Tony Stewart hits, kills driver in sprint car race

[Needschat]

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

Better shut down the whole Interweb, then.

So tired of it today. So many opinions, none of which will help either Stewart or the Ward family and friends. Time wasted better served hugging those close to you.

[Still MIGHTY]

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.

Eh, you can't compare the two in terms of raw attendance. All 30 NHL teams aren't competing against each other at the same arena once a week. (Although, that'd be something, wouldn't it?) If you took a day when all 30 teams are playing in 15 games across North America, even if you only got 10,000 a game for each game it'd still be 150,000.

Ratings, the same thing. One all-encompassing nationally televised event, vs 15 games with at most 4 nationally televised games (US and Canada) and 11 locally televised games.

---

As for the title topic, man that's rough. Stewart obviously holds part of the responsibility as the man behind the wheel, but the onus has to be on Ward for getting out of his car and aggressively walking towards the flow of traffic on a race track. None of us are really going to know what truly happened until Stewart talks publicly, and even then, he may not say exactly what happened.

[BBTV]

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

Better shut down the whole Interweb, then.

So tired of it today. So many opinions, none of which will help either Stewart or the Ward family and friends. Time wasted better served hugging those close to you.

I've been a little dramatic on the one end, but isn't this a little dramatic on the other? Forgive me if a raging guy who got hit by a car that he essentially jumped out in front of doesn't make me take pause to be grateful for everything I have in life and "hug" anyone.

[pmoehrin]

Just reading some of these comments the first question that comes to my mind is what if the roles had been reversed which given Stewart's history I think very well could have been the case.

Would the same people who have been quick to put most of if not all the blame on Ware be equally as fast to condemn Stewart, or would it be presented more as a reckless young driver ending the career or a NASCAR legend?

The other aspect is there is nothing Kevin Ware did that hasn't been done by dozens of other drivers prior to him, including Stewart. In almost every case they got off with a slap on the wrist and had Stewart not hit Ware I would have every reason to believe it would be the same case here as well. So I don't know how much blame can really be placed on someone for doing an action that probably until yesterday was very much tolerated by the system he was working in.

As far as the amount of blame that should be placed on Ware at this point it doesn't even matter. The punishment for his actions was death. Short of going after his friends and loved ones that would seem to be the harshest penalty he could possibly get. So his side of the equation is over as far as I can tell.

The issue now is completely with Stewart, because short of losing complete control of his car and accidentally running into Ware he is at fault here at least in part. There's no disputing that. The only question now is was there any intent at all by his actions (ie trying to teach a young and inexperienced driver a lesson of sorts) or did he really lose control of his vehicle? We may never know but that's where the issue of this lies.

[Mac the Knife]

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 others who think they're tough enough to get out of their cars and stare down drivers flying by at a million MPH.

I've been on the CCSLC and its forums, IIRC, since around 1997. And this is the most insensitive, asinine comment I think I've ever read in that 17 years. Save "he deserved it's" for murderers, pedophiles and the like. A 20 year old, no matter how stupid, doesn't "deserve it."

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

Yeah, that's the only part of this which has given me real pause... acceleration. It leads me to believe that Stewart's intent was to do something to throw a scare into the kid. If that's the case, no matter the intent, it's vehicular homicide, and thus a criminal act. But I don't pretend to know enough about this type of car to make that argument - I just know that any other type of car human beings drive, acceleration is the diametric opposite of what you do in that situation.

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.

Before 20 you never did anything so stupid that you could've died from it? Man, if that's the case, you didn't really live. LOL

[CubsFanBudMan]

... Just look at the video, the guy stepped towards Stewart's car as it passed! ...

This. And it was right after another car almost hit him.

I only watched it twice -- with an anti-Stewart bias going in based on the tweets I was reading -- but that was pretty obvious and I didn't need to see anything after that.

[Cosmic]

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 others who think they're tough enough to get out of their cars and stare down drivers flying by at a million MPH.

I've been on the CCSLC and its forums, IIRC, since around 1997. And this is the most insensitive, asinine comment I think I've ever read in that 17 years. Save "he deserved it's" for murderers, pedophiles and the like. A 20 year old, no matter how stupid, doesn't "deserve it."

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

Yeah, that's the only part of this which has given me real pause... acceleration. It leads me to believe that Stewart's intent was to do something to throw a scare into the kid. If that's the case, no matter the intent, it's vehicular homicide, and thus a criminal act. But I don't pretend to know enough about this type of car to make that argument - I just know that any other type of car human beings drive, acceleration is the diametric opposite of what you do in that situation.

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.

Before 20 you never did anything so stupid that you could've died from it? Man, if that's the case, you didn't really live. LOL

Can anyone really tell if he was accelerating in the second or two that we see his car on screen? I don't really think that sound is coming from his car; others seem certain of it.

[wonderbread]

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 others who think they're tough enough to get out of their cars and stare down drivers flying by at a million MPH.

I've been on the CCSLC and its forums, IIRC, since around 1997. And this is the most insensitive, asinine comment I think I've ever read in that 17 years. Save "he deserved it's" for murderers, pedophiles and the like. A 20 year old, no matter how stupid, doesn't "deserve it."

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

Yeah, that's the only part of this which has given me real pause... acceleration. It leads me to believe that Stewart's intent was to do something to throw a scare into the kid. If that's the case, no matter the intent, it's vehicular homicide, and thus a criminal act. But I don't pretend to know enough about this type of car to make that argument - I just know that any other type of car human beings drive, acceleration is the diametric opposite of what you do in that situation.

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.

Before 20 you never did anything so stupid that you could've died from it? Man, if that's the case, you didn't really live. LOL

Can anyone really tell if he was accelerating in the second or two that we see his car on screen? I don't really think that sound is coming from his car; others seem certain of it.

It's not Stewarts car you here, the video is being shot from the other side of the track and you hear a car going by on the near side of the track closest to the camera that cant be seen in the shot.

[rams80]

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 others who think they're tough enough to get out of their cars and stare down drivers flying by at a million MPH.

I've been on the CCSLC and its forums, IIRC, since around 1997. And this is the most insensitive, asinine comment I think I've ever read in that 17 years. Save "he deserved it's" for murderers, pedophiles and the like. A 20 year old, no matter how stupid, doesn't "deserve it."

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

Yeah, that's the only part of this which has given me real pause... acceleration. It leads me to believe that Stewart's intent was to do something to throw a scare into the kid. If that's the case, no matter the intent, it's vehicular homicide, and thus a criminal act. But I don't pretend to know enough about this type of car to make that argument - I just know that any other type of car human beings drive, acceleration is the diametric opposite of what you do in that situation.

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.

Before 20 you never did anything so stupid that you could've died from it? Man, if that's the case, you didn't really live. LOL

Can anyone really tell if he was accelerating in the second or two that we see his car on screen? I don't really think that sound is coming from his car; others seem certain of it.

It's not Stewarts car you here, the video is being shot from the other side of the track and you hear a car going by on the near side of the track closest to the camera that cant be seen in the shot.

Those things aren't mufflered. I'm pretty sure you could hear acceleration noises from across the track.

[Cosmic]

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 others who think they're tough enough to get out of their cars and stare down drivers flying by at a million MPH.

I've been on the CCSLC and its forums, IIRC, since around 1997. And this is the most insensitive, asinine comment I think I've ever read in that 17 years. Save "he deserved it's" for murderers, pedophiles and the like. A 20 year old, no matter how stupid, doesn't "deserve it."

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

Yeah, that's the only part of this which has given me real pause... acceleration. It leads me to believe that Stewart's intent was to do something to throw a scare into the kid. If that's the case, no matter the intent, it's vehicular homicide, and thus a criminal act. But I don't pretend to know enough about this type of car to make that argument - I just know that any other type of car human beings drive, acceleration is the diametric opposite of what you do in that situation.

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.

Before 20 you never did anything so stupid that you could've died from it? Man, if that's the case, you didn't really live. LOL

Can anyone really tell if he was accelerating in the second or two that we see his car on screen? I don't really think that sound is coming from his car; others seem certain of it.

It's not Stewarts car you here, the video is being shot from the other side of the track and you hear a car going by on the near side of the track closest to the camera that cant be seen in the shot.

Those things aren't mufflered. I'm pretty sure you could hear acceleration noises from across the track.

I'm sure you can, but the ones closer to you would be louder.

[rams80]

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 others who think they're tough enough to get out of their cars and stare down drivers flying by at a million MPH.

I've been on the CCSLC and its forums, IIRC, since around 1997. And this is the most insensitive, asinine comment I think I've ever read in that 17 years. Save "he deserved it's" for murderers, pedophiles and the like. A 20 year old, no matter how stupid, doesn't "deserve it."

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

Yeah, that's the only part of this which has given me real pause... acceleration. It leads me to believe that Stewart's intent was to do something to throw a scare into the kid. If that's the case, no matter the intent, it's vehicular homicide, and thus a criminal act. But I don't pretend to know enough about this type of car to make that argument - I just know that any other type of car human beings drive, acceleration is the diametric opposite of what you do in that situation.

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.

Before 20 you never did anything so stupid that you could've died from it? Man, if that's the case, you didn't really live. LOL

Can anyone really tell if he was accelerating in the second or two that we see his car on screen? I don't really think that sound is coming from his car; others seem certain of it.

It's not Stewarts car you here, the video is being shot from the other side of the track and you hear a car going by on the near side of the track closest to the camera that cant be seen in the shot.

Those things aren't mufflered. I'm pretty sure you could hear acceleration noises from across the track.

I'm sure you can, but the ones closer to you would be louder.

And the ones across would still be plenty loud.

[wonderbread]

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 others who think they're tough enough to get out of their cars and stare down drivers flying by at a million MPH.

I've been on the CCSLC and its forums, IIRC, since around 1997. And this is the most insensitive, asinine comment I think I've ever read in that 17 years. Save "he deserved it's" for murderers, pedophiles and the like. A 20 year old, no matter how stupid, doesn't "deserve it."

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

Yeah, that's the only part of this which has given me real pause... acceleration. It leads me to believe that Stewart's intent was to do something to throw a scare into the kid. If that's the case, no matter the intent, it's vehicular homicide, and thus a criminal act. But I don't pretend to know enough about this type of car to make that argument - I just know that any other type of car human beings drive, acceleration is the diametric opposite of what you do in that situation.

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.

Before 20 you never did anything so stupid that you could've died from it? Man, if that's the case, you didn't really live. LOL

Can anyone really tell if he was accelerating in the second or two that we see his car on screen? I don't really think that sound is coming from his car; others seem certain of it.

It's not Stewarts car you here, the video is being shot from the other side of the track and you hear a car going by on the near side of the track closest to the camera that cant be seen in the shot.

Those things aren't mufflered. I'm pretty sure you could hear acceleration noises from across the track.

I'm sure you can, but the ones closer to you would be louder.

And the ones across would still be plenty loud.

just watch the video you don't hear anything when the other drivers pass, you just hear a rev when stewart does, it was taken from a :censored:ty video camera with out a good microphone that could capture the noises on the other side of the track.

[See Red]

The point is that the acceleration could come from any single car on the track. There's nothing unusual about the sound of accelerating as cars fall of the pace under caution a bit and then catch back up. There is absolutely no way to tell if he Stewart accelerated in the ~1 second you can his car before contact. There's no reference to how fast he was going prior to and he doesn't appear to be accelerating at a greater rate than the other cars as they pass him in the clip. Any claims that suggest otherwise are purely speculation. There's at least ten other cars on the track, maybe as many as 15.

The tail end of the car, to me, looks like it kicks out upon contact.

[Cosmic]

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 others who think they're tough enough to get out of their cars and stare down drivers flying by at a million MPH.

I've been on the CCSLC and its forums, IIRC, since around 1997. And this is the most insensitive, asinine comment I think I've ever read in that 17 years. Save "he deserved it's" for murderers, pedophiles and the like. A 20 year old, no matter how stupid, doesn't "deserve it."

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

Yeah, that's the only part of this which has given me real pause... acceleration. It leads me to believe that Stewart's intent was to do something to throw a scare into the kid. If that's the case, no matter the intent, it's vehicular homicide, and thus a criminal act. But I don't pretend to know enough about this type of car to make that argument - I just know that any other type of car human beings drive, acceleration is the diametric opposite of what you do in that situation.

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.

Before 20 you never did anything so stupid that you could've died from it? Man, if that's the case, you didn't really live. LOL

Can anyone really tell if he was accelerating in the second or two that we see his car on screen? I don't really think that sound is coming from his car; others seem certain of it.

It's not Stewarts car you here, the video is being shot from the other side of the track and you hear a car going by on the near side of the track closest to the camera that cant be seen in the shot.

Those things aren't mufflered. I'm pretty sure you could hear acceleration noises from across the track.

I'm sure you can, but the ones closer to you would be louder.

And the ones across would still be plenty loud.

And how much noise did the crash make on the video? Not a peep that I heard when he went into the wall, but you think a revved engine would be that loud from that far?

[PSUcelticsWON95]

There's no way to prove that it was Stewart's car accelerating! A couple weeks ago, at the track that I race at, some dumb*** crew members were mad at this late model driver for "wrecking" their car. Really, he lost control and their car was just in the line of fire, but the fact that they're stupid is beside the point. As he was going across the scale, the crew members were waiting for him. As he pulled off the scale, they started walking towards his car, and he didn't slow down at all. He ended up slightly hitting one of the dumb crew members with his driver door, but it wasn't nearly hard enough to do any damage whatsoever. Should the driver have slowed down? I sure as hell wouldn't have. Who wants to get their car (or themselves) beat up when they did nothing wrong and the crew members were breaking the rules by confronting him. I mean, it's not like the late model driver aimed towards them. I know that the Stewart situation is much different in a lot of ways, but I thought I'd bring up the point that similar things happen all around. Now, like someone said before, although Stewart should've been looking at the wreck during the caution, Ward wasn't even at the wreck anymore. Don't walk down the track into oncoming traffic, and we don't have a problem. They should tell you at any driver's meeting that you do NOT confront drivers. If the officials feel that they wrecked you on purpose, they will assign consequences accordingly. But the only reason you need to get out of your car is if it's on fire or if the officials tell you to. Ward knows sprint cars, so he should have known that Stewart would not be able to stop or even swerve quick enough. It's just a case of letting your temper get the best of you. It's very sad that it happened, but as someone who has been around racing all my life, as someone who knows the opinions of lots of drivers, and as someone who has raced for 9 years, I can safely say that it is by no means Stewart's fault. When you sign waivers to race at a track, you know the risks, and you know what common sense you should use. Simple as that.

[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.

Eh, you can't compare the two in terms of raw attendance. All 30 NHL teams aren't competing against each other at the same arena once a week. (Although, that'd be something, wouldn't it?) If you took a day when all 30 teams are playing in 15 games across North America, even if you only got 10,000 a game for each game it'd still be 150,000.

Ratings, the same thing. One all-encompassing nationally televised event, vs 15 games with at most 4 nationally televised games (US and Canada) and 11 locally televised games.

You know I'm not a "bash the NHL" type. My point was simply that, despite what some of our...ahem...more enlightened members around here might think, NASCAR's audience isn't limited to "hillbillies and rednecks." Believe me, I'd love to see the NHL surpass NASCAR and auto racing in terms of popularity. (Hell, I'd love to see the NHL knock off the NFL.) It just aggravates me when people assume all racing fans are basically toothless rednecks who would do well to be as socially adept as the Beverly Hillbillies.

Anyway, on topic: After seeing the video, I was pretty sure that Tony Stewart purposely revved the engine to intimidate or send a message to Ward as he passed him on the track and it resulted in Ward getting caught up under the tire. Stewart's temper is well known amongst us rednecks who can read a little bit. But my GF brought up another point of view - maybe Stewart saw Ward headed towards his car, thought this, hit the gas just to get away, and the whole thing was just a terrible accident.

Who knows?

[illwauk]

You know I'm not a "bash the NHL" type. My point was simply that, despite what some of our...ahem...more enlightened members around here might think, NASCAR's audience isn't limited to "hillbillies and rednecks." Believe me, I'd love to see the NHL surpass NASCAR and auto racing in terms of popularity. (Hell, I'd love to see the NHL knock off the NFL.) It just aggravates me when people assume all racing fans are basically toothless rednecks who would do well to be as socially adept as the Beverly Hillbillies.

Indeed, but I don't think it's inaccurate to say that NASCAR wouldn't be anything close to what it is without its more <ahem> stereotypical fans. In fact, IndyCar... which has even more historical cache than NASCAR outside of the south... shows what happens when a racing series can't sell to potential sponsors a loyal audience of mindless consumers who'll buy up entire Walmarts full of crap with their favorite driver's number on it, just because.

I wish there were a way for me to say that without sounding like a complete dick, but that pretty much is what makes NASCAR appealing to sponsors.

[crashcarson15]

You know I'm not a "bash the NHL" type. My point was simply that, despite what some of our...ahem...more enlightened members around here might think, NASCAR's audience isn't limited to "hillbillies and rednecks." Believe me, I'd love to see the NHL surpass NASCAR and auto racing in terms of popularity. (Hell, I'd love to see the NHL knock off the NFL.) It just aggravates me when people assume all racing fans are basically toothless rednecks who would do well to be as socially adept as the Beverly Hillbillies.

Indeed, but I don't think it's inaccurate to say that NASCAR wouldn't be anything close to what it is without its more <ahem> stereotypical fans. In fact, IndyCar... which has even more historical cache than NASCAR outside of the south... shows what happens when a racing series can't sell to potential sponsors a loyal audience of mindless consumers who'll buy up entire Walmarts full of crap with their favorite driver's number on it, just because.

I wish there were a way for me to say that without sounding like a complete dick, but that pretty much is what makes NASCAR appealing to sponsors.

Hell I'm not sure what NASCAR would be if American open-wheel didn't immolate itself.

This post also reminds me that I need to get up to Milwaukee next year. But that's off-topic.

Discussion so far on NASCAR fans has been largely good if not slightly off-topic. But let's keep it that way.

[C's]

mod edit

[The_Admiral]

Indeed, but I don't think it's inaccurate to say that NASCAR wouldn't be anything close to what it is without its more <ahem> stereotypical fans. In fact, IndyCar... which has even more historical cache than NASCAR outside of the south... shows what happens when a racing series can't sell to potential sponsors a loyal audience of mindless consumers who'll buy up entire Walmarts full of crap with their favorite driver's number on it, just because.

I wish there were a way for me to say that without sounding like a complete dick, but that pretty much is what makes NASCAR appealing to sponsors.

Yeah, Indy and F1 are actually kind of cool. I don't get NASCAR. Why don't we as a nation like open-wheel more?