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Jocephus wrote:yea i ain't watching

Nope, especially after I heard that he goes around the tire and is tossed 20+ feet.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:I can't bring myself to watch that video. So, I hesitate to even comment.

But, surely Stewart, one of the best race car drivers on the planet, didn't just have an oopsie and ran into a guy who, oh by the way, happened to be angrily shouting/waving at Stewart as he approached.

Is this not the exact situation that voluntary manslaughter charges would cover? Mitigating circumstances prevent a murder charge (guy was, afterall, walking head on into passing race cars to provoke Stewart) and it is likely that he did not mean to kill but rather cause serious injury with little to no forethought.

They call him "Smoke", like "smoke coming out of his ears" because he is a hot head...but I really don't believe he meant to hit Ward. I bet he wanted to scare him.


Ward shouldn't have been walking into on coming traffic and Stewart should manage his temper better.

I can't believe "intent" could be proven in this situation.

ghostrunner wrote:Can't see much excuse for revving the engine though. My guess is he was trying to throw mud up at him, but that's still on him. Criminal negligence maybe? The guy who was killed also put himself at risk. I kept thinking each of those cars was going to hit him.

I read somewhere that accelerating is one the ways your steer a Sprint car on a mud track. So the accelerating could be seen as trying avoid him.

Yeah. After reading more online from people that seem to know more about the sport, it sounds less and less like it was intentional on Stewart's part. The revving may not even be from that part of the track. The video is being shot from the opposite side so who knows where the sound is from. And as Theo mentioned revving is apparently done to gain traction and it happens even during yellow flags. Only consistently accusatory thing I've heard is that Ward was shouldn't have ever gotten out if the car. Apparently it's something that drivers have been getting away with for some time and isn't well enforced.

ghostrunner wrote:Yeah. After reading more online from people that seem to know more about the sport, it sounds less and less like it was intentional on Stewart's part. The revving may not even be from that part of the track. The video is being shot from the opposite side so who knows where the sound is from. And as Theo mentioned revving is apparently done to gain traction and it happens even during yellow flags. Only consistently accusatory thing I've heard is that Ward was shouldn't have ever gotten out if the car. Apparently it's something that drivers have been getting away with for some time and isn't well enforced.

I don't think anyone will ever be able to convince me that Stewart didn't hit that guy on purpose or at least try to get within a couple inches of him. Either of which is incredibly stupid and deserves legal action.

That said, I don't necessarily hope Stewart goes to jail. He doesn't pose a threat to society and it's unlikely jail is going to change him for the better. Maybe he deserves the punishment, but it just seems silly. Of course, this is going to get off topic on what I view jail should be used for, but whatever.

I also cannot watch the video, but I have been reading opinions all over. Until more info comes out, I tend to agree with AWvsCB that Stewart may have had his anger flare, and wanted to zoom loudly past Wade. Surely he didn't rage out so badly that the rednecky Hulk in him said "smash that guy with your car in front of everyone".

Kid had it coming, IMO. He made a quick motion towards Stewart's car before he was hit, and he was out in the middle of a dark brown race track, wearing an all black uniform. I feel sorry for his family, though.

Hubris.

17 years old is when you believe you are the most invincible, I think.

longhornbaseball wrote:Kid had it coming, IMO. He made a quick motion towards Stewart's car before he was hit, and he was out in the middle of a dark brown race track, wearing an all black uniform. I feel sorry for his family, though.

Wonder where he learned that?

Truly tragic. I'm not a huge Tony Stewart fan, but I really really really hope that there was no intent here. We can certainly speculate, but chances are that we'll never know for sure.

I just hate that this happened.