Tony Stewart runs over competitor

[93VR6]

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart ran over a competitor, 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr., during a confrontation at a sprint car race on Saturday night at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in New York. Ward was killed.

In the video above, via YouTube, you can see Ward apparently confronting Stewart on foot after Ward's car is run into the wall. He is struck, dragged, then thrown a number of feet. According to Ontario County Sheriff Philip C. Povero, Ward was dead on arrival at the hospital.

Our original post, with several updates, is below.

Here's the video, NSFW(L); http://deadspin.com/reports-tony-stewart-ran-over-opposing-driver-during-1618893708

[Mibz]

Not to downplay the tragedy, but when you're this far down a godamn dark dirt track in a black suit, you're dramatically increasing your odds of being hit by a car.

http://i.imgur.com/QpEEjI9.jpg

Interested to see the rule changes and how many other leagues/classes are affected by this. Silly that the best way to prevent people from walking onto a race track while the race is still going on will be a fine and/or points penalty.

EDIT: Ancient, yet relevant

#628630 +(9218)- [X]
<samsim> I heard about this guy who broke into a lion's den at the zoo
<samsim> and got mauled
<samsim> and people were talking about how there should have been better defences put up to prevent people getting into the cage
<samsim> a friend of mine suggested setting up some kind of deterrent
<samsim> for example, putting some sort of fierce animal in the cage, which would attack anybody who climbed in

[speedog]

This is really tough for me - I'm a big fan of Tony Stewart despite his warts and all but what I saw in the video is quite troubling. I just don't think Tony will come away from this incident unscathed - black racing suit or not and regardless of whether or not that driver was out on the track, Tony had no business being that high up on the track during the caution. Yeah, that driver certainly didn't need to step down towards Tony but it still doesn't look good for Tony IMHO..

[rage2]

I don't think you can go much lower. Look at Mibz's screenshot the guy was more than half way down the track.

[blairtruck]

i have never watched Tony Stewart do anything especially go around in circles. but i know if i don't want to get hit i don't step in front of a moving vehicle. seems like natural selection at its finest.

[Modelexis]

Stay in your car until the safety personnel arrive.

Especially if your racing number is 13.

[speedog]

Originally posted by rage2
I don't think you can go much lower. Look at Mibz's screenshot the guy was more than half way down the track.
Dunno. A number of cars that passed through before Tony were lower down on the track - one of the warts I was speaking to is some of the shit Tony has done in the past, the guy has done some pretty dumb shit that he could've easily chosen not too. Tony did not have to be that high up on the track and him gunning his engine - hard to say why Tony did that, may have been an attempt to avoid the other racer stepping towards him but gassing it broke Tony's car loose, don't know if that contributed to the incident or not.

For sure, I see some rule changes coming like drivers having to remain in their vehicles until given instructions by a race marshal. I also suspect there'll be rule changes/additions regarding where a driver (in a moving vehicle) goes during a caution - high up or down low. Certainly these racers aren't morons (well I have to question Tony sometimes) and are easily able to figure out that if a race car is stopped up high, that you go low if that is the clearest piece of racing surface available to you.

[speedog]

What will complicate this matter is that it is Tony Stewart who was involved in this incident - he has a long, long history of doing dumb-ass shit both on and off the racetrack. This isn't a NASCAR thing either as Tony has competed and has been successful in numerous auto racing series (NASCAR, World Karting, USAC National Midget, Sprint, and Silver Crown, IRL (Indy Racing League) - he's a hothead and no less so than the Busch brothers in NASCAR, Robbie Gordon in anything he's competed and I am quite sure that many other racing sports, be it F1, IHRA, Indy, whatever, have similar hotheads. Their emotions get the better of them and they make on-the-spot rash decisions, that in hindsight, were very foolish - one pretty much never saw someone like Mark Martin or the Labonte brothers doing this type of shit and they were similar racers who have had considerable success.

BTW, update this morning - Tony Stewart is not competing at Watkin's Glen today. His replacement driver is Regan Smith.

[rage2]

Originally posted by speedog
Dunno. A number of cars that passed through before Tony were lower down on the track
The car before Tony's:

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc475/rage2amg/e8401d9cdd8be83f0c25fa926f30811f_zps938ebba9.jpg

Tony's 2 frames before collision:

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc475/rage2amg/58e4305add62e1a81bc9cfd739a5379a_zps1a71d351.jpg

That kid had a death wish standing more than halfway down the track. Zero fucks given by him. No respect for how dangerous cars can be on a hot track, even under yellow. That's how I see it. At the end of the day, if he wasn't such a hot head, he would be still alive and whining about Tony's driving in post race interviews like everyone else.

[speedog]

There were cars that were both higher and lower on the track before Tony - I am not going to disagree that the Ward fellow was not responsible for his actions as he walked about the track and maybe Tony will come out of this clean.

But, this will probably have some pretty deep reaching effects on Tony (one can hope) and should mean some new race rules for most racing series - I've seen upset racers do this same thing (as Ward) in any racing series. I understand emotions getting the better of a competitor but maybe some very serious penalties with respect to getting out of a disabled car that isn't threatening one's own life (on fire for example) need to be brought into play - get out of your car like Ward did and either be hit financially in a way that has some meaning, lose race series points in a way that has some meaning or just be suspended from that race series.

On a side note, I can't imagine how dis-wrought Tony probably is over this - who wouldn't be. The guy lives to race an this is probably his worst nightmare - imagine the organizers of this local Saturday night event, getting a superstar like Tony to come and race against the locals. They could've never imagined this nightmarish outcome in their wildest dreams.

[Disoblige]

It's hard to tell from the video if he intentionally tried to hit him or not from this angle. Listening to the sound more closely, IMO it looks like he hit the throttle to sway away from Ward actually. I can't see Tony getting criminal charges for this unless there's video from another angle showing something different.

One thing's for sure, there is always going to be people who will hate him for this no matter what.

[Weapon_R]

News is reporting that this is not being investigated as a criminal matter. It looks like the blue car had the inside lane so Stewart had to be where he was. We can watch the video all day long but only those drivers know the dynamics of those cars on that track.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by blairtruck
seems like natural selection at its finest.

:werd:


It's a shame he died, but there isn't a big enough facepalm for a guy who steps into oncoming traffic, racetrack or not.

[mazdavirgin]

Yeah kids fault for walking down into traffic like that. Hope Tony Stewart didn't purposefully hit the kid though. We won't ever know though since we were not in the car at the time and not in his head either.

[16hypen3sp]

Ward should have caged his rage.

To me, it looks like Stewart tried to avoid him and turned to his left a little before impact.

[01RedDX]

.

[darthVWader]

Would be interesting to hear any of the radio communications. Both from Ward and Tonys crews.

[93VR6]

Originally posted by darthVWader
Would be interesting to hear any of the radio communications. Both from Ward and Tonys crews.

First if all I doubt they even have radios it's small dirt track race. Even if there were radios there's no way any of it was recorded.

[xnvy]

Kid's fault. Maybe Tony tried to rooster tail him with the throttle but more than likely he just tried to get out of the way. You steer those things with the throttle more than anything and as stated earlier, visibility would be poor. On top of that, Tony doesn't start fishtailing until the kid lifts his rear tire up.

[flipstah]

It sucks but I agree that it was the kid's fault. :(

[bignerd]

Originally posted by speedog


On a side note, I can't imagine how dis-wrought Tony probably is over this - who wouldn't be.

Please tell me you are being sarcastic or something? Dis-wrought? (Distraught).

No reason to get out of your car on the track during a race unless said car is on fire. They did say that Tony competes in a lot of races, even those with purses as small as $3000.00 because he is so competitive. He did just come back from almost a year off though after badly breaking his leg, not sure he would do something so dumb almost immediately after coming back.

[speedog]

Originally posted by bignerd


Please tell me you are being sarcastic or something? Dis-wrought? (Distraught).

No reason to get out of your car on the track during a race unless said car is on fire. They did say that Tony competes in a lot of races, even those with purses as small as $3000.00 because he is so competitive. He did just come back from almost a year off though after badly breaking his leg, not sure he would do something so dumb almost immediately after coming back. No, I'm being sincere and yeah, used the wrong word - I am quite sure Tony is quite upset because of all of this.

[Melinda]

I'm a fan of Tony's. I know he has a reputation has a bit of a pain in the ass, but this almost looks like he couldn't see past the car in front of him. The one car went by Ward less than 2 seconds before Tony did. I wonder if Tony was too busy watching the car in front of him and not expecting there to be a guy in black waving like a lunatic and chasing him down on the track. Yellow or not, Ward should have stayed in his vehicle, or in the general proximity to that. There's always time for confrontation in the pits.

Sad to hear the outcome of this, I believe Ward was only 20 years old. Typical young man rage. Tony is known to be a walking temper, but he's a pretty good guy overall. He even raises money for injured racecar drivers and severely ill children. I'm with speedog, he's probably feeling like shit.

[rx7boi]

That was a pretty crazy video. Could be an accident or could be wanting to make a point gone wrong.

Made me think about snowcat, except something actually happening.

[botox]

Two wrongs don't make a right. Both were being idiots but Tony got the upperhand. It's a death wish to walk onto a racetrack like that regardless if it was under a yellow or not and Tony probably just wanted to scare him and killing him probably wasn't his intention. It'll be interesting to see how this unfolds.

[Seth1968]

Originally posted by botox
Two wrongs don't make a right. Both were being idiots but Tony got the upperhand. It's a death wish to walk onto a racetrack like that regardless if it was under a yellow or not and Tony probably just wanted to scare him and killing him probably wasn't his intention. It'll be interesting to see how this unfolds.

The guy walked out on to the racetrack. There's nothing to unfold in the legal sense, and no charges will be laid.

[civic_stylez]

Originally posted by Seth1968


The guy walked out on to the racetrack. There's nothing to unfold in the legal sense, and no charges will be laid.

Well the big hoopla is if Tony tried to hit him.. tony ran him off the track and then magically was the one who hit him. Those guys have good eyesight and can drive in some of the gnarliest situations so under a course yellow to hit a guy seems a little weird.


That being said, i think it is completely retarded to get out of your vehicle to walk onto a race track to "shake harder boy" at another driver. Get real. Cost him his life to try and be a hard ass.

[Seth1968]

Originally posted by Seth1968


The guy walked out on to the racetrack. There's nothing to unfold in the legal sense, and no charges will be laid.

Just to clarify, the authorities have stated unequivocally that the incident does not warrant any charges.

[xnvy]

Originally posted by civic_stylez


Well the big hoopla is if Tony tried to hit him.. tony ran him off the track and then magically was the one who hit him. Those guys have good eyesight and can drive in some of the gnarliest situations so under a course yellow to hit a guy seems a little weird.
Yes but Ward was wearing a fully black suit on a poorly lit dirt track. Besides, it's hard to see out of the right side of those sprint cars because of the huge wings. I really don't think Tony saw him until he jumped to dodge the #45 car at which point he can't do much to avoid a collision if he was already heading towards him.

[benyl]

http://www.roadandtrack.com/features/tony-stewart-kevin-ward-crash-steven-cole-smith-analysis


What has happened since the tragedy is that a video taken from the stands showing the entirety of the tragedy has made the rounds, including on national TV. The video is polarizing, and viewers largely believe one of three things: Stewart was trying to avoid Ward, Stewart was trying to scare him by brushing him back, or Stewart was trying to kill him outright, the last of which a stunning percentage of readers have posted in various comments sections around the internet, including those attached to my original story. They contend that Stewart should be charged with manslaughter at best, murder at worst. I find this astounding. Even though there was no contact between Stewart’s car and Ward’s, Ward knew better than to try to drive on the outside with a faster car in that corner, and it is likely that Stewart had no idea Ward even crashed at all— why would Stewart still purposely try to hit him?

[speedog]

benyl - that is a great read at that link you provided above. Thx.

[speedog]

As of this weekend at Bristol, Tony Stewart will have sat out 3 NASCAR Sprint Cup series races which is quickly reducing any possibility of him making the Chase - only a win will get him in now and even that is iffy. He has sat out other races he was supposed to be in and now rumours are starting to surface of him pondering a full retirement from racing at the age of 43 - will be interesting to see what the future holds.

[01RedDX]

.

[Alak]

I work with a guy who races sprints cars and has for 20+ years. He was telling me they are direct drive and quite hard to steer when they are not in a slide. Viability isn't the greatest in those cars. He said its very likely that Stewart didn't see the guy at all until he made contact, considering the amount of light and colour of the guys racing suit.

[Redlyne_mr2]

Those cars are apparently horrible to drive, ad to the fact that it's a dark track at night and the driver is dressed in black. In all of years I've been watching racing I've never seen an angry driver walk into the middle of the track. I can totally understand how an accident like this could occur. I can't even imagine walking onto the track at race city in the middle of a lapping day.

[Rocket1k78]

RIP but he brought this on himself. I've never raced before but even I know better than to get out of a car on the race track.

[spikerS]

And Tony Stewart is not going to face a criminal trial.

http://jalopnik.com/tmz-report-tony-stewart-wont-face-trial-for-death-of-k-1638689280


As the racing world awaits a 3 p.m. press conference in upstate New York where a District Attorney will announce the results of a grand jury investigation into Tony Stewart's fatal crash into driver Kevin Ward Jr., TMZ reports that the grand jury has declined to charge Stewart with any crimes. (UPDATE: Confirmed.)


Tony Stewart's Crash Will Go To A Grand Jury
The district attorney in Ontario County, New York announced today that a grand jury will decide…
Read more
In a brief post, the gossip website says that the grand jury has returned a "no bill" of Stewart after spending a week looking into the Aug. 9 dirt track crash at Canandaigua Motorsports Park that killed Ward, 20.

Investigators had said they had "enhanced video" of the incident — but clearly the footage did not persuade the grand jury that Stewart did anything illegal.
Bear in mind that this report has not been confirmed yet, and probably won't be until the Ontario County District Attorney announces the grand jury's findings in half an hour.

But if it is correct — and say what you want about TMZ, but they're right more often than not — then it means Stewart won't face a criminal trial after all.

Ward was killed when he was struck by Stewart's car after he exited his own car and walked onto the track under caution. The incident took place moments after Stewart bumped Ward's car, sending him crashing into a corner. Video makes it appear as though Ward tried to confront Stewart while the race was still happening.

An autopsy determined that Ward died of blunt trauma.

This post will be updated once the announcement is made.

Update: The grand jury's decision has been confirmed. Ontario County DA Michael Tantillo said the grand jury found "no basis to charge Stewart with a crime."

Tantillo said that more than two dozen witnesses testified before the 23-member grand jury panel, including police, medical officials, track personnel, accident reconstruction experts and others. The grand jury also viewed photos, videos and other evidence, he said.

That Kevin Ward "ran onto a hot track while other cars were racing played a big, big factor" in their decision, Tantillo said.

Tantillo also gave the surprising revelation that Ward was under the influence of marijuana, "enough to impair his judgement" that evening.

More to come.

[rage2]

They were right in the 50's. Marijuana kills.

[blairtruck]

12:01 PM PT -- Officials say Kevin Ward Jr. was high on marijuana at the time of his death.

Officials say the "enhanced" video did not show Tony made any sudden or suspicious moves on the track before the collision with Ward Jr.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz3EGPfNQiP


it was refer madness

[killramos]

Originally posted by rage2
They were right in the 50's. Marijuana kills.

Blunt Trauma :rofl:

[spikerS]

Originally posted by killramos


Blunt Trauma :rofl:

fuck, i had to clean my monitor. My co-workers are looking at me strange as I spit my coffee out.