Tony Stewart involved in incident causing fatality

[Korngod]

Tony Stewart involved in fatal sprint car incident | NASCAR.com

Didn't see this posted yet.

EDIT: Video is mildly graphic -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERwHtuWmn2s

 

[SD83]

I don't mean to be disrespectful and we will never know what was going on in his head, but why do you run onto the race track like that? Shock, maybe? It looks like he want's to stop the other driver with his bare hands (and, after seeing the previous crash where he crashed into the wall, for absolutly no reason).

 

[Randy]

Looked like he was trying to 'call Stewart out'

 

[flint757]

It also looks like Tony sped up and fish tailed to scare the dude and got way too close.

 

[Randy]

That was my observation as well. I wouldn't go as far as saying it was murder because the guy shouldn't have gotten out of the car in that situation (someone else narrowly missed him) but for the authorities to already absolve him of any responsibility is irresponsible.

 

[Korngod]

Most people would think he sped up to scare him after the wreck that happened and that may very well be true... but we have to remember that these cars rely on speed to turn, therefore he may not have seen him until too late and accelerated to try to avoid him. You also have to factor in limited visibility, aside from only being able to see out of a helmet visor with "tear offs" (think several layers of invisible shield on your phone for easy dirt removal), there's also the large wing that hinders right side visibility as well as the fact that the race was at night.

All in all I feel like this was an easily avoidable accident and I feel strongly that Tony should not be criminally charged for this. Rules are rules, the guy made a decision to get out of his car and it cost him his life.

 

[flint757]

The only reason I'm suspicious at all is because Tony has a knack for being a complete tool even on the best of days. It really wouldn't be beneath him for him to do what he did intentionally (not hitting him, but trying to 'scare' him that is).

That being said, what a dumb ass that guy was for walking right in the middle of the track while cars were still clearly racing. He should have waited in his car until help came along.

 

[TRENCHLORD]

Dead guy's own fault all the way.
Swerving to miss him could have easily resulted in a different crash with a different person dead.

 

[wannabguitarist]

It also looks like Tony sped up and fish tailed to scare the dude and got way too close.

Nah, you gotta steer these cars with the throttle and visibility to the side is absolutely horrid. I bet he didn't even see Ward until the last possible second (black suit, black helmet, dark track, shitty outward visibility).

It's a tragedy but you don't jump out in a track full of moving vehicles unless you have a death wish

 

[flint757]

It's a tragedy but you don't jump out in a track full of moving vehicles unless you have a death wish

No joke. Darwin award worthy.

 

[downburst82]

^ya I was thinking the exact same thing (or maybe that awful 1000 ways to die show)

I feel truly terrible for his family because it really was just a horrible lapse in judgement on Kevin Ward's Part. I'm sure the adrenalin high from the race and seeing red when he was crashed out were big factors. But however you look at it jumping out of your crashed car onto a live racetrack to yell at someone is really stupid. I'm sure he wasn't a stupid person he just made a really bad decision in the heat of the moment.

The need to impose stricter fine/penalties for drivers that exit there vehicles and put themselves(and other drivers) in danger like that (obviously if your car is on fire or something its different). It could go other ways in a situation like this, a driver swerves to miss him and crashes into and possible kills himself or someone else...

Very unfortunate and sad situation either way.

 

[loqtrall]

All I saw in that video was (the now dead) Ward being a total ....ing idiot.

 

[Randy]

The need to impose stricter fine/penalties for drivers that exit there vehicles and put themselves(and other drivers) in danger like that (obviously if your car is on fire or something its different). It could go other ways in a situation like this, a driver swerves to miss him and crashes into and possible kills himself or someone else...

And what about scenarios where a driver's car catches fire, or he's in immediate danger if he stays with the vehicle?

The point of my post earlier and my post now is, yes, the kid got out of the car and onto the track and put himself in direct danger but I don't see how it's safe or appropriate for the race to just go on and for people to keep driving ignoring a disabled vehicle and a person outside of it.

The price the kid pays for what he did was his life, but it still stands that continuing the race like nothing's going on when a driver exits the vehicle (again, imagine a scenario with a fire, or driver escape a rollover where there's a high likelihood of being hit by another car) doesn't make sense.

 

[SD83]

The point of my post earlier and my post now is, yes, the kid got out of the car and onto the track and put himself in direct danger but I don't see how it's safe or appropriate for the race to just go on and for people to keep driving ignoring a disabled vehicle and a person outside of it.

The price the kid pays for what he did was his life, but it still stands that continuing the race like nothing's going on when a driver exits the vehicle (again, imagine a scenario with a fire, or driver escape a rollover where there's a high likelihood of being hit by another car) doesn't make sense.

Don't they have any kind of signals for that? In Formula 1 you would have people waving yellow flags ("slow down, danger, no overtaking") in the area of the crash, and every driver would probably be notified via radio. The tracks are usually longer than 1 minute per lap, so it's by far not that crowded, but it's still weird for me to see that apparently nothing happened after the first crash...

 

[MikeH]

Yeah, those cars slowed way down. Enough to drive the cars nearly straight around the turns. Normally, those things are flying around corners totally sideways, so they definitely weren't racing at full speed. Tragic situation caused by a lapse of judgment.

 

[Randy]

Yeah, those cars slowed way down. Enough to drive the cars nearly straight around the turns. Normally, those things are flying around corners totally sideways, so they definitely weren't racing at full speed.

Which could've been protocol, could've been to avoid the driver or could've just been to avoid hitting the disabled vehicle and fvcking up their chances of winning the race. If the goal of slowing down after a wreck is to avoid hitting somebody out on the track, then clearly it didn't work all that well.

Anyway, I'm not letting the kid off. He put himself and others in danger, and the proof is in what ended up happening. I'm just still not totally gelling with the idea of them just swerving to avoid and continuing on.

 

[wannabguitarist]

I'm just still not totally gelling with the idea of them just swerving to avoid and continuing on.

That's not what they did though-the kid was hit under a caution lap (yellow flag, this is normal in most forms of racing from Sprint to F1). The cars were maybe going about 40mph and passing/aggressive driving is not allowed. They're just supposed to keep circling the track to maintain position until the caution is cleared. Usually this is okay because it's easy to avoid a wreck that's been punted aside or the driver gets out and does not wander on to the circuit. In 99% of cases this works and is totally safe, but this time it didn't because some idiot decided not to follow protocol and wandered onto the track. Rules exist to keep this from happening but they only work if they're followed

 

[troyguitar]

He didn't just wander on to the track, he specifically tried to get right up in Tony's face. Tony didn't see him until the last second, tried to punch it to move over and ended up still hitting him. Tony has no fault whatsoever in this, he had no reason to expect someone walking at his car like that. That guy screwed up big time and not only got himself killed but really screwed up Tony at the same time - he'll be haunted by this forever.

 

[flint757]

He didn't just wander on to the track, he specifically tried to get right up in Tony's face. Tony didn't see him until the last second, tried to punch it to move over and ended up still hitting him. Tony has no fault whatsoever in this, he had no reason to expect someone walking at his car like that. That guy screwed up big time and not only got himself killed but really screwed up Tony at the same time - he'll be haunted by this forever.

Your take on what happened makes sense. You're probably right.

 

[texshred777]

Everyone keeps saying that Tony blipped the throttle(whether to steer away from or into, depending on view). From the video I saw there's no way to tell who's engine revved just before the collision. Honestly, it sounds like a car much closer to the camera, not on the other side of the track. Perhaps I'm wrong, but that isn't exactly high quality video and audio footage. We don't have telemetry readings to see what Tony 's control input was.

There's a lot of assumption going on. My take from this is
Dark track, black helmet, black suit, limited visibility inside helmet, limited visibility inside car cabin, paying attention to other vehicles still moving, while driving, and a guy walking in the middle of your line do not mix.