Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

[oneamongthefence]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

Mr. Ward has earned himself a Darwin Award.

[ThreeKing]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

Mr. Ward has earned himself a Darwin Award.

Just ignorant. Yeah, the kid made a mistake and now he is dead. At least show some kind of respect.

I just don't get why people are not only taking up for Stewart, but also taking these types of 'stances'.

Pure garbage.

[Perfect Zero]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

If I, for whatever reason, ever lose my temper behind the wheel of my car and kill a kid, I'll be sure to come to this website so I'll feel better about myself. lol

Sure. The next time you are in a race and hit somebody who goes out of their way to walk against traffic in order to pick a fight with a car that is going at a decent speed, I'll back you 100%.

Listen, I will debate you some more if you can prove that Stewart intended to hit that driver. You keep saying that he intended to hit him, but Stewart has not said anything to that effect, and the video evidence shows that Ward was walking toward that moving vehicle.

[bigbob]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

He made up his mind before any video evidence became available so there's no point in debating it anymore.

[ThreeKing]

Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

And you can't prove he DIDN'T try and hit him on purpose.

I personally believe his anger took over(which he is prone to do), he forgot he was on dirt instead of asphalt, and tried to scare the kid by "brushing" up against or near him. But it backfired on him.

Either way you look at it, it's either involuntary/voluntary vehicular manslaughter and he needs to be held responsible for his actions.

[Seahawk76]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

LOL, seriously? How is it completely irrelevant?? If he doesn't wreck him for no good reason, the kid doesn't get out of his car. It's that simple.

I've already stated that the kid made a huge mistake by walking out in the middle of that track like that, but it was under caution, because of the wreck TONY CAUSED.

If you're mad because the kid is raising a stink about it, handle it afterwards by the pit or garage area.

You don't play a game like that with a vehicle, even if you find the kid was "wrong".

The wreck was a minor racing deal that was the sort of thing that probably happened a hundred times on other short tracks around the country last night. Anyone who's ever raced has been in those types of wrecks many times. Two cars race hard into a corner and one spins. It happens. The only way that turns into a fatality is if one driver loses his temper and runs into the middle of a live track.

[Seahawk76]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

And you can't prove he DIDN'T try and hit him on purpose.

I personally believe his anger took over(which he is prone to do), he forgot he was on dirt instead of asphalt, and tried to scare the kid by "brushing" up against or near him. But it backfired on him.

Either way you look at it, it's either involuntary/voluntary vehicular manslaughter and he needs to be held responsible for his actions.

That's ridiculous speculation based on a poor video that shows nothing that Stewart did prior to hitting him, much less what was going on in his mind.

[AshamanCarnage]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

Do these types of cars usually have Go Pro cameras?

[oneamongthefence]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

Just ignorant. Yeah, the kid made a mistake and now he is dead. At least show some kind of respect.

I just don't get why people are not only taking up for Stewart, but also taking these types of 'stances'.

Pure garbage.

It's sad that it happened but it was his decisions that led up to it that got him killed. Common sense should dictate that if a race is going on you don't run into the middle of the track. My kids know better and they're 3. The events that led up to it is irrelevant. He made a dumb decision under even worse conditions. If I'm Tony Stewart I'm probably freaking out because I'm not sure how Ward is gonna move. You could try to anticipate but I'm sure it was decision a lot of us wouldn't be able to make depending on at what point Stewart saw him.

[jct32]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

Just a few quick points to make about this.

1) Visibility is already really poor, but points people have not made yet is that there is so much dirt that gets kicked up in the air. It may not be noticeable in a cell phone video but it is almost like a fog near the end of the night.

2) Additionally to visibility these guys have mud and dirt all over the visors of their helmets. They do have tear offs but who knows if he had any left or how muddy his visor was.

3) There is not as much control to these cars as you guys think. None of these cars drive off the track. They all are pushed by ATVs or trucks to and from the track. Part of that is because they need a push start because they don't have a starter but the other part is because like someone else mentioned you have to accelerate or brake to turn the car, which is really dangerous in the pits with people walking around.

[bigbob]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

Do these types of cars usually have Go Pro cameras?

Last night it was reported that his car apparently had one but I don't know what ever came of that report.

If he did, it showed no evidence that he did anything on purpose since the police department has said there are no criminal offenses that they've been able to find with what they have.

[bigbob]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

And you can't prove he DIDN'T try and hit him on purpose.

I personally believe his anger took over(which he is prone to do), he forgot he was on dirt instead of asphalt, and tried to scare the kid by "brushing" up against or near him. But it backfired on him.

Either way you look at it, it's either involuntary/voluntary vehicular manslaughter and he needs to be held responsible for his actions.

No one cares what you "personally believe".

Your personal belief doesn't trump video evidence.

[Seahawk76]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

Just a few quick points to make about this.

1) Visibility is already really poor, but points people have not made yet is that there is so much dirt that gets kicked up in the air. It may not be noticeable in a cell phone video but it is almost like a fog near the end of the night.

2) Additionally to visibility these guys have mud and dirt all over the visors of their helmets. They do have tear offs but who knows if he had any left or how muddy his visor was.

3) There is not as much control to these cars as you guys think. None of these cars drive off the track. They all are pushed by ATVs or trucks to and from the track. Part of that is because they need a push start because they don't have a starter but the other part is because like someone else mentioned you have to accelerate or brake to turn the car, which is really dangerous in the pits with people walking around.

Excellent points. A sprint car is basically in a controlled slide all the way around a dirt track and the steering wheel, throttle, and brakes are used to control the slide. Avoiding someone in the middle of the track isn't as simple as stepping on the brake and turning the wheel like you would in the family car because all that will do is bring the tail around making it more likely that Ward would be struck.

Walking up to a sprint car in motion on a dirt track is a potentially fatal mistake under the best of circumstances, much less while wearing a black fire suit and helmet on a dimly lit track where driver visibility is often poor because of the dirt in the air and on the visors.

[Steven78]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

How about Stewart's crew chief this morning? "Business as usual". 20 year old kid is dead and Stewart and his guys are acting like it's just another race day.

Incredible.

[Kaiser Wilhelm]

Re: Tony Stewart Strikes and Kills On-Foot Driver

Either way you look at it, it's either involuntary/voluntary vehicular manslaughter and he needs to be held responsible for his actions.

This is false. It isn't manslaughter. Those types of penalties are for cases where there is criminal neglect on the part of the operator. There is zero evidence Stewart showed any such neglect. This entire incident, as far as any evidence shows, is entirely on Ward for charging a speeding vehicle while on dirt.

With what we know now, the criminal side of the law is with Stewart. The civil side is probably not because civil law in most of the United States is an absolute joke.