Tony Stewart

[LMITOUT]

...might have some 'splainin to do after tonight.

Multiple spectator reports claim that Tony Stewart struck a driver with his sprint car after an altercation on track. Developing..

Stewart hit another sprint car, the driver got out under caution, approached Stewart's car, Stewart drove right through him

No official word yet about what exactly happened, but the other driver was airlifted from the speedway. Not good.

[Coldwater Crappie Guy]

The 20 yo guy he hit was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

[toughguy]

There's video of it on Deadspin. Ugly stuff

[upnorth]

Man it looked like Stewart swerved towards him at the last second.

[BuckSutherland]

Looks like murder to me. He hit the accelerator and then ran him over with a swerve.

[Sifty]

Been watching it all morning.

Sad stuff not sure what's going to happen.

[upnorth]

I have agree, at the very least this should go in front of a jury.

[CaptainMusky]

Man it looked like Stewart swerved towards him at the last second.

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[Dave S]

without seeing a larger frame to know his sight line coming out of the bend, even under the caution, it's hard to determine what Tony saw. The now deceased should have stayed in his car. If Tony did in fact see him walking on the track, he's going to be assuming some responsibility here.

Not looking like a bright future for Tony after this one.

[highlife4me]

And I assume Tony was trying to brake rather than rev the motor as he drove by him?

[PurpleFloyd]

You would need video of the car farther back on the track to see the line he took.

It is a tragedy but there is no reason for that young man to exit his car and walk into oncoming traffic towards Stewart in a moving car. To me it looks like he cut the steering wheel to the left to avoid contact because the guy got too close and that kicked the rear of the car to the left as the impact occurred. I would have to see a wider angle that showed that he changed his line upwards towards him. You should never exit your car under any circumstances short of a fire on a track like that and to step towards traffic puts the other drivers in a situation you should not put them in. It looks like he forced the 45 to dodge him as well.

[upnorth]

If you listen closely to the video you can hear Stewart accelerate just before he gets to him.

[Uncle Bill]

So long, tony..

what a shame...nothing but endless lawsuits/litigation from this point forward..

IMO, stewart and stewart/hass racing are all done....

[LMITOUT]

To me it looks like he cut the steering wheel to the left to avoid contact because the guy got too close and that kicked the rear of the car to the left as the impact occurred.

Looks like completely the opposite. Wheel is turned right and rear of car is rotating right, indicating spinning under throttle before the other driver was struck.

[CaptainMusky]

Holy pixelated image LMIT! And you whined about the JM pics! SMH

I guess it just matters what suits your argument. The rear of the car moved left. Watch the video.

[LMITOUT]

It's the best I could do with a youtube video.

The rear of the car clearly swings right, hits the guy, and then swings left. Don't turn this into an argument. It's plainly obvious if you watch the video what happened, when it happened.

[PurpleFloyd]

To me it looks like he cut the steering wheel to the left to avoid contact because the guy got too close and that kicked the rear of the car to the left as the impact occurred.

[CAMAN]

If you listen closely to the video you can hear Stewart accelerate just before he gets to him.

If you listen closely ONE of the 20 something cars on the track rev'd his engine, from a video from across a track you cannot determine which car revs its engine. And from the sound it sure seems a lot closer than they were.

[highlife4me]

In order to get the rear of the car to slide like that it usually is under acceleration not braking.

[Sifty]

If you listen closely to the video you can hear Stewart accelerate just before he gets to him.

How can you say it is Stewarts car that is revving the engine there are a number of cars in the area when this happened.

I think everyone is jumping to the conclusion that Stewart did this on purpose?????????

Let's let the people with the power decide that. Not a one of us was there and saw it with our owe eyes

[PurpleFloyd]

Here is a post from a friend of Wards:

Quote:

Tyler Graves, a sprint-car racer and friend of Ward’s, told Sporting News in a phone interview that he was sitting in the Turn 1 grandstands and saw everything.

“Tony pinched him into the frontstretch wall, a racing thing,” Graves said. “The right rear tire went down, he spun on the exit of (Turn) 2. They threw the caution and everything was toned down. Kevin got out of his car. … He was throwing his arms up all over the place at Tony for most of the corner.

“I know Tony could see him. I know how you can see out of these cars. When Tony got close to him, he hit the throttle. When you hit a throttle on a sprint car, the car sets sideways. It set sideways, the right rear tire hit Kevin, Kevin was sucked underneath and was stuck under it for a second or two and then it threw him about 50 yards.”

Graves said he didn’t believe it was intentional.

“You never mean to do something like that,” Graves told Sporting News. “Kevin was [PoorWordUsage] and he let Tony know. And Tony was trying to give the message back that he wasn’t happy either. He went over the line with it.”

And:

Quote:

Michael Messerly, a fan who witnessed the crash, told The Associated Press it appeared Stewart, racing there on the eve of a Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen, hit a driver who was walking on the dimly lit track after they had collided on the previous lap.

Ambulances on the scene at a dirt track in upstate New York after a witness said NASCAR’s Tony Stewart hit another driver walking on the track.

Photo: AP

He said Stewart struck the driver, who was wearing a dark racing suit, as he tried to “speed past” him.

“I didn’t see (the other driver) anymore,” he said. “It just seemed like he was suddenly gone.”

Messerly said the crash appeared to be the result of “a number of bad decisions” and not “any intent on Tony Stewart’s part.”

“Auto racing is a dangerous sport,” he said. “I think it was just an unfortunate set of circumstances that created a tragic situation.”

[CaptainMusky]

It's the best I could do with a youtube video.

The rear of the car clearly swings right, hits the guy, and then swings left. Don't turn this into an argument. It's plainly obvious if you watch the video what happened, when it happened.

plainly obvious huh? Apparently to some but not you.

[LMITOUT]

As usual you are fully prepared to make a concrete judgement based on incomplete information.

[Wanderer]

Chilling...

Does not look good for Tony. I'm sure they've requested video from anyone/everyone who was recording at the time. I'd be surprised if he doesn't get charged with manslaughter based on the vid posted.

Very sad.

[harvey lee]

Very bad deal when it comes to racing but, happens. When one is racing, one worries about these accidents but after awhile, it kinda goes away and you never think of it happening.

After I watched the video, it was nothing more than a racing incident when Ward hit the wall, these type accidents happen a lot within racing. Most every race one can see a pass like that happen, this one just needed up bad.

I wish I could see more than what the video shows as it is almost impossible to tell what happened when Ward was hit.

I would never place blame on anyone but I would say, you NEVER leave your car during a race, stay in it until it is safe to get out, thought that was common knowledge.

Next, no reason for anyone to get hit under a caution as you as a driver knows there is a issue at some location on the track due to the yellow flag.

One of those incidents you hope will never happen while you are racing.

I have not seen one thing that would even be close to allowing charges to be filled. Tony will race again unless the thought of someone passed is too much and that well could happen.

People can assume all they want but to say Tony did this on purpose is ludicrous to say the least.

How do any of you know what Tony did in the car, he could have jacked on the throttle to set the car and drive below a racer who was out of his car, under caution, and should NEVER have been standing on the track under caution.

I guess I look at it this way, you are always told if there is a yellow caution, DO NOT get out of the car and every driver understands that until they get mad or upset and then do something they should not have done.

I understand you know so much Limit, but don't be so uninformed to believe Tony did this on purpose, like I said, if Ward would have stayed in his car as they are taught to do, than this would not be discussed at this time.

I cannot see Tony ever being charged for a racing incident unless the charging person knows nothing about racing.