NRR: Tony Stewart ran over a guy on a racetrack

Former motorsport-ian wrote:

Some basics for people to understand.

--You don't step out on to a HOT track, rule #1

--These cars have no lights

--Track lights reflect off helmet face shields and make it more difficult to see when racing at night

--Helmet face shields get covered in dirt/mud during racing which you which you wipe by hand to remove, normally ending up pushing a build up of dirt covering your peripherals

--Ward was wearing an all black racing suit

--You don't step out on a HOT track (this deserves to be written 10 more times)

When I first saw the video the first thing I though was that Tony Stewart either deliberately or negligently hit Ward. Then I replayed the tape over and over. Next thing that came to mind was that Ward was the cause of his own demise. Darwin Awards level self destruction. The guy above has it right; a dimly lit track, cars with no lights. helmet face shields that reflect any kind of glare along with dirt. Ward was wearing all-black and came down on the track.

I started reading some of the comments here about the supposed conclusive video evidence, even pointing out that Stewart "gunned" his engines once he sighted Ward. Ignoring Ockham's Razor here that would lead you to the conclusion that it doesn't make any sense that a driver would try to run over someone on the track. What appears to have happened is that Stewart made an evasive move after the car in front of him dropped down to avoid colliding with Ward as well.

Now for that "conclusive" video that showed Stewart gunning the engine as he approached Ward. Watch the video. Did any of you even notice that it was being filmed from the other side of the track? Notice when the cars passed on the near side you hear the roar of the engines. Do any of you really believe that the engines sounds that you heard on the tape during the accident were those coming from the other side, or do you think that those sounds were of the cars that were passing nearest to the guy filming the video?

All of the sounds coming from the video were the cars as they passed close by.

Barry Badrinath wrote:

Remember, the video is being filmed from across the track and up the stands; at least a half-second delay on the sound.

The sound isn't even "delayed".

The only sounds you hear in that video is the roar of engines as cars passed close by the videographer. You aren't hearing the engine sounds of the cars on the other side of the track.

Sorry guys, too many posters on LR are jerks, so I'm not going to share a link to a forum where I use my real name. Instead, here's a link to a different website that describes the accident from a dirt racing perspective.

http://www.motorsport.com/sprint/news/yes-tony-stewart-did-run-over-a-fellow-driver-who-was-killed-but-know-the-whole-story/

It appears Stewart saw him at the last second, and swerved, but still hit Ward hard enough to toss him like a rag doll at least 20 feet down the track. An autopsy is pending, but it seems likely Ward suffered a broken neck, though he still had his helmet and head restraint device on, but the device only works when you are strapped into your car. Stewart stopped about a hundred feet down the track. Emergency workers were there in second. Indeed, Stewart may have hit the gas, but you steer sprint cars with the throttle more than with the steering wheel. The idea that he accelerated trying to hit Ward is beyond the pale.

- - - - -

Unfortunately, the comments after this article are all over the place. The gist from the forum where several of the posters raced or were very knowledgeable of dirt track racing was... sprint cars are steered with the throttle, brakes are useless because the track is slick, Stewart's front wheels moved to the right (steering the rear to the left to hopefully miss Ward), visibility inside a sprint car is very restricted even more so on a banked curve. TS can be an ### on the track, but he would not have hit Ward intentionally.

Sad story and sad that some posters on here have so little faith in humanity to be convinced that Stewart hit Ward intentionally or even intentionally wanted to scare him. The video and testimonies certainly don't support that as fact. I guess runners do tend to be more passive aggressive than average, though (he types, behind the cloak of anonymity).

One of the things I wondered about is whether there was any prior history between Stewart and Ward. Roger Cossack, ESPN's legal analyst brought this up as a potential issue for investigation.

Since Ward was so young I thought the answer was probably no. But in fact they had met before and had some prior conflicts:

“Tony Stewart and Kevin have raced against each other and they’ve always had a thing for each other,” said Dorn. “Kevin always beats him and Tony has crashed into him a few times and I think every time they race, Kevin saw it as an extra challenge.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/tony-stewart-kevin-ward-jr-rivals-article-1.1898917

It is completely plausible that they were both in "fight" mode after the crash that put Ward into the wall. Ward got out of his car to play his role in an act he had seen many times. Stewart had his own part to play and it didn't involve coasting past Ward and passively letting Ward do whatever he was going to do to Stewart's car.

So here we are. And Ward isn't.

What a crock of BS. I follow motorsports closely and they are absolutely not rivals. 90%+ of articles, meaning those that aren't looking to lynch Stewart, acknowledge that they've raced each other in these types of races when Stewart decides to do them, and that there is no animosity. Your quote is from a local Ward Jr. fanboy whose views are understandably skewed.

A more level-headed example:

Family isn't seeing it as "just one of those things".

http://nypost.com/2014/08/11/family-of-dead-racer-rips-into-d-k-tony-stewart/

A civil wrongful death action is a good possibility, regardless of what does or does not happen on the criminal side. New York is a comparative fault state, so Ward's contributory fault will not stop a civil case from going forward.

At that point, either Stewart pays a lot of money to make the case go away or that video/audio becomes the subject of expert analysis, not internet opinion.

Oh, the family is upset and suing? No shit. That's not evidence of anything.

as a matter of fact wrote:

Family isn't seeing it as "just one of those things".

Well, the family is the most objective party in such cases.

That would be like Rupp running a local 5K against hobby joggers and having a rivalry with the 'local' fast guy.

I do not like Tony Stewart but can still acknowledge that there is no way he intentionally hit the kid. I find it sadly amusing how people can view the video and come to the conclusion that Tony murdered Ward and should be in jail.

The car in front of Tony barely missed Ward and that driver had to swerve to miss him. Tony was not driving faster than any other car on the track (else he would be passing people). Tony was no higher on the track than some of the other cars, mainly the car in front of him.

Maximus wrote: Are people really this stupid.

...asks the person who isn't even smart enough to end a question with the correct punctuation. You really should take a long look in the mirror when making such an inquiry.

You clearly have an agenda that is preventing you from being objective. Barring an acknowledgement of that fact, anything you say on this subject going forward lacks credibility.

So this Ward fella went after a moving vehicle on foot on a "slick" track in a fit of rage?

How is this even a discussion?

joho wrote:

That would be like Rupp running a local 5K against hobby joggers and having a rivalry with the 'local' fast guy.

Not like that at all. This all happened on the 14th lap of a 25 lap race, both going all out. Ward has four wins on this sprint circuit. Stewart knew very well who Ward was.

Is it likely that Stewart didn't consider Ward to be "in his class"? Yes, all the more reason he wasn't going to let Ward show him up.

From the Times:

"A friend at Lock 96 recalled talking to Ward two weeks ago. 'He said he had a race coming up,' the young man recalled. 'He was going to race Tony Stewart, and he wanted to beat him.'”

You aren't helping your cause. Of course Ward knew who Stewart was and wanted to beat him - he's one of the most prominent figures in motorsports. None of that is any evidence of a history/rivalry between the two or Stewart being determined to "show him up" more than anyone else on the track.

Captain Oblivious wrote:

Barry Badrinath wrote:

The car spun right due to impact with Ward's body, not due to throttle input. Stewart hit the gas well before the impact. Remember, the video is being filmed from across the track and up the stands; at least a half-second delay on the sound.

The rear of the car drifts right from the throttle.

Correct, the rear of the car drifts right from the throttle. I have driven a dirt race car (not too far from Canandaigua in fact). Visibility out the side sucks but you can see in front of you. It wasn't too dark to see that kid. Stewart was trying to "buzz" him. Of course the kid was beyond stupid to run out there like that. But that doesn't mean you play chicken.

As implausible as it may sound to some of you who don't know anything about it (lol@ malmo trying to teach people where engine noise came from)...Stewart saw the kid and was trying to scare him. He was using the accelerator to throw the right rear away from the kid at the last possible instant. The kd msjudged him (again, beyond stupid) but stwart was going 40mph and could have swerved. But he's "smoke" so he never backs down from anyone for any reason. tragic.

Tony has been dumping guys for years as payback for them trying to pass him. That is obviously what happened.

My first instinct was that Tony, tragically, couldn't get his emotions in check in the lap after the initial altercation and had his blood boil when he sayw ward out of the car ready to insult him.

I absolutely don't think Stewart had the intention of killing ward.... But I do feel that he intended to do something to retaliate (maybe spray him with dirt, maybe graze him....) it's pointless though because regardless tony is taking that to the grave and there isn't enough evidence for a conviction here.

Tragic and disgusting.

"The guy above has it right; a dimly lit track, cars with no lights. helmet face shields that reflect any kind of glare along with dirt."

No vehicle lights, no cultural lights and the racers are blinded by mud from the track...so how are these guys not wrecking all over the place? I think the guy above can't see because his vision is obscured by Tony Stewart's ass. Stewart has a bullying history, was trying to show the 'kid' who's who and something went terribly wrong, he should have to pay for that.

Absolutely nothing in the video to support that Stewart was intentionally trying to scare Ward yet you are trying to pass it off as fact.