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docellis wrote:Hubris.

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

He was 20, but point probably stands.

ghostrunner wrote:

docellis wrote:Hubris.

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

He was 20, but point probably stands.

I got him mixed up with the kid shot by the Ferguson cops yesterday.

cardsfansince82 wrote:

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?

Not saying Tony Stewart isn't a dick.

I just have a hard time agreeing that he "had it coming". He's looked up to pro drivers his whole career/life and they do that kind of [expletive] all the time. Not only that, the league and the media play that stuff up like it's a macho thing and integral part of the sport. So when he got wrecked out, the only thing on his mind was yelling at the guy that did it. He wasn't thinking about the color of his suit or the color of the track or any of that. He probably ventured way too far out there, plus it was in a bad spot coming out of a turn. But I'm not going to say he deserved it or that Stewart is completely absolved. I think it's very likely he did try to scare the kid or otherwise contributed to what happened in some way. It sucks either way, but hopefully it will lead to some changes.

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 fall into agreement with your quote. Its horrible that it happened I don't want anyone thinking I don't think that. I can't even tell if when he revved his engine he would have been able to have seen Ward.
The first time I watched the video my initial thought was that he couldn't see him.

I really don't think Stewart had done anything wrong in the race. Looked to me like ward ran out of room and instead of letting out of it ran it into the wall but Stewart didn't run him into the wall.
FWIW I don't think that Stewart has had any issues with his temper in several years. Granted I don't follow NASCAR much anymore so I maybe wrong. Getting out of the car like he did was obviously stupid, but I almost feel its an action NASCAR has glorified. I can see Stewart wanting to throw alittle mud at him, because he felt Ward was disrespecting him, not that I'm saying its the case. Ward put himself in a bad position and unfortunately it had the worst of outcomes.

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.

I wouldn't say he had it coming but its not smart to put yourself in that position.

I do think the family will file a civil suit. They've probably been approached by 1000 lawyers today.

slide_into_first wrote:I do think the family will file a civil suit. They've probably been approached by 1000 lawyers today.

I suspect there will be a settlement, and the suit won't be necessary.

I can't fathom what the kid was thinking. "They do that stuff and glorify it all the time" is only partially true. I've seen drivers get out of their car, point, throw helmets, etc. I don't recall seeing many (any?) drivers run right up to a moving race car like that. If Stewart revved the engine, that's going to cause the car to fishtail a little, but the kid had to be right on to of the car to get caught up in it like that.

So much stupidity, all around. I watched the video wanting to bury Stewart, not sure that's appropriate.

I don't want to be that guy either, but, tragic doesn't work for me. Look around the world.

Maclowery wrote: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".

I find it odd that people assume that Stewart was angry. This wasn't necessarily a feud between the two. It seems like Stewart's reputation of having a hot temper is pushing people to assume he was angry. If you look at the situation it doesn't really fit though. Stewart did a very common slide to pass Ward. Nothing to get angry with. Ward didn't back off and spun out because of it....Stewart wasn't impacted.

So as far as Stewart knows nothing else has happened. He made a legal pass, the young kid didn't handle it well and spun out because of it. That's the end of it as far as Stewart knows. What reason would Stewart have to be angry in this scenario? This is something that happens all the time on a dirt racetrack and had zero negative impact on Stewart.

I feel like it's much more plausible that Stewart was just racing, was in a bad spot because Ward walked into his cars path when he had poor visibility and was hit without even being seen. There is arguing and being hotheaded....then there is using your car as a weapon to kill someone. I just think that's a pretty huge leap to make when there is a far more simple answer.