Tony Stewart hit fellow driver with his car while he was walking on the track

[65fastback2plus2]

the car moves left as if he is trying to avoid hitting him...the rev may have just been him trying to toss dirt on ward?

 

[bounce]

Well anyone would get questioned by the police after a death on the track. It's procedure. If Ward had hit the wall on his own and died, the police would still be questioning drivers and track officials to determine what exactly happened.

I'm sorry. Bad choice of words on my part. Yeah, he would get officially questioned, but nobody would jump to conclusions that the guy did it intentionally.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Yeah the first thing I think when someone is running right at my car is to hit the gas and try to go faster to avoid them. That makes total sense.

What Ward did was stupid. Real stupid. But it's not like he's the first guy to do it, so it's hard to criticize him for it.

I think that once he ran right in front of him, Stewart hit the throttle to avoid him and the car fishtailed momentarily and lost control of it's steering. It was a split second reaction to a guy running right at your car. There was no murder. Just stupidity which led to an unfortunate death.

As I'm not a racing fan I'll have to defer to your knowledge of the sport here when I ask this.

I saw the Youtube video and it didn't appear to me that he tried to miss him. The front of the car went to the right, the direction the guy was standing, so was he turning the front of the car to bump him? At that speed I'd think even a bump would have been devastating.

Did he try to turn it to the left but the front of the car goes right in a slide cause of another reason? Is that a possibility? Cause the front of the car very clearly turns in the direction of the guy. I'm not sure how that guy thought there was any chance he could just swerve around him or bump him at that speed and expect anything less than what happened.

Again I am ignorant as to exactly how those cars function so I don't know if there are some sort of problems with the vehicle that causes things like this but it didn't appear to me he did much to get around him. Now it happens so fast that I can't tell if he was trying to go to the left and when he hit him the guys body being under the back wheel made it slide toward the right. I can't really tell from the video so I was curious about those things.

 

[Keifer]

Thinning the herd...why do you get out of your car and stand in the middle of a dirt track?

Any sort of sudden move of the wheel on dirt is gonna cause the car to slide...idiot kind of got what he deserved.

I usually enjoy reading your posts on here but that is one of the most ignorant statements I've read on this board, and thats saying something. First off cars do not slide by a sudden movement of the wheel, they slide when the tires break traction by acceleration and being under caution there was no reason to accelerate. Second, while it may not be a very smart thing to do drivers at all levels do the same thing this young driver did at almost every race. The cars were running at slow speeds and he had no reason to believe Stewart would mash the gas and run over him and he certainly did not deserve to die for it.

I do not think Tony meant to run this guy over. I think he was trying to intimidate him and got too close. Both drivers were wrong for their part and unfortunately someone lost their life over it. Hopefully Tony had a GoPro in the car and officials can determine exactly what happened.

 

[RS12]

No way to prove intent.

 

[dstovall5]

Here's a quote regarding the accident and I 100% agree with this statement.

Quote - "I can't believe that some idiots think Stewart did this intentionally.
Ward essentially committed suicide by angrily running out (and standing/pointing) in the middle of a track and in front of drivers going 80+ mph and making turns as fast as they can. On top of that, it's dark out, and his suit is black. On top of all this, Stewart is right on 45's tail, who JUST MISSES Ward in the first place, and very possibly blocked the view of Ward. Any racer in their right minds know never to exit their vehicle on a track after a crash. It's just common sense. This is completely Hart's fault for doing so in the first place. This is not intentional."

It's 100% Ward's fault for being such a moron, sadly him being an idiot cost him his life. The fact of the matter is if Ward had not got out of his car, he'd still be alive today. Also, to accuse someone of murder given the circumstances is pretty crappy. Hopefully none of you of are put in that same situation.

 

[Keifer]

Here's a quote regarding the accident and I 100% agree with this statement. It's 100% Ward's fault for being such a moron, sadly him being an idiot cost him his life.

Quote - "I can't believe that some idiots think Stewart did this intentionally.
Ward essentially committed suicide by angrily running out (and standing/pointing) in the middle of a track and in front of drivers going 80+ mph and making turns as fast as they can. On top of that, it's dark out, and his suit is black. On top of all this, Stewart is right on 45's tail, who JUST MISSES Ward in the first place, and very possibly blocked the view of Ward. Any racer in their right minds know never to exit their vehicle on a track after a crash. It's just common sense. This is completely Hart's fault for doing so in the first place. This is not intentional."

The cars were not doing 80+ mph, they were under caution and going 20-25 mph. And every racer exits their car under yellow after a crash if they are not injured and most do the same thing Ward did when they feel they were wronged.
I do agree though that this was not intentional and Ward put himself way too close to Stewarts car. Watching the tape again I am not sure if Tony was trying to scare the guy or just hitting the gas to avoid him. (sort of like how they pitch they cars sideways when leaving the pits to get around the car pitting in front of them).

 

[DavidS]

Ward was very ignorant - if you are gonna be stupid you better be willing to suffer the consequences....

Now he's dead.

 

[Rogah]

Stewart is a professional racer who has made millions racing cars, not some 40-something soccer mom. He knows exactly what his car is going to do given the track conditions and actions he took. I do not believe it can be plausibly denied that this was semi-intentional. What I mean is that Stewart deliberately decided "I'm gonna teach this young punk a lesson - I'm Tony bleepin' Stewart!" so he did what he did with the intent to scare the bejeebus out of the guy. A little bump, a little tire spin, a little dirt in the kid's face.

I do not believe for a second that Tony Stewart wanted to kill the guy, but a drunk driver behind the wheel doesn't want to kill those 2 children. He behaved in a reckless manner and his recklessness cost someone else their life. If that ain't manslaughter, I don't know what is.

Ward's actions, however, were also reckless. But legally when 2 people behave in a reckless manner, and one of them dies, that doesn't entirely exonerate the other.

 

[dstovall5]

The cars were not doing 80+ mph, they were under caution and going 20-25 mph. And every racer exits their car under yellow after a crash if they are not injured and most do the same thing Ward did when they feel they were wronged.
I do agree though that this was not intentional and Ward put himself way too close to Stewarts car. Watching the tape again I am not sure if Tony was trying to scare the guy or just hitting the gas to avoid him. (sort of like how they pitch they cars sideways when leaving the pits to get around the car pitting in front of them).

I watched the video and it seemed like the first couple cars that passed ward were going more around 40. Also, just because other drivers do it doesn't make it ok, and hopefully this is a lesson the sport will learn from. Don't get out of your freaking car unless in immediate danger with a fire or something, it really is common sense. Sadly such a simple mistake cost this young driver his life.

In my honest opinion though, I do believe Tony revved the engine trying to scare the kid, and a tragic accident followed. This doesn't mean Tony should get slammed with murder, or even vehicle manslaughter, the kid shouldn't have been out of his car.

Intent to scare, maybe, but definitely not intent to kill like some have suggested.

 

[Wheeltax]

On top of that, it's dark out, and his suit is black. On top of all this, Stewart is right on 45's tail, who JUST MISSES Ward in the first place, and very possibly blocked the view of Ward. Any racer in their right minds know never to exit their vehicle on a track after a crash. It's just common sense. This is completely Hart's fault for doing so in the first place. This is not intentional."

The vision point is a very good one. I went back and watched the video again and at this point, this is exactly what I believe happened.

I've driven on night time dirt tracks before (go-karts, not sprint cars, but the point remains) - despite those bright lights, and sometimes because of them, it is pretty tricky to see down on the track sometimes.

Obviously nobody knows what happened except for Stewart, and admittedly I give him the benefit of the doubt as a fan of his. If that's what happened, I feel for him - missing the Glen today puts his year in great jeopardy, and he's liable to be writing some big checks for civil liabilities, not to mention carrying the knowledge that you killed a guy. People have quit racing altogether for less.

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

What Ward did was stupid. Real stupid. But it's not like he's the first guy to do it, so it's hard to criticize him for it.

I think that once he ran right in front of him, Stewart hit the throttle to avoid him and the car fishtailed momentarily and lost control of it's steering. It was a split second reaction to a guy running right at your car. There was no murder. Just stupidity which led to an unfortunate death.

Agree. The young buck got too close to Tony's car. Not Tony's fault. Even the "wreck" wasnt all that big a deal, more of a racing thing than anything else.

 

[Bill Wooten]

I found the following on reddit and it helped me better understand the type of cars they were driving and how they work on those tracks. His explanation makes much more sense to me than the idea that Stewart made the decision in less than a second to intentionally hit someone with his car.

"For those not in the know, nearly all cars have what is known as a differential - a clump of gears that lets one wheel spin faster than the other, while still applying power to both. This is important because when the vehicle is turning a corner, the outside wheel follows a longer path than the inside wheel - if the wheels were forced to turn at the same speed, one would have to drag and/or skip across the pavement to make up the difference. Tires are designed specifically not to drag, skip and such (lose traction), so this would put a lot of wear on the tires, strain the mechanical bits of the car, and generally make turning more difficult... Keep turning difficulty in mind.

Unless a limited slip differential or solid axle is used, when one tire breaks traction, all the available engine power goes to spinning up that one wheel - the "peg leg" burn-out. Obviously this is a bad thing in a racing situation, and would be a frequent problem on a low-traction dirt race track. A limited slip differential would mean additional weight, complexity and cost, so they simply use a solid rear axle and drift (let both rear wheels break traction) around the corners. To compensate for this loss of traction when cornering, they use huge rear tires.

So... What happens when you combine huge tires (lots of traction) with a solid axle (difficult to turn) and reduced speed (due to yellow flag, resulting in still more traction)? The car becomes very difficult to turn (known as understeer). In fact, it would become far easier to turn by revving the engine to break the rear wheels lose (power-induced oversteer).

So, Stewart comes around the corner, the car in front of him dodges out of the way, revealing a road-raging driver running out in the track. Stewart tries to dodge: He turns the wheel and blips the throttle to get the car to rotate... To point in the right direction so when it regains traction it will miss the object (driver) he's trying to avoid. It was simply too late and/or driver too far out in the track for the physics to play out. The result? Driver gets hit by the rear tire."

 

[DOUBLE WING]

It's 100% Ward's fault for being such a moron, sadly him being an idiot cost him his life. The fact of the matter is if Ward had not got out of his car, he'd still be alive today. Also, to accuse someone of murder given the circumstances is pretty crappy. Hopefully none of you of are put in that same situation.

Drivers get out of their cars like that quite often. Stewart himself has done it when he got a little too hotheaded after a wreck or whatever. NASCAR in fact makes a habit of showing drivers getting out of their cars in a huff in some of their time killing highlight reels shown during rainouts and stuff. So please, spare me in trying to make it seem like Ward is some complete bozo for getting out of the car as if it's never been done before.

Now, obviously in hindsight since we now know that he's DEAD, yes it probably would have been best for him to not get out of the car. It obviously wasn't intentional, but what's clear to me from both the video and knowing Stewart's history, is that he was probably pissed this kid was trying to show him up on the track and wanted to scare/intimidate him a little, probably kick some dirt on him, so he revved up right beside him and the unfortunate accident happened.

Both men could have easily avoided what happened last night. They didn't. It cost Ward his life and Stewart his career and possibly freedom.

 

[dstovall5]

Drivers get out of their cars like that quite often. Stewart himself has done it when he got a little too hotheaded after a wreck or whatever. NASCAR in fact makes a habit of showing drivers getting out of their cars in a huff in some of their time killing highlight reels shown during rainouts and stuff. So please, spare me in trying to make it seem like Ward is some complete bozo for getting out of the car as if it's never been done before.

That is such an immature response, just because someone else does it doesn't make it ok, do you not understand that?

Now, obviously in hindsight since we now know that he's DEAD, yes it probably would have been best for him to not get out of the car. It obviously wasn't intentional, but what's clear to me from both the video and knowing Stewart's history, is that he was probably pissed this kid was trying to show him up on the track and wanted to scare/intimidate him a little, probably kick some dirt on him, so he revved up right beside him and the unfortunate accident happened.

Both men could have easily avoided what happened last night. They didn't. It cost Ward his life and Stewart his career and possibly freedom.

I agree it could've easily been avoided, but I don't think it will cost Stewart his career or freedom, as it shouldn't. Hopefully the sport learns from this, because the "everyone else does it" card doesn't fly, and now it just cost someone their life.

 

[Sarge]

Let's see, you're at a RACE TRACK and an individual gets out of his car and runs across the track at night in a black suit and is run over by a car that is closely following another car and hits the individual standing on the track and we are somehow blaming the driver?

Not.

Unfortunate incident that should never have happened.

By the way, drivers get fined for getting out of their cars as Ward did.

 

[zrinkill]

This should make Racing put very hefty fines on leaving your vehicle during a wreck and going toward other cars.

Personally it looked to me like Stewart meant to scare him ....... and the guy was killed.

Senseless tragedy and I have a feeling that Stewart will lose a very expensive civil lawsuit from it.

 

[DOUBLE WING]

That is such an immature response, just because someone else does it doesn't make it ok, do you not understand that?

The guy who just got through calling a man who just died in a terrible accident a "moron" and "idiot" is telling me I'm immature? That's rich.

You're totally missing the point. Whether it's "okay" to do or not is irrelevant. I would love to see a rule put in place to prevent it because I agree, it's not the smartest thing in the world to do, but you're almost making it sound like he deserved to die for getting out of the car, which is completely asinine. Getting out of the car and stepping onto the track isn't some crazy, insane act of a madman. It's a fairly routine thing in racing. And nobody has ever been killed because of it until now.

I agree it could've easily been avoided, but I don't think it will cost Stewart his career or freedom, as it shouldn't. Hopefully the sport learns from this, because the "everyone else does it" card doesn't fly, and now it just cost someone their life.

Whether it costs him his freedom will be left up to the courts, but there seems to at LEAST be an involuntary manslaughter charge waiting for him. I certainly don't see anyway he ever races again.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

I found the following on reddit and it helped me better understand the type of cars they were driving and how they work on those tracks. His explanation makes much more sense to me than the idea that Stewart made the decision in less than a second to intentionally hit someone with his car.

"For those not in the know, nearly all cars have what is known as a differential - a clump of gears that lets one wheel spin faster than the other, while still applying power to both. This is important because when the vehicle is turning a corner, the outside wheel follows a longer path than the inside wheel - if the wheels were forced to turn at the same speed, one would have to drag and/or skip across the pavement to make up the difference. Tires are designed specifically not to drag, skip and such (lose traction), so this would put a lot of wear on the tires, strain the mechanical bits of the car, and generally make turning more difficult... Keep turning difficulty in mind.

Unless a limited slip differential or solid axle is used, when one tire breaks traction, all the available engine power goes to spinning up that one wheel - the "peg leg" burn-out. Obviously this is a bad thing in a racing situation, and would be a frequent problem on a low-traction dirt race track. A limited slip differential would mean additional weight, complexity and cost, so they simply use a solid rear axle and drift (let both rear wheels break traction) around the corners. To compensate for this loss of traction when cornering, they use huge rear tires.

So... What happens when you combine huge tires (lots of traction) with a solid axle (difficult to turn) and reduced speed (due to yellow flag, resulting in still more traction)? The car becomes very difficult to turn (known as understeer). In fact, it would become far easier to turn by revving the engine to break the rear wheels lose (power-induced oversteer).

So, Stewart comes around the corner, the car in front of him dodges out of the way, revealing a road-raging driver running out in the track. Stewart tries to dodge: He turns the wheel and blips the throttle to get the car to rotate... To point in the right direction so when it regains traction it will miss the object (driver) he's trying to avoid. It was simply too late and/or driver too far out in the track for the physics to play out. The result? Driver gets hit by the rear tire."

Excellent post. Thanks for the knowledge. I'm going with this logic before crucifying Tony.

 

[dstovall5]

The guy who just got through calling a man who just died in a terrible accident a "moron" and "idiot" is telling me I'm immature? That's rich.

You're totally missing the point. Whether it's "okay" to do or not is irrelevant. I would love to see a rule put in place to prevent it because I agree, it's not the smartest thing in the world to do, but you're almost making it sound like he deserved to die for getting out of the car, which is completely asinine. Getting out of the car and stepping onto the track isn't some crazy, insane act of a madman. It's a fairly routine thing in racing. And nobody has ever been killed because of it until now.

That's a pretty crappy thing to say, because I haven't even hinted of any of such thing. I've said he's a moron and an idiot, but that's about it. Just because I think the guy made a terrible judgement call doesn't mean I think he should die, geez. Have a good day dude.