people
I call anyone a dumb ass when they call tony a murderer you don’t know all facts .Dave 41 O’Steen
How about since none of us were there, we don’t form an opinion without knowing ALL of the facts. Its tragic what happened, for all parties involved. Tony has to live with this the rest of his life, and someone lost their life, in this incident. I really don’t think this is a time for bashing. This will already bring enough bad publicity to our sport as it is, without everyone feeding into the whole “murderer” notion.
100%
I am 100% sure Tony did not run over his competitor on purpose, if you watch the video, the car in front of Stewart almost ran him over also. The track lighting looked very bad also.
The only good that could possible come out of this horrible situation is that tracks start to enforce the caution flag, as it should be. Here in florida we have seen to many hot head racers, ramming other cars under caution, speeding around the track under caution, speeding through the pits, and sooner or later, a racer or track worker is going to get hurt bad. Some of the tracks (a-dale), even promote this kind of behavior. Vince
[QUOTE=turnleft;149066]I am 100% sure Tony did not run over his competitor on purpose, if you watch the video, the car in front of Stewart almost ran him over also. The track lighting looked very bad also.
The only good that could possible come out of this horrible situation is that tracks start to enforce the caution flag, as it should be. Here in florida we have seen to many hot head racers, ramming other cars under caution, speeding around the track under caution, speeding through the pits, and sooner or later, a racer or track worker is going to get hurt bad. Some of the tracks (a-dale), even promote this kind of behavior. Vince[/QUOTE]I agree with you 110%.
You run into someone under yellow, you’re black flagged. You get out of your car other than to survey damage or to hitch a ride with the tow truck, you’re DQ’d and you’re gonna miss a few races. I watched the video a dozen times and I just can’t see where Tony swerved at him. It looks like he ran right down into Tonys path and got too close. Either way, we can all sit here and go back and forth about opinions of what happened, but the ONLY 3 things that are in concrete right now is this young man made a bad choice getting out of his car and walking into the racing groove, and that his family and Tony Stewart will have to live with this for the rest of their lives.
I am going to say this… I have a friend who told me on FB today that he frequents this track and that it is very poorly lit especially in turn 1 and 2. Remember a Talladega race a number of years ago where it was called due to darkness, but as we watched on TV did not understand because it looked light out. The drivers all interviewed had said it was much darker than it probably looked on TV as did the TV commentators. The fact that Kevin was wearing all black, in a poorly lit condition may very well have had something to do with this. A big part possibly. It’s very possibly that Tony did not see Kevin until the last second and tried to juke the throttle to get the car to turn sharply left. As it has been explained to me (I know nothing about sprint cars) these cars turn by planting the RR with throttle through the corners and that may have been Tony’s thought process rather than jam the brakes and slide directly into him.
To the point of a competitor being on foot going after another competitor to show their displeasure… I don’t agree with it, nor have I ever. I have always been fearful of this exact circumstance. Unfortunately the worst circumstance possible took place last night and we lost a great young up and coming talent and from all I have heard, a really good kid. Unfortunately any time you are on foot going towards a race car at any speed, you put yourself at risk. This is the exact reason that even on the best lit tracks in NASCAR, safety crews have bright colors on for visibility.
I can not think of any reason in which a driver would ever intentionally aim for another competitor on foot. It just makes no sense to me.
None of us know what truly happened here except God and Tony, and truly hope that this was not intentional in any way… But I think we all agree this is an extremely sad and unfortunate situation… My thoughts and prayers are with both Kevin Ward’s family and Tony and his family right now… Very unfortunate.
Remember, we are all mortal and can be gone at any time. 
Very upsetting news. Tony had an altercation with this 20 year old driver and now he is dead. Similar to the father who punched the soccer referee causing the referee to die. Maybe he didn’t MEAN to kill him, but intent really doesn’t matter because he did.
Very disappointed in Tony. Nascar should force him to be removed as owner of Stewart-Haas and El Dora speedway. Just like Donald Sterling, Donald Sterling made a racist remark, seemingly peanuts compared to KILLING a 20 year kid.
Nascar can’t do a thing about Eldora. Tony owns it, end of story.
I will assume those that believe it was an accident watched the video.
Please explain why Tony’s foot was down as Mr. Ward was…no longer standing.
Phil, as has been mentioned, those cars have a ton of stagger and on dirt, when you light the tires, the RR corner kicks out. Every time.
I did’nt know NASCAR was in charge of policing Sprint car races at short tracks;
nor did I know they can take away a race track from an owner. Why can’t we all just pray for all parties involved and not JUDGE. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ?
NASCAR has nothing to do with any aspect of this tragedy. That won’t stop them from grandstanding every chance they get.
Kletus,
Some folks tend to either defend or condemn a given driver regardless of circumstance.
On the other hand, given a simple spin out, there is always the “did he get spun out or come down on the other guy?” question.
Most folks come to a conclusion one way or the other.
Although the outcome here is tragic, I don’t see how attempting to understand what happened is any different, or a “bad” thing.
Well, I watched the video, to see if i could make up my own mind about what happened and the reality is I cant. Tony is certainly a hot head and a cocky guy so it would not be out of character for him to try to scare the kid or intimidate him a little - but was it a case of that going wrong or the fact that he just didnt see him till it was too late?
There are two people that know what happened and one is dead. Fault lays all around in this deal, but I will be really curious what Tony does on his own about it.
He’s not a horrible guy and i would bet anything i had that he wasnt trying to kill the kid. Scare him - maybe, kick up some mud at him - maybe. That will be something only he knows for sure.
Bubba,
Agreed. But whether his intention was to scare him, bump him, or cover him with dirt, he drove close, he kicked the throttle, and another outcome occurred.
Old school has taken the most mature approach to this whole affair. That being said Tony did not do this with any maliscious intent. This was testosterone talking loud and clear. It was racing as it was and always will be. If all it took was an irate driver on the track while the other party was still driving around both of the Busch brothers would have been sidelined long ago. That being said lets all as race fans let this incident quietly wend its way through what ever process is in front of us and move on to a better future. Do not forget that after the tragedy at Le mans their were numerous politicians ready to ban auto racing in America. I realize that Tony is one of those in our sport who we polarize towards for or against but thank the lord we have them as they are what make our sport passionate.
[QUOTE=OldSchool+;149082]Bubba,
Agreed. But whether his intention was to scare him, bump him, or cover him with dirt, he drove close, he kicked the throttle, and another outcome occurred.[/QUOTE]
Yea, but did he actually see him and drive close or did he see him too late leaving him too close?
Too many things i couldn t tell ftom the video, like the angle the guy intercepted him from etc.
I wouldnt be surprised if he just screwed up and i wouldnt be surprised if he didnt see the kid.
The same natural curiosity that makes us watch the Challenger blow up, Kennedy shooting and other tragedies in life.
[QUOTE=Phil Jacques;149069]
I can not think of any reason in which a driver would ever intentionally aim for another competitor on foot. It just makes no sense to me.
:([/QUOTE]
Its called Red Mist. Don’t kid yourself, as it’s happened here locally in Fl. as some of you may remember with serious but less tragic consequences.
[QUOTE=bubba;149085]Yea, but did he actually see him and drive close or did he see him too late leaving him too close?
Too many things i couldn t tell ftom the video, like the angle the guy intercepted him from etc.
I wouldnt be surprised if he just screwed up and i wouldnt be surprised if he didnt see the kid.[/QUOTE]
THANK YOU!!!
EG–Thank you, sir.
Food for thought:
Lousy analogies,but every so often some superstar actor is friends with a bonafide junkie, who accidentally administers a lethal overdose.
Or some weirdo squeezes another one’s carotid arteries during “fooling around” resulting in their death.
Are those people responsible?
Even then, they weren’t looking through the mentioned “red mist”.
IMO, malicious intent that has these results is called “liability”.
And the courts? Please… They will come up with a resolution, but it very well may not be “justice”.
FYI, the court system is NOT based on justice, but is rather an “adversarial” system. The defense tries to get the guy off, the prosecution tries to put him away.
The truth may come out, but often it is kind of a sidebar.
ps–I watched the video not out of morbid curiosity, but to see what happened, and to attempt to determine the truth.
Am hoping another video becomes available. Sometimes I think I know exactly what happened but another camera proves the first conclusion wrong.
I would love to be wrong now.