees and being like "yeah, I'm good at baseball. I'm going to try to play it while I ride a bike."

If NBA players didn't have regular practices like NASCAR drivers don't, I'm quite positive they would be showing up at Rucker during the season to keep their skills sharp. Same concept here. A lot of Cup Series drivers double dip on the Nationwide Series for the same reason.

Also, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, a lot of drivers actually prefer dirt tracks to asphalt, and/or open wheels to stock cars. From what I understand, Tony Stewart actually prefers sprint cars, but races NASCAR because that's where the money is.

[HedleyLamarr]

4. Crashcarson is over-modding the hell of this board. We should be able to put a spoiler or a "not for squeamish eyes" and post the video, etc. If it's that touchy a subject with you, either shut down the thread or let someone else keep an eye on this thread. Less is more.

I'm sorry that you disagree with how the board has been moderated. The biggest complaint that led to the appointment of new moderators was a perceived lack of moderation.

I don't see why we need a link to the video on the site. It's disrespectful to Ward and if you want to see it, there are plenty of places to do so.

I don't quite see where some 20-year-old idiot (and yes, if you're running around on a track during the middle of a race, you're an idiot...putting it lightly) has earned the respect of this board to not put the video (or a link to it) on here. I assume he didn't post here. And if you don't want to see the video, don't click the link or press "Play" on the video. Hell, it could be a life lesson for some people on here....don't run into the middle of the road while there's traffic. And it's not like it's some gory scene with body parts severed and flying all over the place. If it's good enough to be shown on local and national airwaves, it can be shown here.

There's already been a couple few instances where the new mods' decisions have been overturned by the established rule. A little too trigger-happy when it comes to rather mundane rulings. Hence my point of "Less is more.".....

[wonderbread]

It's really easy to see who are the people who understand the sport and dangers and stupidity of running out on a slippery dirt track with cars buzzing around and those that dont understand the difficulty of actually driving one of these cars and try ongoing to avoid something like that.

[CS85]

Imagine if this was in a NASCAR race and a guy got hit at full speed by one of those cars. Just an explosion of meat and red and perhaps the entire association is tainted.

What I'm saying is that maybe we should try to integrate monkeys riding dogs into the formal lexicon of racing culture. It'd be a lot easier (and funnier) to mourn Jingles the monkey.

[rams80]

It's really easy to see who are the people who understand the sport and dangers and stupidity of running out on a slippery dirt track with cars buzzing around and those that dont understand the difficulty of actually driving one of these cars and try ongoing to avoid something like that.

Hi, I'm from downstate Illinois, the land of the kamikaze ninja deer.

I'm pretty sure most of us, like me, have driven a car at 40-50 MPH on some dimly lit country road at night, so yeah most of us do have some idea about at least the environmental conditions confronting Stewart. I don't discount that it is a challenge to keep track of everything, but the point is a 15-year veteran of NASCAR's highest level should be very capable of managing and absorbing all the information he can get and above all else, maintaining a high level of situational awareness. Stewart should be actively looking for hazards during a caution period.

[floydnimrod]

Imagine if this was in a NASCAR race and a guy got hit at full speed by one of those cars. Just an explosion of meat and red and perhaps the entire association is tainted.

What I'm saying is that maybe we should try to integrate monkeys riding dogs into the formal lexicon of racing culture. It'd be a lot easier (and funnier) to mourn Jingles the monkey.

The only instance where a driver is on out of his car on the track is during a caution, and cars are going about 1/3 speed. Still enough to kill someone, but not "meat and red."

[IceCap]

Look Hedley, this thread is dedicated to a specific story and it should be allowed to remain that way. We're not going to turn this into your personal soapbox against perceived over-moderation.

[wonderbread]

It's really easy to see who are the people who understand the sport and dangers and stupidity of running out on a slippery dirt track with cars buzzing around and those that dont understand the difficulty of actually driving one of these cars and try ongoing to avoid something like that.

Hi, I'm from downstate Illinois, the land of the kamikaze ninja deer.

I'm pretty sure most of us, like me, have driven a car at 40-50 MPH on some dimly lit country road at night, so yeah most of us do have some idea about at least the environmental conditions confronting Stewart. I don't discount that it is a challenge to keep track of everything, but the point is a 15-year veteran of NASCAR's highest level should be very capable of managing and absorbing all the information he can get and above all else, maintaining a high level of situational awareness. Stewart should be actively looking for hazards during a caution period.

Ok how many collisions are there between pedestrians, animals, bicycles and cars each year, thousands. This is no difference especially when the kid walks into the way of the car. Also these arent normal driving conditions, these are slick race tracks where you are in a drift pretty much in every corner and need to use the throttle to turn, it's much more difficult than driving a regular car, and different than what tony drives every week in NASCAR. He's a great driver but you really cant expect him to avoid something like that.

[rams80]

It's really easy to see who are the people who understand the sport and dangers and stupidity of running out on a slippery dirt track with cars buzzing around and those that dont understand the difficulty of actually driving one of these cars and try ongoing to avoid something like that.

Hi, I'm from downstate Illinois, the land of the kamikaze ninja deer.

I'm pretty sure most of us, like me, have driven a car at 40-50 MPH on some dimly lit country road at night, so yeah most of us do have some idea about at least the environmental conditions confronting Stewart. I don't discount that it is a challenge to keep track of everything, but the point is a 15-year veteran of NASCAR's highest level should be very capable of managing and absorbing all the information he can get and above all else, maintaining a high level of situational awareness. Stewart should be actively looking for hazards during a caution period.

Ok how many collisions are there between pedestrians, animals, bicycles and cars each year, thousands. This is no difference especially when the kid walks into the way of the car. Also these arent normal driving conditions, these are slick race tracks where you are in a drift pretty much in every corner and need to use the throttle to turn, it's much more difficult than driving a regular car, and different than what tony drives every week in NASCAR. He's a great driver but you really cant expect him to avoid something like that.

Stewart's won a national championship in sprint cars. I'm pretty sure he understands how a sprint car handles.

EDIT: And Ward got hit by the rear of the car. That's not exactly "walking into it".

[wonderbread]

It's really easy to see who are the people who understand the sport and dangers and stupidity of running out on a slippery dirt track with cars buzzing around and those that dont understand the difficulty of actually driving one of these cars and try ongoing to avoid something like that.

Hi, I'm from downstate Illinois, the land of the kamikaze ninja deer.

I'm pretty sure most of us, like me, have driven a car at 40-50 MPH on some dimly lit country road at night, so yeah most of us do have some idea about at least the environmental conditions confronting Stewart. I don't discount that it is a challenge to keep track of everything, but the point is a 15-year veteran of NASCAR's highest level should be very capable of managing and absorbing all the information he can get and above all else, maintaining a high level of situational awareness. Stewart should be actively looking for hazards during a caution period.

Ok how many collisions are there between pedestrians, animals, bicycles and cars each year, thousands. This is no difference especially when the kid walks into the way of the car. Also these arent normal driving conditions, these are slick race tracks where you are in a drift pretty much in every corner and need to use the throttle to turn, it's much more difficult than driving a regular car, and different than what tony drives every week in NASCAR. He's a great driver but you really cant expect him to avoid something like that.

Stewart's won a national championship in sprint cars. I'm pretty sure he understands how a sprint car handles.

He understands but is rusty after not racing in sprint cars for a year. Also everyone makes mistakes otherwise there never would be cautions and the life would be very boring. But you really cant expect tony to be able to avoid him in that situation it's not like he can stop on a dime, he's probably replaying it over and over again in his head what he could have done differently to avoid it but it just didnt happen

[DCarp1231]

It's really easy to see who are the people who understand the sport and dangers and stupidity of running out on a slippery dirt track with cars buzzing around and those that dont understand the difficulty of actually driving one of these cars and try ongoing to avoid something like that.

Hi, I'm from downstate Illinois, the land of the kamikaze ninja deer.

I'm pretty sure most of us, like me, have driven a car at 40-50 MPH on some dimly lit country road at night, so yeah most of us do have some idea about at least the environmental conditions confronting Stewart. I don't discount that it is a challenge to keep track of everything, but the point is a 15-year veteran of NASCAR's highest level should be very capable of managing and absorbing all the information he can get and above all else, maintaining a high level of situational awareness. Stewart should be actively looking for hazards during a caution period.

Ok how many collisions are there between pedestrians, animals, bicycles and cars each year, thousands. This is no difference especially when the kid walks into the way of the car. Also these arent normal driving conditions, these are slick race tracks where you are in a drift pretty much in every corner and need to use the throttle to turn, it's much more difficult than driving a regular car, and different than what tony drives every week in NASCAR. He's a great driver but you really cant expect him to avoid something like that.

Stewart's won a national championship in sprint cars. I'm pretty sure he understands how a sprint car handles.

EDIT: And Ward got hit by the rear of the car. That's not exactly "walking into it".

Yes but vision in a sprint car is restricted. You can't really move your head in any direction you want so once Ward was past Stewart's vision, Stewart couldn't have seen him and I doubt Stewart directed the car to hit Ward...