He may have been under there for a fraction of a second, but its really hard to tell.

 

The problem as I see it here are there are so many people giving their two cents.  People that were there have conflicting stories.  Drivers have conflicting stories that were in the race on what they saw.  The only one nobody has really heard is Tony Stewart's.  I'm not a Tony Stewart huge fan or anything like that, I'm just saying from an unbiased view, its hard to say who is at fault.

Exactly.  And all we have as a reference is a poor quality video. 

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

Keep trying.  I'm not even a NASCAR fan.  It's clear you don't like Stewart, so it makes sense you're taking the position you have. 

 

I said there was a report indicating he may not have seen Ward.  The track wasn't well lit, and he was wearing a black fire suit and helmet.  You talk about safety.  45 was right there and almost hit the guy as well, but you're not ripping him for being unsafe. 

Laughable.  I am not a NASCAR fan either, I am an IndyCar, Sportscar and F1 fan as well as a flag marshal with the SCCA.     I am neither a Tony Stewart fan or detractor, I'm just calling it like I see it.   

 

Lets see, the 45 maintained a safe speed, and did not hit anyone.   Yeah, I should be complaining about him.

 

You totally flipped your position regarding the accelerator just to have an argument.   Nice.   

 

From what I have seen two people did stupid things and one of them paid a very steep price.   Time will tell if the other one also pays a price.

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He may have been under there for a fraction of a second, but its really hard to tell.

 

The problem as I see it here are there are so many people giving their two cents.  People that were there have conflicting stories.  Drivers have conflicting stories that were in the race on what they saw.  The only one nobody has really heard is Tony Stewart's.  I'm not a Tony Stewart huge fan or anything like that, I'm just saying from an unbiased view, its hard to say who is at fault.

 

Again, I agree.  I'm just expressing my opinion that I think a case can be made in court regarding the incident.  I also expressed my opinion on my interpretation of the video I saw.  Take that and $5 to Starbucks and you can get a cup of coffee.        

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I'll make no bones about it, I don't like Stewart.  One of my buddies had a run-in with him after a race, and his story was consistent with media reports.  I once heard Kouvaris say of him that among the many egos he's met over the years, Stewart is the only guy he interviewed and came away with "What's THAT guy's problem..."

 

So now he runs a guy off the track in a non-NASCAR race, the guy runs out to confront him Stewart-style, and, in a botched attempt to embarrass the kid, Stewart runs him over?

 

I find that really easy to believe.

 

The kid shouldn't have been out there on the track, but maybe he'd still be alive if Stewart took a page from Kenseth's book and just let a hothead have his tantrum.

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Again, I agree.  I'm just expressing my opinion that I think a case can be made in court regarding the incident.  I also expressed my opinion on my interpretation of the video I saw.  Take that and $5 to Starbucks and you can get a cup of coffee.        

 

Lol, your very bias view.  You seem to be involved in racing, I find it hard to believe you don't have an opinion on Tony Stewart that is affecting how you see this.

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LOL.   No, not really.  

 

Now if it was Princess Sparkle Pony, that would be a different matter.  Got tired of her attitude back when she was still in the Barber Dodge series.

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I think its a very naive take to think that Tony wasn't angry and having one of his temper tantrums when he hit the ill fated acceleration. Anyone who has even a casual knowledge of Stewart knows about his temper. 

 

As suggested earlier, he likely was trying to spray the other driver with dirt and carelessly did not take into account that the back end would swerve upon gunning it. 

 

It was horribly negligent and he deserves whatever punishment he gets. 

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I think its a very naive take to think that Tony wasn't angry and having one of his temper tantrums when he hit the ill fated acceleration. Anyone who has even a casual knowledge of Stewart knows about his temper. 

 

As suggested earlier, he likely was trying to spray the other driver with dirt and carelessly did not take into account that the back end would swerve upon gunning it. 

 

It was horribly negligent and he deserves whatever punishment he gets. 

 

He may have.  Do they have communications with their pit crew during a race like this?  I'd be interested to hear if there was any sort of back and forth while this was going on.

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Anyone here ever driven a sprint car on a dirt track? No? Didn't think so.

 

Here's the deal: I got the chance to once. It was a tremendous gift from a friend who hooked me up with a buddy of his that raced sprint cars. I got a primer on how the car handled, then was allowed to take it on the track for a while. Just me, no other competitors, and here's what I remember:

 

Those things are loose. Like, spin on a dime loose. They are incredibly difficult to control in turns, and using the throttle--not the brake--was the smoothest way through for me. When I going through turns without the throttle, I spun. When I used the throttle to provide some counter-momentum to the car's desire to spin, I was able to get through the turn. I was not going fast by any stretch of the imagination, either. I don't know exactly how fast I was taking it, but even at low speeds, the thing was difficult to control, and my tail slipped out on me quite a bit. Everything about those cars, in my recollection, was completely counter-intuitive to what you know about driving a traditional car on pavement.

 

Was it avoidable? I don't know. I've spent all of an hour behind the wheel of a sprint car, and I will readily admit that I displayed no talent driving it and had no burning desire to ever try again. I'm not sold on the concept that one iota of what occurred was a conscious decision on Stewart's part, but I'm not qualified to say. What I can say is that it takes a special breed of idiot to walk onto a slick, dark track full of <i>cars that are designed to slide</i> and see how close you can get to one coming out of a turn. Kevin Ward, Jr., is the newest proud recipient of a Darwin Award, and when his family does sue, I hope the sheer idiocy of his actions is brought to light. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he was thinking to himself, "Hey, maybe I'll get a big break if I get on Youtube giving Tony Stewart some crap as he drives by."

 

Stewart might have goosed the throttle to get out of the turn, or he might have goosed it to kick up some dirt. That will come out in time, and if Stewart was aggressively goosing the throttle to kick dirt at Ward, then he deserves whatever punishment comes his way. What is 100% certain is this: if Kevin Ward doesn't get out of his car and walk down the track, he doesn't get hit, and he doesn't die. That's ultimately what it boils down to. He's dead because he was an idiot, and he put himself in the worst possible place at the worst possible time.

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Stewart might have goosed the throttle to get out of the turn, or he might have goosed it to kick up some dirt. That will come out in time, and if Stewart was aggressively goosing the throttle to kick dirt at Ward, then he deserves whatever punishment comes his way. What is 100% certain is this: if Kevin Ward doesn't get out of his car and walk down the track, he doesn't get hit, and he doesn't die. That's ultimately what it boils down to. He's dead because he was an idiot, and he put himself in the worst possible place at the worst possible time.

 

I don't think it will come out on what Tony Stewart actually was intending.  You are going to hear that he didnt see him, and he hit the guy.  Anything further than that, and he could get charged.

 

The only thing I've heard at this point is he will not be charged.  I don't see it happening.

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Anyone here ever driven a sprint car on a dirt track? No? Didn't think so.

 

Here's the deal: I got the chance to once. It was a tremendous gift from a friend who hooked me up with a buddy of his that raced sprint cars. I got a primer on how the car handled, then was allowed to take it on the track for a while. Just me, no other competitors, and here's what I remember:

 

Those things are loose. Like, spin on a dime loose. They are incredibly difficult to control in turns, and using the throttle--not the brake--was the smoothest way through for me. When I going through turns without the throttle, I spun. When I used the throttle to provide some counter-momentum to the car's desire to spin, I was able to get through the turn. I was not going fast by any stretch of the imagination, either. I don't know exactly how fast I was taking it, but even at low speeds, the thing was difficult to control, and my tail slipped out on me quite a bit. Everything about those cars, in my recollection, was completely counter-intuitive to what you know about driving a traditional car on pavement.

 

Was it avoidable? I don't know. I've spent all of an hour behind the wheel of a sprint car, and I will readily admit that I displayed no talent driving it and had no burning desire to ever try again. I'm not sold on the concept that one iota of what occurred was a conscious decision on Stewart's part, but I'm not qualified to say. What I can say is that it takes a special breed of idiot to walk onto a slick, dark track full of <i>cars that are designed to slide</i> and see how close you can get to one coming out of a turn. Kevin Ward, Jr., is the newest proud recipient of a Darwin Award, and when his family does sue, I hope the sheer idiocy of his actions is brought to light. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he was thinking to himself, "Hey, maybe I'll get a big break if I get on Youtube giving Tony Stewart some crap as he drives by."

 

Stewart might have goosed the throttle to get out of the turn, or he might have goosed it to kick up some dirt. That will come out in time, and if Stewart was aggressively goosing the throttle to kick dirt at Ward, then he deserves whatever punishment comes his way. What is 100% certain is this: if Kevin Ward doesn't get out of his car and walk down the track, he doesn't get hit, and he doesn't die. That's ultimately what it boils down to. He's dead because he was an idiot, and he put himself in the worst possible place at the worst possible time.

 

Given the smarmy, condescending way you opened that diatribe, I expected we would be regaled with some expert opinion.  I want my money back.

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Anyone here ever driven a sprint car on a dirt track? No? Didn't think so.

 

Forgive us our ignorance, but I'm guessing Tony Stewart is pretty good at racing sprint cars on a dirt track.

 

He's good enough to run the kid off the road.  He's good enough to keep his eyes straight ahead and avoid someone on the track, like Kevin Harvick can.

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Given the smarmy, condescending way you opened that diatribe, I expected we would be regaled with some expert opinion.  I want my money back.

 

 

Forgive us our ignorance, but I'm guessing Tony Stewart is pretty good at racing sprint cars on a dirt track.

 

He's good enough to run the kid off the road.  He's good enough to keep his eyes straight ahead and avoid someone on the track, like Kevin Harvick can.

 

 My guess is that Stewart has a better handle on car control than someone who got to drive one on an empty track "for a while".

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I think Stewart intended to sling mud in his face as he passed him. Knowing his history of revenge and hot headed demeanor it's hard for even a casual fan of the sport to not believe Stewart intended to do something to him.

 

Regards.....................the Chiefjag

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To be brutally honest, I don't think Tony Stewart is in anyway at fault for the reckless actions of one stupid (Now unfortunately dead), 20 year old. Anyone with any decency, and common sense, would know not to step in the middle of a racetrack with high-speed, difficult to control, Sprint vehicles. 

 

And the comments made by the Kevin Ward Family only show that they are nothing more than unclassy and uneducated people.

 

 

Stupidity is the #1 killer of Humans.

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http://www.motorsport.com/sprint/news/ye...ole-story/

 

Perhaps some insight  ^

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I'm an avid dirt racing fan, I've been going to local dirt tracks with my dad for probably 15 years.  I'm not going to claim to be some sort of expert, but I've been on the track after a night of racing, I know and talk to many racers and I've seen how cars react on the track.

 

Watching that video, I don't see how you can claim definitively that Stewart had any ill intentions, whether it be to hit him or spray dirt at him.  Stewart was not running any faster/higher than any of the other drivers that went past.  In fact, as Ward is walking past the rear of his car, you can see a white car go past that appears quite a bit higher than anyone else.

 

It's also entirely possible Stewart did not see Ward until a second before hitting him.  He could have been checking gauges, identifying where various safety vehicles/wreckers are (you can see a 4 wheeler at the bottom of the track after Ward gets hit, which could also explain why Stewart was driving a little higher), add in the fact that Ward was wearing all black and racers just don't expect drivers to go on to the racing surface, and you have a ton of potential for a bad situation.  Assuming Stewart didn't see Ward right away, his only real course of action is to hit the gas.  Had he hit the brakes, with the way those cars are set up combined with how hard, slick and rubbered over the track most likely was, he would have ended up spinning out and most likely still hit Ward.

 

I just don't believe Stewart had any ill intentions.  People have been saying he tried to spray him with dirt, but watching them go by, where he hit Ward the track appears pretty rubbered and there just isn't any dirt to be sprayed.  Stewart know doubt would have know that had he been paying attention.  Maybe he meant to gun it past him to scare him a little bit, I don't know.

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The case is being referred to a Grand Jury for review to determine if criminal charges should be filed.

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

The case is being referred to a Grand Jury for review to determine if criminal charges should be filed.

 

 

If this goes to trial, I don't see him getting convicted for it.

 

Why aren't people up in arms with Nascar that Tony Stewart is driving...I mean after all, he did actually kill someone.  Whether it was intentional or not, or is it ok that we can wait for due process on this one?

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I seriously doubt he intended to do anything here, and this is nothing more than a tragic accident that resulted from the bad decision of one person to get out of his car and try to make a statement.  The one silver lining in all of this is now NASCAR has banned the practice, which Stewart himself was a perpetrator. 

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.