Tony Stewart kills Kevin Ward Jr in Sprint Car race

[Matt]

I'm not a racing fan, but this has been a big story since last night and I had to go look at the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qILmIyG6qno

I would say once you look at the video, it's hard not to think it was intentional. And from what I read, Stewart has a history of anger management issues. He may never get convicted in a court of law, but I think anyone who see's the video is going to convict him in the court of public opinion.

A real tragedy, no matter what the real truth is.

[Evas]

I am not racing fan either, but I was just reading up on this story. The video is pretty horrific.

The kid was stupid for running in to traffic like that. That has to be said.

You can hear Stewart gun his engine before he hits the kid. Maybe that was some sort of last ditch attempt to dodge him, I can't say for sure. But if it wasn't, and he was in any way trying to hit him or even just scare him, it seems like at least manslaughter to me.

I wonder who gets a longer suspension: Tony Stewart or Josh Gordon?

[roncollins]

We'll never know what actually happened. Ward was idiotic to step into traffic as he did--but the sport's history is filled with guys who do that. And as someone who recently had a quite similar thing happen to him as he was driving on the interstate (a woman literally stood in the middle of my lane), I can quite easily put myself in Stewart's shoes. There is so little time to react.

[Matt]

Some of have said they think Stewart was trying to scare the kid and miscalculated. If that is so, then it's possibly manslaughter. A point to keep in mind is that Stewart caused the original crash, so it's not far fetched to believe this might have been some on track road rage that escalated. I would be pretty sure that is the line of attack any prosecutor would take if this ends up at trial.

[roncollins]

For what it's worth, a quick scan of the sim racing community I have access to seems to be about 70/30 that the bulk of the blame is on the kid running down the track. That part, at least, is clearly road rage of the worst kind. Stewart certainly has a reputation for hotheadedness, but he also has a great deal of experience. Still, realize that anything that happened inside Tony Stewart's mind is obviously purely speculation.

Regardless, it's a terrible situation overall no matter what.

Full disclosure: I may be biased because Tony Stewart is a hometown hero around where I live now. But I think it's best to wait to draw opinions on this kind of thing until the dust has settled just a bit.

[roncollins]

One thing to note in the video--there was never any contact between the cars of Stewart and Ward. There is every chance that Tony Stewart had no idea Kevin Ward was even off the track until he came around the corner, better yet mad enough to get out of the cockpit and go jump at his car. You just can't tell anything in a video like this.

[Leones]

Ward was well wide on the previous lap just prior to hitting the wall. All he had to do was let up on the throttle and slide in behind Stewart to avoid the impact.

He never should have been as far out on the track as he was on the following lap when he got hit.

There was a full course caution immediately after Ward's car hit the wall which should have been enough to get drivers to slow down sufficiently, but even so I doubt any of them expected a guy coming 2/3 across a hot track.

Racing is dangerous. It's more dangerous if do something stupid.

[Evas]

I really don't have a dog in this fight, so to speak.

Coming in as someone who has little racing knowledge, it seems very suspicious that Stewart reved his engines. Shouldn't he have hit the brakes hard?

It seems like he reved the engine and hit the kid. I am very willing to admit that I don't know much about racing, but what am I missing?

[Matt]

It did seem he hit the gas, after all he fishtailed, and that wouldn't happen if braking. Braking on that dirt would be a slide. It takes increasing power to the wheels to get a fishtailing action. I saw someone somewhere say it might have been a downshift. Could have been, but I have driven a lot of manual transmissions and never fishtailed on a downshift. Only when hitting the gas sharply.

Here's hoping it was an accident. Because the worst of all possible scenarios is that Stewart did it on purpose, and only he knows that. Knowing you did it on purpose would be a hell of a thing to have to live with.

[Borealis]

Well, aside from the obvious question: why would you get out of your car and walk down the middle of the track, it sure looks fishy to me!

[Rory]

I'm a huge Sprint Car fan and raced winged Sprint Cars in the 90's. (see attachment pic with my sis)
My son raced from age 8-19. Karts from 8-12 and 600 Mini Sprints(dirt oval open wheel from 13-19.(action shot attachment) Plus being around it all the time when I raced.
We used to race every weekend and sometimes 3 to 4 times in a week during special races.
We still go to the sprint car race just about every week.

There is no excuse for what Tony Stewart did.
It was not Kevin Ward jr' fault. I don't think pointing fingers at another driver is a good idea. I think a visit to his trailer after the race is more satisfying.
But regardless, drivers have been on the track pointing fingers since racing was invented.
You're gonna hear people spin it however they want to, but it's all there for everyone to see what actually happened.

My son stopped by the house today after work to talk about what happened cause it upset him. (He is now a 25 yr old young man)
Tony Stewart is my son's hero. As was mine. He first saw the video when co-workers were watching it at their lunch hour. When he first saw the video, he said that he was shocked.
He said he watched it a few more times trying to find something in the video to convince him it could've been an accident. He said "Dad, I think he did it on purpose. The best I can hope for is that he played chicken with the guy and messed up. Otherwise what I saw was evil. There is no way he didn't see him, he knew the guy was up there, cause he tangled with him causing him to be up in the wall in the first place. He Steered the car to the right towards him then hit the gas."

Sprint Cars or any dirt oval cars naturally turn left. They do not turn right very easily. Especially in the turn with a bank. He did not accidentally go up there.
I really hope that Stewart decided to turn the car right towards Kevin in the turn that it happened and not a half a lap before.

God Speed Kevin Ward jr

It did seem he hit the gas, after all he fishtailed, and that wouldn't happen if braking. Braking on that dirt would be a slide. It takes increasing power to the wheels to get a fishtailing action. I saw someone somewhere say it might have been a downshift. Could have been, but I have driven a lot of manual transmissions and never fishtailed on a downshift. Only when hitting the gas sharply.

Sprint Cars don't have transmissions. There's a u-joint bolted to the back of the crankshaft for the driveline which goes directly to the rear end. They have to be push started. They are either in gear or out of gear. It adds a tremendous amount of horsepower, torque and saves a lot of weight.

[roncollins]

The guy in front of Tony Stewart almost hit Ward, too, and even fishtailed a bit as he went past him. The video is one perspective, and a difficult one to assess fully--especially, as Rory says, sprint cars are designed to turn, and you steer them (mostly) with the throttle. In other words, they don't drive like any regular car so your experience in the Honda or Ford in your driveway isn't quite applicable.

It is certainly possible that Stewart did something in a fit of anger, but I think it's best to wait for things to settle for a few days before drawing a firm opinion. Stewart is said to be completely cooperating with the investigation. He was racing sprint cars for the full love of the sport. He actually takes some questions for doing it because he's a very big fish in a much smaller pond there. He makes little or no real money doing it. And last year he broke his leg racing sprint cars in an accident that cost him his NASCAR season. But he races sprint cars because that's the sport he loves the most. That's where he grew up.

[roncollins]

And, Rory, let me say I completely respect your opinion and experience.

But the video doesn't show us where Stewart was positioned in the early part of the corner, doesn't show us how far Stewart had slowed or not, and does show us that Ward had strode pretty far down the course. From what my eyes see, Stewart doesn't turn right at all until the impact has occurred, which says the right turn was made by the impact itself, and the drag of ward against that side of the car. As you've said, sprint cars don't drive like regular cars do. I have no idea what was really going on in Stewart's mind. I am not arguing that he's innocent or guilty at this point. I'm just saying that it's best right now to give the process another day or three to roll out before cementing any opinion, and that there are elements of that video that make it unable to stand on its own.

[Zephyrs]

I am guessing that this event may put an end to the stupid practice of drivers getting out of their cars and charging onto the track. It always seemed quite reckless to me.

[Alleghenies]

Regarding Stewart revving his engine and fishtailing right before the collision:

I don't know much about how sprint cars work, but it looks like they are purposely putting the car into a slide every turn. With my understanding of physics, on a dirt track, if Stewart were to do nothing, he would continue along his path and hit the driver, assuming he was on a collision course when entering the turn. Upon realizing this, would he not have tried adding power to try and get out of the way? Braking wasn't really an option as there was no way to slow down in time, right? I cannot get a good view of Stewart entering the turn and it is hard to tell the lane position from this video.

Anyway, just my observations. Ultimately, I'm with Ron in saying that only Tony Stewart will really ever know what truly happened. Despite his colorful past, I'm always for giving guys the benefit of a doubt.