Tony Stewart dirt track disaster

[Smoke68]

I'm guessing most of you have already heard about this. I won't link the full video due to the reality of what happened plus some pretty bad language, but it's pretty easy to find on YouTube. I'm just wondering what you guys see as far what appears like it could have been intentional. What it is very easy to tell is that Stewart hits the gas before impact. Whether it was to avoid Kevin Ward Jr. or him brush back (and accidentally hit him) is anyone's guess, but he sure wasn't on the brakes.

Thoughts?

[teul2]

I can't see it being intentional, but i don't know why he wasn't at the bottom of the track like the others. I assume he was trying to avoid Ward, who all but jumped in front of him.
One thing is for sure, Ward shouldn't have been out of the car.

[bigoak]

First Ward should have never got out of the car and walked into the traffic. If you stop the video right when Stewart's car comes into the screen and then stop it again when Ward rolls out from under the car you will notice that Stewart's car moves up the track. Looks to me like Ward tries to jump out of the way at the last second. I think Stewart was being Stewart and was going to fly right by him and he got too close. Dont think Stewart will be charged but he should never be allowed to race again.

[hillhunter]

I don't think he will take much heat, he is too big of a name to the industry, even if people love to hate him. They were already going to let him race today. Ward made the first mistake by getting out of his car. Then the second one by getting too close. As far as Stewarts intentions..... Well that's all speculation and all it ever will be. I have never been on a race track but things happen pretty fast in normal driving much less on a track, as far as we know he never saw him in the first place. I'm sure we will get the full scoop on it the rest of the week.

[deltadukman]

Those guys know how those cars react. If you were going to swerve and mess with him or along dirt on him, you would turn your front wheels to the bottom of the track. I think the throttle and a swerve we because he hit the gas to sling the back end downward to avoid him because he saw him at the last moment. His front tires were pointed towards the wall which would have allowed him to take a better angle to dodge him by sliding the rear of the car downward to avoid him and swing out wide.

[fireplug]

Surprised this hasn't happened sooner. I've seen Tony Stewart do it himself, getting out of the car and throwing helmets at someone's car.

All race organizations should institute strict fines and suspensions on anyone that leaves their vehicle after a wreck until the safety crew arrives,
that is unless the car is on fire. This would never happen again. (Unless you have someone like Montoya on the track that runs over blower trucks.)

[duramax]

I don't think he will take much heat, he is too big of a name to the industry, even if people love to hate him. They were already going to let him race today.

BS. Dude KILLED a guy. If Paula Deen lost her show and all her sponsors because she admitted to dropped the 'N' word back in the 80's, then there is now way in HELL any sponsor with a brain will ever give him another dollar. Nor will NASCAR want to take the flack of letting him race again. As mentioned above, it looked like he was trying to get real close to him, and then got too close. I do agree he probably won't get criminally charged, however, there's no way the driver's family isn't going to get a VERY sizable chunk of what Tony's worth in a civil case. Odds are very long on him ever racing again.

[Greenhead22]

Tony should've never been in that race to start with. The nascar owners have too many millions of dollars riding on these guys to allow them to race elsewhere besides nascar events. I've watched the video several times. Tony should've been at the bottom of the track like everyone else. He didn't intentionally hit him, but he did try to scare him, being arrogant Tony, and in the process killed the young man.

[4dawgma]

I've only seen the one video and I can't tell for certain whats going on. Is there no other video out there? Did Stewart do something to cause the original accident? Looked like the kid hit the wall all by his lonesome. Another thing I found odd, Why does the cameraman zoom in on the car well before the accident?

[Greenhead22]

If the camera guy hadn't focused in on the car in front of Tony after passing, then it would've clearly shown everything that transpired.

[duramax]

I've only seen the one video and I can't tell for certain whats going on. Is there no other video out there? Did Stewart do something to cause the original accident? Looked like the kid hit the wall all by his lonesome. Another thing I found odd, Why does the cameraman zoom in on the car well before the accident?

Yes the consensus is the Tony put the guy in the wall. Everything else is up for interpretation. Why he wasn't at the bottom of the track like everyone else, whether he tried to avoid him at the last second, whether he was trying to scare him, who knows. If some better footage comes to lights and shows what Stewart was doing before the very last second we see in the video, I think it'll answer a lot of questions.

[MemphisStockBroker]

Tony should've never been in that race to start with. The nascar owners have too many millions of dollars riding on these guys to allow them to race elsewhere besides nascar events......

Tony owns his own NASCAR cup team, so his situation is a little different. He is not married, and basically does nothing else but race. He owns a dirt track and races there all the time.

remember he broke his foot last year in a sprint car.... and is back at it.

If you will notice, that track is fairly dark. The other driver was wearing a black fire suit and helmet, and Tony had another car in front of him that swerved to keep from hitting the driver on the track. Not sure why Tony punched it, but i do know those engines run better when really hot and at idle speed they cool off considerably. Just a bad deal all around.

[bigoak]

Watch as Stewart and Ward go around the curve. It appears that there is enough room for both cars if they hold their lines. Watch Stewart's front tires and you will see him turn toward Ward's car and put him in the wall. Stewart has a history of causing wrecks on these small tracks. He broke his leg in a wreck last year.

[MemphisStockBroker]

Watch as Stewart and Ward go around the curve. It appears that there is enough room for both cars if they hold their lines. Watch Stewart's front tires and you will see him turn toward Ward's car and put him in the wall. Stewart has a history of causing wrecks on these small tracks. He broke his leg in a wreck last year.

Its extremely difficult to 'hold your line' coming out of a corner on a dirt track in a sprint car. to stop a left turn you turn the tires to he right - and the force of the turn naturally moves you up the track.

not trying to defend him totally.... but its not all black and white.

[MrGoodtime]

I dont think it was tonys fault, has anyone noticed that the car in front of tony almost hit the guy? First rule at the drivers meeting DONT GET OUT OF THE CAR , unless it is on fire.