General Zod

So there's video of this I'll put in a spoiler (and I wouldn't be surprised at all if Youtube pulls it).



Reports coming in now that the driver has died.

I'm not sure if Stewart did this on purpose. I think he wanted to drive close to him to scare him and the car got away from him. Just a guess.

JumpCutz

Damn, dude done got runned over real good.

collven

OK, I know this forum loves to make light of horrible situations, but just remember, when you watch that video, you are watching someone die, a 20 year-old kid. Try to have a little respect.

My Other Self

MotorSportsTalk had written he was 17.

Can there be criminal charges here against Stewart?

collven

I also originally heard 17, but most of the later stories have all said 20.

Sheriff said at press conference that it was not a criminal investigation, at least at this point.

Perkinsun Dzees

Looks pretty clear on video that he did it on purpose. I know if it was me I definitely would have swerved to avoid that kid.



Tyler Graves, a sprint-car racer and friend of Ward's, told Sporting News in a phone interview that he was sitting in the Turn 1 grandstands and saw everything that happened.

"I know Tony could see him. I know how you can see out of these cars. When Tony got close to him, he hit the throttle. When you hit a throttle on a sprint car, the car sets sideways. It set sideways, the right rear tire hit Kevin, Kevin was sucked underneath and was stuck under it for a second or two and then it threw him about 50 yards."

TheKing

Why in the hell would you actually walk out onto the track like he did? OK, he was pissed he got spun out, but why the hell would you try and confront someone in the middle of the road? I mean look at that, he didn't hang by his car, he walked into the middle of the track!

I mean it's sad that he died and all, but would you do something like that on the freeway if you got pushed off the road? Even if you say that Stewart should have had full control of the car and got nowhere near the kid, he still shouldn't be on the track, where anything could happen.

Side note, those are really ugly cars.

AaronHernandez

The dude sped up during a caution flag and rammed into a now dead dude. I hope he is locked behind bars. He may not have intended to take another man's life but his calculated actions have indeed done that. It is murder

collven

I guess you never watch racing. Drivers do this all the time. Shoot, google "Tony Stewart throwing helmet". He stood on the track in the middle of a race and threw his helmet at the driver who wrecked him, and they are going a lot faster than what Tony was doing last night. Of course, it does look like Ward got a lot closer to Tony's car than he should have.

RoyalTea

I'm not a auto racing aficionado, but I believe that driving a car on asphalt and driving a car on a dirt track are not the same. On asphalt, a driver would apply the breaks to avoid someone on the track. On dirt, the driver would need to accelerate in order for the tires to "grip" the dirt better.

crazyronin

crazyronin

On a dirt track, accelerating breaks traction. More than likely Stewart was trying to blast the other driver with a metric shit ton of gravel.

Negligent homicide. Buh-bye Smoke.

Timber

Whoa...watching the video is different than reading about it. The guy did get out of his car and walk over into traffic. On the regular roads I think the dead guy would be at fault but I'm not sure here.

Robertwoj

I'm surprised it took this long for such an incident to happen. As a first action, I hope NASCAR puts rules in that heavily fines/suspends drivers for approaching moving vehicles on the track as a safety precaution.

Bacon

.,,

TGM

running out haphazardly into the middle of the track during a race run at night, the onus must be on the victim here.

Quack

Apparently he's NOT gonna race now. Regan Smith will be racing in his place.

Sweet Baby James

It was just announced that he won't drive today. His lawyer must have told him that it wouldn't look too good.

astrochimp

Sad to hear the young driver died

whotony

Wow that guy essentially ran right into his car.

stingermck

Looks like Stewart's temper finally got him in trouble. I think he meant to rev the car to scare the kid but then when it fishtailed he lost control. Tragic for everyone

hdnmickey

Since Stewart obviously saw the other driver, and had ample opportunity to NOT hit him, I don't see how Sterwart does not come out of this as the one at fault here. Issue now is if like most altercations in other sports when anything that happens during "play" is treated differently than on a public street.

Bill Needle

Exactly. Maybe I'm imagining it but it seems as though this has become more and more prevalent in not just NASCAR but INDY and others. I'm not saying it happens all the time, but it used to NEVER happen. Yeah they would throw down in the pits or bash each other around on the track, but this whole walking out into traffic to point at a guy, not sure when it really started but it seems like a relatively recent phenomenon. I guess at least he didn't walk in front of an uninvolved driver while distractedly searching out Stewart. That's the way I always figured it would go down.

RoyalTea

Who is Smith?

hdnmickey

Doh! I know somebody named Tony Smith and totally mixed it up. Fixed.