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

originally posted by: Diabolical
a reply to: Sremmos80

Too many cars on that track to honestly say that Stewart revved upped the engine. It could have been the car behind Stewart that reved up their engine. There is no way of telling.

Something you should know about sprint cars though. You can't rev the engine freely, they are direct-drive with no clutch. So revving like that means spinning the tires.

To me it looks like Stewart gunned it to scare Ward, and maybe even throw dirt on him. If you download the video and watch it frame-by-frame you see Stewart throws the car sideways about 10ft before passing Ward, and you'll see Ward start to run toward the wall last-second, but he gets caught in the right-rear tire.

I used to be a pro driver and I can tell you emotions can run high in the car and sometimes you do stupid things. I'm sure he only meant to scare Ward, but Stewart need to be charged with manslaughter

a reply to: 8675309jenny
If you used to be a pro driver then you know the initial swerve toward Ward was the result of tapping the brake and the throttle/swerve away was an attempt to avoid him.

a reply to: abe froman

So your speculation is a fact but every one else's is wrong??
Where do you get that he hit the brake when you can hear an acceleration??
The 45 car hit the brake and you moved out of the way. Tony hit the gas and kept his line.

I don't believe Tony meant to hit this poor kid, but he meant to scare him. Regardless of what others have said, Tony isn't very nice to people when he is at these small tracks. And he gets pretty upset when he loses. He was just at Crystal Raceway, here in MI a few weeks ago. Hubby was there, as a friend of ours races. Nobody in the pits were allowed to speak to him. And he screamed at people, a lot.

Used to be a fan of his, but wasn't after I heard how he was at the track.

My heart sure goes out to this young drivers family. In the car, or out, it is a dangerous profession.

And I don't understand how the MSM thinks it is ok to keep showing the actual video!

The only video I'm seeing is up to the point the car nears him. How are we supposed to make a judgment without seeing the whole video? Ridiculous.

He shouldn't have gotten out of the car. He was stupid and he paid for it.

a reply to: Sremmos80I talked to a buddy of mine that races dirt tracks (there are several here in Ohio, including Eldora which is owned by Tony Stewart), he told me that you steer these sprint cars (NOT Sprint Cup cars) more with throttle and brake than the steering wheel due to the slipperiness of dirt tracks. going into a left turn you throttle up, conversely, tapping the brake will cause your car to pull right, so this assessment is no longer speculation.
Driving these cars is not like driving grandma's Buick.
Also, the camera is on the OPPOSITE side of the 1/2 mile track, that engine sound you hear is probably not the #14 at all.
The "speculation" now is Ward meant to reach in and take a cheap shot at Stewart as he passed.

a reply to: abe froman

So again your information from a 'pro racer' is correct when the information from the above 'pro racer' is completely off base.
It is entirely speculation, you can not say for a fact that you know what he did. Seems all the racers that have commented on it say that the fish tail is from gassing it. Your anecdotal is the only one I have seen saying it is from him braking.
Why didn't the 45 car kick right? You can see his car slow down significantly when ward mi staked him for stewart?
I bet he hit the brake for his car to do that.
Also you your speculation on the engine noise goes both ways, if you are going to say that was probably not his engine that i can say that it probably was. Cause you don't hear the noise until smoke is at ward.

a reply to: Sremmos80 Ward wasn't as close to the #45 as he was to the #14, and when he was by the #45 he was in a lighted area. Facts being facts, yes you do indeed steer these cars with throttle and brake, also the back wheels stick out farther than the front wheels, to be in a position to be missed by the front wheels yet clipped by the rear wheels, you have to be standing next to the car.
Why? Why is he running at a car trying to get close? In fact, not just close. but within arm's reach...
To reach in and take a cheap shot?
To apologize for the misunderstanding?
To sell Tony Stewart Amway?

In 2 weeks I will be in Bristol for both races and look forward to hearing what real race fans have to say, as opposed to keyboard critics who probably don't even know how to change their oil.

a reply to: abe froman


TBH he prob thought that tony would stop cause there was a person coming at him not try and gas it around him. He wanted to have words with tony, just like tony has done in the past with other drivers.
It is tony's history that tells me that he tried to buzz the kid and throw dirt at him, I don't think he meant to hit the kid but he I do think meant to send a message right back at him and he clipped him and killed him.
100% involuntary but he still had a part in it.

a reply to: Sremmos80
Did you watch the race yesterday?

a reply to: abe froman

I did in fact watch it.
Where do you want to go with that?

a reply to: Sremmos80
When they showed like every instance of a driver getting out of a car on track and how they were behind a wall,in the pit, not in the middle of the track, the race was over, etc., and NO ONE did the stupid, stupid thing Ward Jr. did.

Do you know what happens if you run out onto a busy, poorly lit street, at night, wearing all black, charging cars?
You get run over and it's legally 100% your fault.

a reply to: abe froman

Again I will not say that what he did was not a incredibly stupid mistake. I agree 100% with that.
But that doesn't change that I also think the tony not only saw him, but tried to buzz by him close and then roost him.
He missed judged it and clipped the kid and that lead to his death.
The kid even tried to run away from his car in the last couple seconds, so he was not as close as you say when he was hit.

a reply to: Sremmos80 Actually besides Graves ( a friend of Ward Jr. ) every single professional driver I repeat EVERY SINGLE PROFESSIONAL DRIVER says Tony Stewart just didn't see the kid. Dale Jarrett (the only person i know who actually has talked to Smoke) says the same thing.

Look, what Ward did was dumb, but guess who else has walked out into hot pits or approached the track during caution to yell or throw a helmet..... yup TONY STEWART.

I'll tell you something; I'm actually a bit of a Stewart fan, but I'm not so blinded by that I cannot see what likely happened. I've seen the red mist on track, I've nearly put it in the other guys door when angry with them for not leaving room or closing the door(look up the phrase in racing) when my car is clearly faster in a certain turn. I've also be the guy who wont let the faster car pass unless he forces the issue (contact). It's racing, emotions run high, and when you're in the car you're never wrong. But sometimes you need to take a deep breath, cause later, thinking back there are lots of times you end up saying to yourself "that was stupid".

I'd really like to see footage from a better angle or even better, onboard footage. I honestly hope it shows Stewart to be completely innocent, but from what I see so far, it isn't looking good.

originally posted by: 8675309jenny
Look, what Ward did was dumb, but guess who else has walked out into hot pits or approached the track during caution to yell or throw a helmet..... yup TONY STEWART.

Yep they showed all that yesterday in the pre-race,we talked about that already, but Smoke never ran out onto the track like that and Smoke never ever tried to run anyone over. Ever.

Once again EVERY SINGLE PROFESSIONAL DRIVER believes Smoke didn't see the kid. (in all black, at an unlit portion of the track)

As far as it "not looking good" for Smoke, on the contrary it looks great, he was not arrested, no criminal charges were filed, the sheriff believes there was no criminal intent, NASCAR is taking no action, and Stewart is set to race next week at Michigan.

I know it would be so much more dramatic if it was intentional and caused by anger, but law enforcement and pro drivers agree it was just an accident.

Tony just dropped out of another race. The race up in Indiana.

originally posted by: abe froman

Once again EVERY SINGLE PROFESSIONAL DRIVER believes Smoke didn't see the kid. (in all black, at an unlit portion of the track)

As far as it "not looking good" for Smoke, on the contrary it looks great, he was not arrested, no criminal charges were filed, the sheriff believes there was no criminal intent, NASCAR is taking no action, and Stewart is set to race next week at Michigan.

I know it would be so much more dramatic if it was intentional and caused by anger, but law enforcement and pro drivers agree it was just an accident.

How do you propose to know what "every single" pro driver believes??? You know what he says, but you certainly don't know what they may think privately.

And regardless, the driver community is a tight-knit fraternity. No one is going to say anything negative at all unless more evidence comes out.

Like I said, hopefully it is what we all hope: A freak accident.

Not stop trying to tell me my opinion is wrong, it's simply my assessment based on the video footage I saw.

Even if it happened the way I think, it was still an accident.

originally posted by: abe froman but Smoke never ran out onto the track like that

Stewart has indeed run onto the race track. I am not talking about the time he was on pit lane and threw a helmet at a driver. I am talking about 2 different incidents:

here:
1.bp.blogspot.com...


and here:
dy.snimg.com...

If Tony meant to kill this kid, he wouldn't have dropped out of two races. He feels bad enough. Probably be awhile before you see him race again. Sure, he showed anger on the tracks before, but that was not his reality.