Tony Stewart runs over and kills Kevin Ward Jr. after race dispute

I saw the video on Deadspin but I won't link it (Gawker has it also now apparently). On a dirt track in Ontario NY. after a wreck involving the two drivers, Ward exits his car and charges onto the track in anticipation of Stewart's pass on the next lap,under caution. Wildly flailing his arms, he ran at Stewart's car and was caught under the right rear tire and dragged, at speed, approx. 25 ft before finally being flung to the edge of the track.
To my untrained eye it appeared that he died immediately.
All racing was cancelled and fans told to leave the track, while multiple police interviewed Stewart. No charges have been filed.

No comment yet from NASCAR or Stewart.
Stewart kills on foot driver.

Holy crap! Espn is being pretty silent about this too unless I just missed the coverage.
That is crazy that he would do something like that.

Nm they are covering it. I just went and watched the video and it doesn't look great for tony. It does sound like there is some acceleration before but hard to tell if it is his car. The kid didn't make the smartest move to run out like that tho.
Horrible tragedy and I don't think Tony needs to racing anymore, he has always had an anger issue it seems and has a track record for fights.
So wanted to make sure it was your link that says it but the friend of his a ad fellow racer does say it looked like he did he the throttle as he passes and that was the fatal move. Guess it doesn't matter if he didn't mean hit him, he hit the gas as he passed him and that is what kicked the backend out and caught the kid.
Sad sad day for Kevin wards family. I also think Tony needs to pay for this, his actions caused a man to die and he should pay for that

Did it appear un-intentional? Or did the driver keep going? I'm on the edge just reading this lol. In all seriousness, is there a video i can watch of the incident?

Wow!! I have always wondered how this didn't happen more often considering how many of the drivers have flown off the handle at some of the tiniest things. I'm actually surprised none have been shot either. There's always some kind of fight going on, especially after the race is over. I wonder why NASCAR hasn't released anything official yet? Tony Stewart I can understand because he's probably lawyered up already.

It's terrible that it happened at all regardless of why. My condolences go out to all involved and the families/friends.

ETA - After finding the video - Judging from the video it was probably the fault of both. You don't walk out onto the racetrack (even under a caution flag) and just stand there storming towards any driver. On the other hand, you don't swerve extra close to someone at that speed just to show how pissed off you are. I think that's what Tony did. I think he thought he was going to just graze him with the car but misjudged the distance. It could have been prevented if both gentlemen didn't let their tempers rule their head in the heat of the moment.

It's still sad either way... For both of them.

blacksportsonline.com...

a reply to: Sremmos80Hold on a sec, this guy was charging Stewart's car. Perhaps Tony hit the gas to get past the flailing maniac who was running at his moving car. I'm not going to take the word of an amateur driver on the other side of the field that it looked intentional. Watch the video again with the sound on you will notice Stewart hits the gas just AFTER he passes Ward.

a reply to: PseudoOne

Here's a link to the video.

www.dailymotion.com...

You don't stand around the middle of a track during a race.

In my opinion it was Kevin's actions that got him killed.

a reply to: abe froman

It does kinda look like he swerves into him though......Kinda hard to make a judgement call on this one. I assume it will be hard to prove either way, unless Tony breaks down and admits to it.

a reply to: abe froman

Well he says he thinks it was unintentional....
I am saying it doesn't matter, he decided to gun it as he passed him, he had no reason to do that especially when the track is under caution.
Tony did it to show his anger right back at kid and when he did it, it fish tailed his car and caught the kid.
Tony doesn't have a great track record to show that he doesn't show his anger right back at people that are mad him.

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

I agree, its not a very wise move to blow your lid right next to a car that's flying right past you but i send my condolences to his family

a reply to: abe froman

The gas comes right as he he passes him not after. and why is he gassing when 1 the track is under caution and 2 when you are passing a person! How about get as far away as you can from the person coming at you. IMO It seems like he was trying to get as close as he could without hitting the kid and he failed at it.

Regardless of his intentions, he killed some one and needs to answer for that.

I don't think Tony saw him at first cause of the blue # 45 who is also avoiding Ward with a small correction after Ward mistakes that car for being Tony.

We shouldn't judge anything from that video as it is not evidence of anything other than Ward is on the track in a position where he should not be.

a reply to: Sremmos80 If someone is running AT my moving car I will hit the gas to get away as quickly as possible. As of now Stewart is still planning on racing at Watkins Glenn today. Should be an interesting race.

and as the above spider pointed out, the #45 had to swerve to avoid him as well.

a reply to: Mianeye

And strange how the 45 car is able to avoid him by what looks like braking and moving away from kevin while tony decides to hit the gas and keep his line...
Why the need to gas it when the track is under caution. Yes the kid made a horrible mistake by getting out of this car. Tony made a bigger one gassing it as he passed him.

originally posted by: abe froman
a reply to: Sremmos80 If someone is running AT my moving car I will hit the gas to get away as quickly as possible. As of now Stewart is still planning on racing at Watkins Glenn today. Should be an interesting race.

I would almost bet that he will not be racing today if for no other reason than the way it will look if they allow him to. I think he'll probably bow out on his own beforehand.

But I could be wrong...

I'm not sure I could race again that soon even if I knew that it wasn't my fault and I did everything I could to prevent it.

a reply to: abe froman

And as I pointed out the 45 car did it by slowing down and moving away, not gassing and keeping the same line.
I can't help but see Tony trying to get as close as possible to him and gassing it past him.
The gassing it past him being the part that kicked the tail end out.

a reply to: Sremmos80
All I have is armchair speculation, anybody that watches racing knows Smoke is a hot head, I just can't believe he intentionally hit that kid.
we have all seen drivers throw their helmets and I think Stewart expected that and hit the throttle to get by quickly.
Also Ward didn't charge the #45 like he did the #14 and the #45 still had to take evasive action.

I don't know any of these people and from the looks of it it seems this Tony person reacted to a maniac running at his car who he may or may not have even seen. It's possible he tried to clip him, it's equally possible he tried to avoid him. Either way the only one responsible is this Kevin Ward person.