Tony Stewart hits, kills driver in sprint car race

[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.

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

"Don't hit the throttle" seems to be number one on that list with huge blinking lights.

Also, Stewart had been back doing sprint cup races for nearly a month. The rust should be gone.

[PSUcelticsWON95]

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

No sprint car driver, whether he be Schatz, Kinser, or Stewart can just stop on a dime. Had Ward not tried to confront him on the track, non of this would've happened. Plus, you also have to understand that the right rear of the car sticks out a lot more. And even if they are going slow under caution, slow is a relative term. They're still going to be going anywhere between 20-40+ MPH under caution. You can clearly see how dry-slick the track is in the video. If he would've moved down earlier, Ward might've still moved down in front of him. If he swerved, it could've still caused a lot of mayhem. And you wouldn't necessarily be looking for hazards like that during a caution. He'd be checking gauges, listening to what was being said on the RACEceiver, and studying the track. Not looking for someone to be walking in front of him. You can't exactly look directly to your right, either. I'm sure he has a HANS device and some type of containment seat.

[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

"Don't hit the throttle" seems to be number one on that list with huge blinking lights.

Also, Stewart had been back doing sprint cup races for nearly a month. The rust should be gone.

You need the throttle to turn and it's not even known if he did hit the throttle or not, the is a rev that heard on the video but that's not from Tonys car thats from a car on the opposite near side of the track that you hear.

[Cosmic]

Every car/surface combo has its limits, regardless of the driver. We don't really know what Tony Stewart saw or what he was thinking. One of the leading causes of car accidents (regular cars) is overcorrection. Even a world-class driver... if he just saw the guy too late, turns the wheel a little too hard, gets the back of the car sliding...

[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".

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...

Sorry Phoenix Wright, but...if Stewart saw him at all, Stewart would have remembered that he was there (roughly) and not to do things that would cause the car to fishtail. Like hitting the throttle. It's that situational awareness thing.

[PSUcelticsWON95]

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

"Don't hit the throttle" seems to be number one on that list with huge blinking lights.

Also, Stewart had been back doing sprint cup races for nearly a month. The rust should be gone.

You need the throttle to turn and it's not even known if he did hit the throttle or not, the is a rev that heard on the video but that's not from Tonys car thats from a car on the opposite near side of the track that you hear.

Exactly. There's gonna be 20 or so cars on the track during the feature. How are you going to pick out which car is Tony's? And sprint cars need to feather the throttle during cautions to keep the car from dying. And with any rear-wheel car, you're going to need the throttle to turn the corner.

[FiddySicks]

I don't see the outrage here. Someone mentioned Darwin, and that's all this is. The guy deserved it. Actually, he probably deserved not to die, but to be seriously messed up or paralyzed or something and then his crippled / mangled body could be used as a deterent to other angry hillbillies who think they're tough enough to get out of their cars and stare down drivers flying by at a million MPH.

If he wasn't killed by Tony Stewart's car, he just would've been killed by doing something else stupid in a moment of hot-headed rage.

The only thing that would have been better is if he was holding a Budweiser in one hand while standing out there and pointing his finger with the other.

Yeah that was me, and I simply can't see it any other way. Just look at the video, the guy stepped towards Stewart's car as it passed! All this Tony Stewart is done as a driver and will probably get jail time talk is madness. That video doesn't show Stewart "swerving into" that guy at all, and considering it's that guy's home track, how credible are the witnesses who claim that anyway?

The guy was an idiot and it cost him his life. Simple as that. Someone mentioned that we all do stupid things when were 20, and that's true. The difference is, I never did something at 20 so egregiously stupid that it got me killed. No matter how experienced Tony Stewart is on the race track and no matter how hot headed he can be sometimes, common sense has to be taken into account here, and that guy had none of that. Therefore, Darwinism took care of him. Tragic, absolutely. But I find it really hard to feel bad for someone when they're fatally reckless (even in the context of already having a very reckless profession as it is!).

[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.

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

No sprint car driver, whether he be Schatz, Kinser, or Stewart can just stop on a dime. Had Ward not tried to confront him on the track, non of this would've happened. Plus, you also have to understand that the right rear of the car sticks out a lot more. And even if they are going slow under caution, slow is a relative term. They're still going to be going anywhere between 20-40+ MPH under caution. You can clearly see how dry-slick the track is in the video. If he would've moved down earlier, Ward might've still moved down in front of him. If he swerved, it could've still caused a lot of mayhem. And you wouldn't necessarily be looking for hazards like that during a caution. He'd be checking gauges, listening to what was being said on the RACEceiver, and studying the track. Not looking for someone to be walking in front of him. You can't exactly look directly to your right, either. I'm sure he has a HANS device and some type of containment seat.

Stewart was approaching the crash site. I think "look out for on track hazards" would have been a little higher on his to do list. Look, I'm sorry that some universally despised racer didn't hit Ward-clearly things would be a lot simpler here. You just cannot expunge Stewart from all culpability in this incident based on Stewart's years of experience and how the car hit Ward.

[McCall]

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

"Don't hit the throttle" seems to be number one on that list with huge blinking lights.

Also, Stewart had been back doing sprint cup races for nearly a month. The rust should be gone.

You need the throttle to turn and it's not even known if he did hit the throttle or not, the is a rev that heard on the video but that's not from Tonys car thats from a car on the opposite near side of the track that you hear.

Exactly. There's gonna be 20 or so cars on the track during the feature. How are you going to pick out which car is Tony's? And sprint cars need to feather the throttle during cautions to keep the car from dying. And with any rear-wheel car, you're going to need the throttle to turn the corner.

Guys I'm in full agreement with you here, but save your breath. It's not worth trying to change the mind of someone who's resistant to change they're opinion on something they're unfamiliar with even when others have shown they're knowledge on the subject.

[BBTV]

I don't see the outrage here. Someone mentioned Darwin, and that's all this is. The guy deserved it. Actually, he probably deserved not to die, but to be seriously messed up or paralyzed or something and then his crippled / mangled body could be used as a deterent to other angry hillbillies who think they're tough enough to get out of their cars and stare down drivers flying by at a million MPH.

If he wasn't killed by Tony Stewart's car, he just would've been killed by doing something else stupid in a moment of hot-headed rage.

The only thing that would have been better is if he was holding a Budweiser in one hand while standing out there and pointing his finger with the other.

Yeah that was me, and I simply can't see it any other way. Just look at the video, the guy stepped towards Stewart's car as it passed! All this Tony Stewart is done as a driver and will probably get jail time talk is madness. That video doesn't show Stewart "swerving into" that guy at all, and considering it's that guy's home track, how credible are the witnesses who claim that anyway?

The guy was an idiot and it cost him his life. Simple as that. Someone mentioned that we all do stupid things when were 20, and that's true. The difference is, I never did something at 20 so egregiously stupid that it got me killed. No matter how experienced Tony Stewart is on the race track and no matter how hot headed he can be sometimes, common sense has to be taken into account here, and that guy had none of that. Therefore, Darwinism took care of him. Tragic, absolutely. But I find it really hard to feel bad for someone when they're fatally reckless (even in the context of already having a very reckless profession as it is!).

You're out of line. Prepare to be MODEDITED.

[Burkell007]

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.

But I'm with him on the video thing, there is a reason we have spoiler tags, if not why have "the worst sports injuries you ever seen", thread?? This video could go in there but if it did it be spoilers not modedited, so why can't that apply here?

[IceCap]

I don't see the outrage here. Someone mentioned Darwin, and that's all this is. The guy deserved it. Actually, he probably deserved not to die, but to be seriously messed up or paralyzed or something and then his crippled / mangled body could be used as a deterent to other angry hillbillies who think they're tough enough to get out of their cars and stare down drivers flying by at a million MPH.

If he wasn't killed by Tony Stewart's car, he just would've been killed by doing something else stupid in a moment of hot-headed rage.

The only thing that would have been better is if he was holding a Budweiser in one hand while standing out there and pointing his finger with the other.

Yeah that was me, and I simply can't see it any other way. Just look at the video, the guy stepped towards Stewart's car as it passed! All this Tony Stewart is done as a driver and will probably get jail time talk is madness. That video doesn't show Stewart "swerving into" that guy at all, and considering it's that guy's home track, how credible are the witnesses who claim that anyway?

The guy was an idiot and it cost him his life. Simple as that. Someone mentioned that we all do stupid things when were 20, and that's true. The difference is, I never did something at 20 so egregiously stupid that it got me killed. No matter how experienced Tony Stewart is on the race track and no matter how hot headed he can be sometimes, common sense has to be taken into account here, and that guy had none of that. Therefore, Darwinism took care of him. Tragic, absolutely. But I find it really hard to feel bad for someone when they're fatally reckless (even in the context of already having a very reckless profession as it is!).

You're out of line. Prepare to be MODEDITED.

No, Bucfan is fine because he made his point without throwing out insults and stereotyping. See how that works?

You're an intelligent guy Vet. You can (and have) made your well-reasoned point here without the use of the terms "redneck" or "hillbilly."

Just food for thought.

[LMU]

Let me put it this way. The guy definitely won himself a Darwin Award for trying to confront a guy in a moving vehicle on a racetrack. That has nothing to do with culture or anything else of that nature.

And in terms of the video, this is a sports logo message board. If you're that fascinated about footage of someone's death, you know where to find it. Just as if you're so interested in bikini pictures of a Disney Channel star, you know where to find those as well. As has been the case with other threads, we're not about to risk Chris' reputation or revenue sources by allowing that sort of thing.

[Cosmic]

Stewart was approaching the crash site. I think "look out for on track hazards" would have been a little higher on his to do list. Look, I'm sorry that some universally despised racer didn't hit Ward-clearly things would be a lot simpler here. You just cannot expunge Stewart from all culpability in this incident based on Stewart's years of experience and how the car hit Ward.

You could argue that the driver left "the crash site". He was pretty damn far away from his crashed car.

Knowing now that the sprint cars are rear wheel drive, it definitely seems possible that Stewart didn't see the guy until too late, turned too quickly and the back end start sliding sideways. Rear wheel drive cars can/will do that. It wouldn't have taken much... the driver was basically charging cars on the track.

[Needschat]

Armchair detectives, no one knows what happened but Tony. Speculation, though part of human nature, does nothing.

[Cosmic]

Armchair detectives, no one knows what happened but Tony. Speculation, though part of human nature, does nothing.

Better shut down the whole Interweb, then.

[sportstar1212]

Stewart should be held somewhat accountable for his actions, but he is getting far more blame than he deserves. Ward, regardless of age, should have had enough common sense not to have gotten out of his car and walked onto an active racetrack. Honestly, I have no sympathy for idiots like him.

[infrared41]

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?

Because it helps the small tracks financially. Most small time tracks have a tough time making money.

EDIT: RE: the "redneck" and "hillbilly" nonsense - NASCAR probably dwarves our beloved hockey in both ratings and attendance. This season, Sprint Cup races average about 97,000 and that's considered pretty bad. (When was the last time an NHL game had a "bad gate" because only 97,000 people showed up?) FWIW, auto racing is every bit as popular in the Midwest, Upstate NY, California (probably other than LA, SD, and SF - I'm guessing), etc. as it is in the south. NASCAR's two Pocono races aren't run in South Carolina, folks.

[See Red]

I don't see the outrage here. Someone mentioned Darwin, and that's all this is. The guy deserved it. Actually, he probably deserved not to die, but to be seriously messed up or paralyzed or something and then his crippled / mangled body could be used as a deterent to other angry hillbillies who think they're tough enough to get out of their cars and stare down drivers flying by at a million MPH.

If he wasn't killed by Tony Stewart's car, he just would've been killed by doing something else stupid in a moment of hot-headed rage.

The only thing that would have been better is if he was holding a Budweiser in one hand while standing out there and pointing his finger with the other.

Yeah that was me, and I simply can't see it any other way. Just look at the video, the guy stepped towards Stewart's car as it passed! All this Tony Stewart is done as a driver and will probably get jail time talk is madness. That video doesn't show Stewart "swerving into" that guy at all, and considering it's that guy's home track, how credible are the witnesses who claim that anyway?

The guy was an idiot and it cost him his life. Simple as that. Someone mentioned that we all do stupid things when were 20, and that's true. The difference is, I never did something at 20 so egregiously stupid that it got me killed. No matter how experienced Tony Stewart is on the race track and no matter how hot headed he can be sometimes, common sense has to be taken into account here, and that guy had none of that. Therefore, Darwinism took care of him. Tragic, absolutely. But I find it really hard to feel bad for someone when they're fatally reckless (even in the context of already having a very reckless profession as it is!).

This. For all the stupid things I did in my late teens and early 20's, none of them begin to compare with the stupidity exhibited by this guy. The best case scenario was Stewart managing to swerve out of the way and a car going some 30-or-so MPH misses him by inches.

[dbadefense1990]

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?

It's the same answer as to why NBA players head to Rucker Park to play some summertime basketball in less than professional courts: just because they feel like it. There's no problem of worldly-known athletes heading to the local parks and racetracks, and slugging it out with amateurs and tomorrow's stars in those fields. It makes the athlete humble of his beginnings and gives the track a boost in awareness.