Kevin Ward Jr hit and killed by Tony Stewart's car during race

[incoherent]

http://deadspin.com/reports-tony-stewart-ran-over-opposing-driver-during-1618893708

This seems like its going to be a pretty big story. What do you guys think is going to happen? Will Stewart get charged, and could he really be convicted if he was? Will the blame be put on Kevin Ward for breaking racing rules and getting out of his car and walking towards traffic and incoming racers?

[Jiri Welsch]

I don't know anything about racing, so my opinion comes with a huge grain of salt.

But you've got to think the onus is on the really angry guy walking right next to cars traveling upwards of 80 MPH rather than the guy who had little to no time to react to him. Regardless, this is gonna mess up Stewart's life forever.

[BballTim]

   Seems like a serious issue. The cars weren't going too fast and there was nobody directly in front of Stewart, so I don't know how far he'd get claiming that he didn't see the guy or was going too fast to avoid him. From the article/video is seems like he was attempting to gun it right when he was passing (right next to) the guy and things went horribly awry. I'm curious about what any of the lawyers on the blog would think. I would think manslaughter charges might be reasonable.

[SHAQATTACK]

Tony Stewart could have defused the situation , by slowing way down as he was approaching the mad young driver.....Tonys 20 plus years experience should have told him SLOW ,  handle the situation with kid gloves .   

In the video you can hear Tonys engine rev and see the rear kick out.

He was trying to scare the kid

So his stupid gesture of testosterone ....winds up killing the young man.

I see this as potential manslaughter. .....but I'm no lawyer

Bottom line ......the kid was dumb for being on the track out of his car and Tony didn't want to hurt the boy ....

Well.......that is't going to make a hill of beans to this mans family ......they'll see it one way

They have a dead son ......so sad.

[KGs Knee]

Let me first say, I have no intentions of trying to guess what was going through Stewart's mind at that moment. To state that he had any intentions of running this kid over is a 'bridge to far' for me, without more facts.

But the video looks bad. You can clearly hear Stewart goose the throttle just as he passes by the racer standing on the track. And here is the thing about sprint cars, they have what is know as a limited slip differential in the rear axle. What that means is that when the throttle is quickly opened all the power is transferred to the right rear wheel, thus why the rear end kicked out as it did. This is by design, as sprint car racing is basically a form of 'drifting'.   Generally, drivers actually have to steer to the right more than they do the left in order to make a smooth left turn.

But, what a tragic mistake it was on the driver who lost his life to allow his anger to get the better of him, and cause him to walk into oncoming traffic. I'm honestly surprised this hasn't happened until now.   

[Birdman]

Cant believe Stewart was going to race today!! Thankfully someone told him not to..and I believe he would race today but it would make him look more awful if he did

[Birdman]

And kind of surprise that ESPN and other news show are showing the tape

[Csfan1984]

Wow. I've seen that happen way too many times "angry drivers on track getting to close (some times swing or throwing stuff at car)" and "targeted drivers driving crazy to scare approaching guy". First time I heard or seen a video of death result. Maybe this is a wake up call for all racers out there. Cars are dangerous and accidents + crashes happen.  You are responsible for your own well being and let the leagues be the only ones to settle bad driving.

[SHAQATTACK]

I look for this to become a civil suit. Now that I ve thunked on it some more.

Also , the future earning s and endorsements he will forfeit , is going to be a huge figure .

I have looked at the video very carefully and I see very little to  help Tony's case .  Really seems he revs , the engine and kicks the rear out on his car ....this catches Ward .

It was a caution and hot headed young man looking for trouble......you need to slow down and avoid a situation .  Stewart was the experienced driver , he did nothing to handle the situation with kid gloves

A black eye for racing

[Clench123]

I'm sorry but I don't feel sympathy for morons who directly cause their own death

[Clench123]

I look for this to become a civil suit. Now that I ve thunked on it some more.

Also , the future earning s and endorsements he will forfeit , is going to be a huge figure .

I have looked at the video very carefully and I see very little to  help Tony's case .  Really seems he revs , the engine and kicks the rear out on his car ....this catches Ward .

It was a caution and hot headed young man looking for trouble......you need to slow down and avoid a situation .  Stewart was the experienced driver , he did nothing to handle the situation with kid gloves

A black eye for racing

Kevin got out of the car even though his car wasn't on fire.  Then he did the dumbest thing by walking to the middle of a hot track.  Why would anyone (with any sense at all) do that considering how fast these cars are going?  Going that fast there is very little Stewart to do.  It's tragic but it's his own fault

[Greenbean]

Could TOny have done something different to avoid making contact? Maybe, but his window for making that decision, being in a moving car on a mud track, was much smaller than the window of time Ward had in getting out of his car and aggressively charging at Stewart's car.

Tony did have a car in front of him so his reaction time was limited.

I honestly dont think any criminal charges will be brought, but yes probably a civil suit.

I think the way Stewart responds to this going forward will tell you all you need to know about his intentions when hitting the throttle with Ward right next to his rear tire. I really hope if Stewart did not have bad intentions there, that he can move on. This incident certainly has the potential to ruin 2 people's lives and it is very unfortunate.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Thats sad to see.

Although why did he went in the middle of the track in the first place. I mean i understand that the other guy should probably tried to. slow down, but the kid put himself into danger to begin with.

[Donoghus]

It looked bad.  Real bad.

The kid shouldn't have been out in the middle of the track in the first place.  Unfortunately, road rage got the best of him and now he's dead.  Common sense tells you that this could've easily been avoided.  You don't go running into the middle of a race track.

The Stewart end certainly doesn't look good, either.  I don't know enough about race cars to understand the underlying dynamics of operating one of those race cars but I'm trying to understand why he hit the throttle right before he clipped Ward? That just doesn't look good at all.

[incoherent]

I think this is 90% Ward's fault

5% Stewarts fault for not keeping his eyes out when passing by an accident

5% Racing/NASCAR fault for not coming down hard on people who have done this in the past.. creating a precedent for young drivers like Ward who learned to do this very thing from growing up and watching Tony Stewart