Tony Stewart killed Driver Kevin Ward in an on track incident (1 Viewer)

[Raider Nation]

Tragic accident and a good lesson to stay in your car after you wipe it out, or at the very least, don't jump out looking to take on a 2,000 pound automobile.

I think you are watching a different video than the rest of us. Stewart is a professional driver. He had at least 10 feet of open track to his left if he really wanted to avoid the kid.

It's a dirt track. Let's not just make silly assumptions here. From what I see, a hot headed kid wiped his car out, and decided he was going to get out of his car, walk directly toward moving sprint cars (not just Stewart's, BTW) and try to show up a guy who has had more success this year coming off a busted leg than the kid will have in his entire racing career. It's silly. You think if someone other than Stewart is involved in that crash, the kid does anything? No, he takes his medicine and moves on. In this case, he gets nicked by a 3 time NASCAR champion and decides he is going to have a story to tell his buddies. Didn't work out quite so well for him.

Go to bed before you make further regrettable posts. Not sure that's really possible though. I'm honestly trying to help you out here.

shouldn't you be watching DVR recordings of mike francesa right now ? Isn't that what you do, watch hours of recordings of this guy waiting for a single mess up so you can blow it out of proportion?

I am just saying this because I don't think its right for you to tell someone he shouldn't voice his opinion just because you disagree with it, leave the man alone.

Stay in the shallow end, friend.

 

[Raider Nation]

Eyewitness account on FSR

 

[Cyclones]

Tragic accident and a good lesson to stay in your car after you wipe it out, or at the very least, don't jump out looking to take on a 2,000 pound automobile.

I think you are watching a different video than the rest of us. Stewart is a professional driver. He had at least 10 feet of open track to his left if he really wanted to avoid the kid.

It's a dirt track. Let's not just make silly assumptions here. From what I see, a hot headed kid wiped his car out, and decided he was going to get out of his car, walk directly toward moving sprint cars (not just Stewart's, BTW) and try to show up a guy who has had more success this year coming off a busted leg than the kid will have in his entire racing career. It's silly. You think if someone other than Stewart is involved in that crash, the kid does anything? No, he takes his medicine and moves on. In this case, he gets nicked by a 3 time NASCAR champion and decides he is going to have a story to tell his buddies. Didn't work out quite so well for him.

Go to bed before you make further regrettable posts. Not sure that's really possible though. I'm honestly trying to help you out here.

shouldn't you be watching DVR recordings of mike francesa right now ? Isn't that what you do, watch hours of recordings of this guy waiting for a single mess up so you can blow it out of proportion?

I am just saying this because I don't think its right for you to tell someone he shouldn't voice his opinion just because you disagree with it, leave the man alone.

Stay in the shallow end, friend.

Agreed, RN has the right to voice his opinion as much as I do - his opinion is that I am up way too late, have had way too much to drink, and am taking a hard line on an emotionally charged tragedy. He's right. I'll refrain from commenting on this one for a couple of days.

 

[Mr Non Sequitur]

That kid ran into oncoming cars. Is it possible Stewart tried to hit him? That video makes it look like the kid ran right at him, I wouldn't call it self defense but I don't see how anyone could convict him of anything. Civil suit totally different but real jail time, can't see it. I also doubt we see him in a race car any time soon.

 

[Gordang]

Tragic accident and a good lesson to stay in your car after you wipe it out, or at the very least, don't jump out looking to take on a 2,000 pound automobile.

I think you are watching a different video than the rest of us. Stewart is a professional driver. He had at least 10 feet of open track to his left if he really wanted to avoid the kid.

It's a dirt track. Let's not just make silly assumptions here. From what I see, a hot headed kid wiped his car out, and decided he was going to get out of his car, walk directly toward moving sprint cars (not just Stewart's, BTW) and try to show up a guy who has had more success this year coming off a busted leg than the kid will have in his entire racing career. It's silly. You think if someone other than Stewart is involved in that crash, the kid does anything? No, he takes his medicine and moves on. In this case, he gets nicked by a 3 time NASCAR champion and decides he is going to have a story to tell his buddies. Didn't work out quite so well for him.

Go to bed before you make further regrettable posts. Not sure that's really possible though. I'm honestly trying to help you out here.

shouldn't you be watching DVR recordings of mike francesa right now ? Isn't that what you do, watch hours of recordings of this guy waiting for a single mess up so you can blow it out of proportion?

I am just saying this because I don't think its right for you to tell someone he shouldn't voice his opinion just because you disagree with it, leave the man alone.

Stay in the shallow end, friend.

Agreed, RN has the right to voice his opinion as much as I do - his opinion is that I am up way too late, have had way too much to drink, and am taking a hard line on an emotionally charged tragedy. He's right. I'll refrain from commenting on this one for a couple of days.

I thought he was talking down to you but I will stay out of it, lets get back on topic guys.

 

[Guest]

I've been in a few wrecks in my time. Never once was my first inclination to waltz out into moving traffic. Tragedy, but the kid got exactly what was coming to him trying to show Smoke up. Looking at the video he made a fast move right at Smoke's car as the first car went by. Idiot.

Just one man's opinion, but having viewed that, let's not call him Smoke. How about Tony Stewart, until he gets an inmate number? He gunned the throttle. Yes, Ward was stupid. As 17 years are apt to being. Stewart gunned the throttle. Not to avoid. Out of aggression. It was fatal.

You can tell he gunned his throttle from the video?

You can clearly hear it.

Wait, so there was a microphone in that video trained solely on Stewart's car?

Let me rephrase:

You can clearly hear it... When you're not idolizing "Smoke."

Ham, I'm a Dale Jr. fan. Never once rooted for Stewart to win a race or a title or any of the stuff he has done. But watching that video, nobody will ever convince me that he had any intention of running the kid down.

I don't have a beef with you, or want to make it personal. I just think that if you're trying to even suggest that the engine rev as Stewart's car fishtails belongs to another car, that you're trying very hard to ignore what that really was. I get that you think a kid deserves a message, like a Randy Johnson fastball to the chin, but that's not a splitter Stewart threw there. It's different.

 

[Mario Kart]

Fbg's going down might be a good thing for some.

 

[GOB]

I have watched that video a few times and I have come to the conclusion that racing is boring.

Case closed.

 

[Cyclones]

I've been in a few wrecks in my time. Never once was my first inclination to waltz out into moving traffic. Tragedy, but the kid got exactly what was coming to him trying to show Smoke up. Looking at the video he made a fast move right at Smoke's car as the first car went by. Idiot.

Just one man's opinion, but having viewed that, let's not call him Smoke. How about Tony Stewart, until he gets an inmate number? He gunned the throttle. Yes, Ward was stupid. As 17 years are apt to being. Stewart gunned the throttle. Not to avoid. Out of aggression. It was fatal.

You can tell he gunned his throttle from the video?

You can clearly hear it.

Wait, so there was a microphone in that video trained solely on Stewart's car?

Let me rephrase:

You can clearly hear it... When you're not idolizing "Smoke."

Ham, I'm a Dale Jr. fan. Never once rooted for Stewart to win a race or a title or any of the stuff he has done. But watching that video, nobody will ever convince me that he had any intention of running the kid down.

I don't have a beef with you, or want to make it personal. I just think that if you're trying to even suggest that the engine rev as Stewart's car fishtails belongs to another car, that you're trying very hard to ignore what that really was. I get that you think a kid deserves a message, like a Randy Johnson fastball to the chin, but that's not a splitter Stewart threw there. It's different.

That's fair Ham, I have no beef with you either. Being a big NASCAR fan, I am probably jumping on the side of the NASCAR driver really quickly here with very limited information. My bad, way too soon to jump to conclusion, and I was out of line with the comment that Ward had it coming. Hoping it was nothing more than a tragic accident. Terrible for the kid and his family, and the entire auto racing world.

 

[Sinn Fein]

VIDEO

Based on that, not sure I see anything wrong here. Tragic, but I don't see Stewart doing anything reckless in that video.

 

[Kevrunner]

I wished I didn't watch that video

 

[Raider Nation]

clones, every eyewitness so far is saying he "gunned the engine" and "hit the throttle". This doesn't seem disputable.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2014-08-10/tony-stewart-sprint-car-hits-driver-fight-incident-trouble-investigation-new-york-watkins-glen-kevin-ward?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

[bleachercreacher]

I've been in a few wrecks in my time. Never once was my first inclination to waltz out into moving traffic. Tragedy, but the kid got exactly what was coming to him trying to show Smoke up. Looking at the video he made a fast move right at Smoke's car as the first car went by. Idiot.

Just one man's opinion, but having viewed that, let's not call him Smoke. How about Tony Stewart, until he gets an inmate number? He gunned the throttle. Yes, Ward was stupid. As 17 years are apt to being. Stewart gunned the throttle. Not to avoid. Out of aggression. It was fatal.

You can tell he gunned his throttle from the video?

You can clearly hear it.

You're right, it looks (sounds) a lot worse with sound. I'd like to see a wider angle, but it definitely seems like he guns it to scare the kid.

 

[bleachercreacher]

I've been in a few wrecks in my time. Never once was my first inclination to waltz out into moving traffic. Tragedy, but the kid got exactly what was coming to him trying to show Smoke up. Looking at the video he made a fast move right at Smoke's car as the first car went by. Idiot.

Just one man's opinion, but having viewed that, let's not call him Smoke. How about Tony Stewart, until he gets an inmate number? He gunned the throttle. Yes, Ward was stupid. As 17 years are apt to being. Stewart gunned the throttle. Not to avoid. Out of aggression. It was fatal.

You can tell he gunned his throttle from the video?

You can clearly hear it.

You're right, it looks (sounds) a lot worse with sound. I'd like to see a wider angle, but it definitely seems like he guns it to scare the kid.

 

[Raider Nation]

The young man is confirmed dead. So terrible. :(

 

[Guest]

clones, every eyewitness so far is saying he "gunned the engine" and "hit the throttle". This doesn't seem disputable.http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2014-08-10/tony-stewart-sprint-car-hits-driver-fight-incident-trouble-investigation-new-york-watkins-glen-kevin-ward?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

"You never mean to do something like that," Graves said. "Kevin was pissed and he let Tony know. And Tony was trying to give the message back that he wasn't happy either. He went over the line with it."

 

[Guest]

This is going to be extremely hard and sensitive for racing to deal with. If they punish it at all, they acknowledge the aggression, which makes it hard for prosecutors not to charge.

I just think that sound of the throttle = intent, no matter how much one can argue a message given by an 800hp machine could be somehow warranted. It looks innocent and without that sound, it seems almost so.

But regardless, this is unprecedented really. If racing chooses to view this as the salty veteran barking at a kid to put him in his place, then it's all or nothing. I don't see how one can say he was at fault for a punishable offense without it opening Pandora's Box.

Going to be hotly contested and interesting to see play out.

 

[Raider Nation]

YouTube took down the link I originally posted, not surprisingly.

ETA: Deadspin has it though.

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

I thought this was all part of NASCAR? Am I wrong?

 

[Raider Nation]

I thought this was all part of NASCAR? Am I wrong?

These were sprint cars. Check out the eerie foreshadowing in this article from a year ago.

 

[jonessed]

He pretty clearly hits the gas. I don't know if he intended to kill the kid or just scare him, but he lashed out in a moment if rage and killed him. I hope he goes to jail. What a piece if ####.

 

[Jefferson the Caregiver]

YouTube took down the link I originally posted, not surprisingly.

ETA: Deadspin has it though.

This looks bad for Tony Stewart.

 

[bleachercreacher]

This is going to be extremely hard and sensitive for racing to deal with. If they punish it at all, they acknowledge the aggression, which makes it hard for prosecutors not to charge.

I just think that sound of the throttle = intent, no matter how much one can argue a message given by an 800hp machine could be somehow warranted. It looks innocent and without that sound, it seems almost so.

But regardless, this is unprecedented really. If racing chooses to view this as the salty veteran barking at a kid to put him in his place, then it's all or nothing. I don't see how one can say he was at fault for a punishable offense without it opening Pandora's Box.

Going to be hotly contested and interesting to see play out.

I really didn't think it looked bad until you told me to watch it with sound. I hate to guess what another man's intent was, but I don't think it really matters here. I'd like to say he was just trying to send the kid a message, but you don't send a message with a car. If I get in an argument with someone, and pull a gun and accidentally shoot them, I'm going to jail regardless if I was just trying to scare them.

 

[Raider Nation]

Stupid question, but let's say the kid's family somehow finds it in their hearts to forgive Stewart. The D.A. would still be compelled to go forward with criminal proceedings if they suspect intent, yes?

 

[Koya]

YouTube took down the link I originally posted, not surprisingly.

ETA: Deadspin has it though.

This looks bad for Tony Stewart.

Bad is an understatement.

In terms of "court of law" it's hard to know "beyond a reasonable doubt" - but anyone with reason has to pin the blame here on Tony 90%. I would blame the kid, because it was stupid to be out there flagging Tony - but I've seen this plenty of times where there's a wreck and a guy goes a few steps to flag away at the car / driver that hit them.

I've NEVER seen a driver purposely go TOWARD the angry flagger. EVER. If anything, I've seen the car slow, maybe with the driver gesturing back, and/or slow down and move AWAY from the guy just to be safe, perhaps also while gesturing.

But never this, ever.

So while I do have to give the kid that Tony killed a little blame, this absolutely happened because, and only because, Tony Stewart moved toward him. His motivation? Probably to show the kid up, or maybe he simply didn't think at ALL what he was doing / the consequences, just a burst of anger, which we've seen Tony show many, many times before. We can't know the motivation.

We do, however, know that Stewart gunned it and went toward the kid. Is it hard to assume that one of if not the best driver on the planet did that on purpose, seeing as he is, um, one of if not the best driver on the planet?

It happened on the track, no way he get's convicted. But Stewart is scum.

 

[Koya]

Stupid question, but let's say the kid's family somehow finds it in their hearts to forgive Stewart. The D.A. would still be compelled to go forward with criminal proceedings if they suspect intent, yes?

It's on the track. Going to be near impossible to "prove" much. Which sucks. It's clear as day, but not beyond a reasonable doubt unless Tony slips and says something. But sociopaths don't usually slip that easily.

 

[tommyGunZ]

Stupid question, but let's say the kid's family somehow finds it in their hearts to forgive Stewart. The D.A. would still be compelled to go forward with criminal proceedings if they suspect intent, yes?

Yes.

 

[Otis]

Neat sport guys.

 

[Otis]

The question here will be all about intent. There's clearly intent to do something given the rev of the engine. The question will be whether it was intent to scare that resulted in manslaughter, or intent to hit him, which I think gets you a murder charge here. Gonna be hard to say this was purely an accident.

 

[fantasycurse42]

Stupid question, but let's say the kid's family somehow finds it in their hearts to forgive Stewart. The D.A. would still be compelled to go forward with criminal proceedings if they suspect intent, yes?

It's on the track. Going to be near impossible to "prove" much. Which sucks. It's clear as day, but not beyond a reasonable doubt unless Tony slips and says something. But sociopaths don't usually slip that easily.

It's clear what happened here, but no chance they can actually prove this beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

 

[fantasycurse42]

The only way this even makes it into criminal court is if you have some small county DA looking to make a name for himself.

Stewart is clearly a scumbag, but he gets away with this. I think the deceased driver had a slight lapse of judgement running across an active track and he obviously didn't expect this, but it cost him his life.

Most likely, all we will ever be able to do is speculate.

 

[sports_fan]

So Stewart's in his 40s. How long do these guys usually keep racing? Even if he gets off clean I have to think he's done racing forever. At least I'd hope so.

 

[Jefferson the Caregiver]

The question here will be all about intent. There's clearly intent to do something given the rev of the engine. The question will be whether it was intent to scare that resulted in manslaughter, or intent to hit him, which I think gets you a murder charge here. Gonna be hard to say this was purely an accident.

If a prosecutor really wanted to, this could be a second degree murder case.

 

[Otis]

The only way this even makes it into criminal court is if you have some small county DA looking to make a name for himself.

If it was a potential high profile murder on a televised event in front of the entire world, that alone may pressure someone into giving a hard look at criminal charges here. They may have no choice.

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Stewart may beat the rap but the only surprise here is that it didn't happen years ago. Dude's a hothead lunatic. Hope they take away his car and lock him up,

 

[Jefferson the Caregiver]

The only way this even makes it into criminal court is if you have some small county DA looking to make a name for himself.

Stewart is clearly a scumbag, but he gets away with this. I think the deceased driver had a slight lapse of judgement running across an active track and he obviously didn't expect this, but it cost him his life.

Most likely, all we will ever be able to do is speculate.

2nd degree murder: a non-premeditated killing, resulting from an assault in which death of the victim was a distinct possibility

 

[Otis]

The question here will be all about intent. There's clearly intent to do something given the rev of the engine. The question will be whether it was intent to scare that resulted in manslaughter, or intent to hit him, which I think gets you a murder charge here. Gonna be hard to say this was purely an accident.

If a prosecutor really wanted to, this could be a second degree murder case.

I agree, I think it fits under that second prong for second degree murder:

2. Under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life, he recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person, and thereby causes the death of another person;

That may be a prosecutor's best bet.

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Would also be good to see other NASCAR drivers be honest about how they see the incident but I'm not holding my breath on that one. I'm sure they've all been told to shut it already.

 

[sports_fan]

Would also be good to see other NASCAR drivers be honest about how they see the incident but I'm not holding my breath on that one. I'm sure they've all been told to shut it already.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2014-08-10/tony-stewart-sprint-car-hits-driver-fight-incident-trouble-investigation-new-york-watkins-glen-kevin-ward%C2'>

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.

"Tony pinched him into the frontstretch wall, a racing thing," Graves said. "The right rear tire went down, he spun on the exit of (Turn) 2. They threw the caution and everything was toned down. Kevin got out of his car. … He was throwing his arms up all over the place at Tony for most of the corner.

"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."

 

[sports_fan]

http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2014-08-10/tony-stewart-sprint-car-hits-driver-fight-incident-trouble-investigation-new-york-watkins-glen-kevin-ward

 

[Koya]

Just turned on ESPN. Sounds like a lot of justifying Tony's actions going on here. "Looks like Tony was just in a bad position" "I doubt Tony could even see him"

Pretty sickening.

Oh, and Stewart is going to actually freakin race they say? Ricky Craven says "it's just the way he deals with the circumstances" and how this must be "so hard for Tony to handle"

Really? Much be real tough for Tony to go back to his life of wealth and luxury, but with such a heavy heart because it must suck to kill someone, ya know?

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

If NASCAR lets him race today it's disgusting.

If I was a guy who had history with Stewart I'd put him into the wall on lap one. No joke.

 

[Otis]

This isn't good.

The sheriff's department asked for any amateur video be sent to it for use during the investigation. It said the race was on lap 14 of a 25-lap event.

 

[HughHoney]

First time watching Sportscenter in forever, can't believe they're saying he plans on racing today. That's lunacy.

 

[fantasycurse42]

Anyone surprised he would race? This is Nascar, kinda expect this... I'd also expect the Nascar fans to defend him.

Point for the North.

 

[Sebowski]

Nascar track is not a good place for a zombie walk.

Too soon?

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

What a coincidence that all the other drivers had no trouble getting around Ward, and Stewart's line on the track was much higher.

 

[metoo]

Not a Nascar fan but don't the drivers have someone in their ear telling them what's coming up? Don't know how he can say he didn't know the guy was on the track if that's the case.

 

[bleachercreacher]

Not a Nascar fan but don't the drivers have someone in their ear telling them what's coming up? Don't know how he can say he didn't know the guy was on the track if that's the case.

I'm not a NASCAR fan either, but I doubt these guys do at the small tracks. I know they do during the NASCAR races though.

 

[otello]

What are other racers saying? There was a yellow flag, which means he should not be revving his engine, right? These guys know exactly what these cars will do and how they will respond at all times, especially at lower speeds. The kid walked on the track, but if Stewart gunned the engines, as the witnesses are saying, when he approached him and the response of the car is well known in that circumstance, I'd say Tony is in some serious trouble.