I am literally sick to my stomach over what people are writing today about Tony Stewart. What happened to Kevin Ward last night was a horrible tragedy, and I believe it will have a long-lasting impact on Smoke. What blows my mind are all the people who think he did this on purpose, and think he should be charged with murder. And they base this on the fact that he occasionally is a dick to the media and fans, and sometimes races too aggressively. I've heard more than one professional driver today talking about how difficult sprint cars are to drive. When driving at pace speeds, the engine has to almost constantly be "burped" - meaning you have to often punch the gas - to keep the engine from dieing, which also makes the car fishtail. You have straps that limit arm movement for safety's sake, that make quick moves difficult. You have a helmet that severely limits perephial vision, with a HANS device that further limits head movement. Add to that a poorly lit track, dirt on the windshield and visor, and top it all off with a young kid that ran on to the track and right into the race line just so he could point his finger at the guy who bumped him. It all conspired to create a tragedy, but an accidental tragedy. For anyone to think Stewart intentionally ran the kid over is beyond incomprehensible, beyond despicable.
That's still a little one-sided. Clearly Ward should never have gotten out of the car. However, they were under a yellow, the driver in front of Stewart was able to avoid hitting Ward, and people heard Stewart throttle up which certainly has a likelihood of causing the rear to "bump out" which is what happened. Clearly Stewart did not intend what ended up happening. He likely meant only to send a return message to Ward. Both made poor choices. Stewart did not help himself by so quickly saying he would race today. It's a good thing he changed his mind. Charges are unlikely....how would anyone prove intent? And FTR, I don't follow racing very much at all and couldn't have picked Stewart out of a lineup.
@uscvball It was said on ESPN this morning that the announcement that Stewart would race came from Greg Zippadelli, who's kind of the overall crew chief for the Stewart-Haas team. Stewart himself never actually said he would race. And don't know if you've seen the video, but Ward had spun his car into the outside wall. He got out and from the top of the track, started pointing at Stewart as he approached. He then ran down into the line....as you said, the car in front swerved to miss him, but Stewart was right behind him. Several experienced sprint car drivers have gone on record today saying they've seen the video, and felt Stewart had only a split second to avoid Ward when he came into view; that his view of Ward was probably blocked by the car in front of him. They also say you steer sprint cars with the gas as much as with the wheel, and hitting the gas would have been a reflex action on his part to make the car swerve. Even with all that, I'll agree that its possible Stewart may have tried to send him a message. That's common when guys do what Ward did. Its also common that guys in Stewart's position goose the throttle in an attempt to get away from the guy on foot. My disgust is with people who think he hit him on purpose.
I don't want to read minds here but it seems unlikely that the crew chief would make such a major announcement without having heard it directly from Stewart. I saw the video. I just watched it again. My perception remains the same. Ward was stupid for coming out of the vehicle and walking the track, even under a yellow. Had it been someone other than Stewart to corner-pin him, maybe he doesn't do any of that. But it was a yellow. I believe Stewart saw him, throttled up in an attempt to say "knock it off". He could not have known Ward would get sucked under the tire and then get thrown 50 feet. Really, really stupid choices.
I agree that the lynch mob mentality is far beyond inappropriate. To the point I stopped paying attention. The incident is a horrific tragedy that was preventable in more ways than could be counted. Sadly, it took this accident to pave yet, another safety approach that will be instituted industry wide. It also proves that it will be a measure that is way over due...industry wide. I do not like Tony Stewart and that is entirely over his attitude that spans his whole career. I do however, admire his talent and love for the sport. It is certain his involvement was unintentional but just the same, he was involved. I feel bad for knowing there were a myriad of options both could have taken to avoid this accident, I do hate to see any injury being caused when it is so obvious just how preventable this accident could have been. That is the tragedy and unfortunately, that is what will haunt everyone involved. I believe it will take a smoking gun to prove Tony did anything intentional, like radio chatter with his admission or him admitting it himself, but to say he did this on purpose is irresponsible and only aggravates what is already a tragic situation. The internet jury needs to get a grip and wait for more than a video that does not fully tell the story.
The worst part about the "internet jury" is that none of them even seem to consider Ward's part in it....he absolutely SHOULD NOT have been where he was. Nothing would have happened if he, at the very least, had chosen to do his finger pointing, intimidating, showboating, whatever it was...from the side of his car. He walked almost directly into the path of a car going 40 miles an hour on a poorly-lit dirt track.
Smoke has an undeniable history and sadly, that is what is being judged. Had this occurred by any driver not named Tony Stewart or Busch or any athlete/ driver with an A-Dog mentality, it is certain that the majority of the chatter going on would be of a more forgiving tone. The same tone that is deserved as it stands. Pretend, just for a second the car that hit the kid was driven by Ken Schrader or even Danica Patrick...The tone would be more like what it should be now. Granted, this does not account for those who dismiss racing at any level but the fuel is flamed in great part by the many that are already Tony Stewart haters. The video that first hit youtube originated from an obvious Stewart hater. His immediate drunken response was as if he just witnessed murder. What, with evidence like that are outside interest supposed to take from it. Smoke could have stopped, got out of his car and shook the kids hand and still he would have been booed and had beer thrown at him.
People are idiots. If it had been Dale Jr instead of Smoke they would have said the kid had it coming.
Stewart did absolutely nothing wrong.He wasn't even at fault for Ward spinning out. People who claim they heard him throttle up prior to hitting Ward are full of shit. Even the most experienced observers would be hard pressed to pick out an individual car's engine with a full field of cars on the track. Stewart maintained his speed and his line until he hit Ward. At that instant the right rear lost traction which caused the car to swerve to the right and possibly causing an accidental tap of the throttle (the car appeared to accelerate some after contact). Stewart wasn't sending a "message" either, he simply didn't see Ward with enough time to react at all, be it to avoid him or to say "fuck off kid".
There are lots of eye-witnesses who were close by and all heard it. You can hear it and see the result on the video, plain as day. So an expert couldn't hear the throttle but you can say he maintained his speed? His car was out of frame until just a moment prior to impact. How could you tell his speed and frankly if true, that's not necessarily a good thing as they were under a yellow. You are saying the car swerved (cause ?) and that caused the throttle-up but the video seems to indicate just the opposite. We don't know if he was sending a message or if he saw him with no time to react. The first driver who passed him managed to avoid impact. Tony knows the truth. Let's see what the official report says.
