Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

I think some folks need clarification on the legal process in the Tony Stewart incident.  Some people I have talked to about this just don't understand why some think there could be charges pressed--claiming it didn't look like he tried to do it.

First of all, there is no way in hell Tony tried to intentionally hit Kevin Ward and harm him.  But that will not be the issue here.  All they will be investigating is whether or not Tony made a wreckless move that caused contact that led to his death.  There is a huge difference.   If it were determined he meant to hit him, (which is very unlikely) it would result in murder charges.  If it is determined that Tony saw Kevin, made a defiant swerve of the car and gassed it, and accidental contact was made, he will then face involuntary manslaughter charges--intent to harm or not.

It is my belief it was an accident, but that doesn't mean that charges still won't be filed.  It still could be an accident and negligence be ruled. 

but Ward put himself in harms way by getting out of a car and charging the blind side of not one but two cars. One was successful in missing him the other was not. 

I don't aim to please.
I aim to hit the target.

One idled by him under yellow.  The other did not.

The greatest knowledge is to know that you know nothing
at all.

Out of respect for the family why don't you all just let it alone. 

the local sheiff stressed many times it is not a criminal investigation.

he went out of his way to tell people not to jump to the conclusion it was just because an investigation was under way.

tony was not held for any reasons and allowed to leave after questioning.

everything points to accidental death unless something else comes up. very sad deal

all the original BS that tony swerved towards ward have yet to be substanciated. from what i saw in the video it looked like tony tried to swerve to miss him. but that is just one view angle from a video.

everyone thinks tony was supposed to know there was a driver on the track because the camera showed the driver getting out of the car. the thing is...the drivers in the cars coming around had no idea what to expect. certainly they didn't expect someone standing half way down the track.

also when a driver is following another winged car around it can be hard to see past it. when the car in front of had to swerve to miss ward tony might have not had enough time to avoid hitting him as ward was running up to tony's car.

hard to tell but it almost looked like ward was attempting to maybe slap the sid of tony'w wing or something.

like kasey kahne said....there are only a few drivers at the track at the time that can say what they think happened.

you have to know the guy in front of tony that almost hit ward is going to relate to authorities that he had to take evasive action.

to me all the
BS about why was tony idling around up on the track higher than some of the other cars it just BS. some drivers run around lower or higher. nothing knew.

all the people working overtime trying to promote the idea that tony hit this kid intentionally are just shit disturbers and drama queens.

to indy and beyond!!

Apparently you have no clue of the characteristics of a sprint car.  Chuck Hebing who was in the blue 45 was probably just hellish glad he missed him. I think Tony burped the throttle to try and get out of his way because these cars wont turn on a dime.  You cant just whip the wheel and get the car to react.  Stick to go karts young lad.   

I never said anything disrespectful nor did I place blame on Kevin Ward.  Don't make this into me being disrespectful.  If I wanted to be told what I could and could not comment on, I would move to North Korea.

Buzz Righrear--I do agree it was an accident.  However, if you think the sheriff's dept. shut the lights off tonight and this case is closed you are sorely mistaken.  Tony can be charged at any time.   Even if his contact was accidental--if they deem he acted in negligence.  The authorities are not asking for all amatuer videos from the stands for the hell of it.  If they see something they don't like, there may be questioning and he may face charges.  They don't have to prove intent to harm.  They only have to prove negligent action. 

(and to clarify once again--in the views I saw, I saw no negligence on Tony's part--but it's not my call)

I agree with this assessment.  The car in front of him had more time to see the Ward boy and he barely missed him.

Let me add, that it was a tragic accident for all involved.  Thoughts and prayers to both of the families involved.

i only relayed what the sheriff said.  that this is not a criminal investigation. i also said unless something changes i would not expect charges.

i never said the case was closed.

like i said, the sheriff is the one who cautioned people from jumping to conclusions just because an investigation is ongoing and no charges are pending at this time.

again i direct you to my statement to the effect "unless things change".

to indy and beyond!!

I'm more then aware of the workings of a sprint car and you guys all seem to think the motor you hear throttling up was the one in the video frame but who's to say it was one of the other 20 other cars not on camera but much close to the camera. 

I don't aim to please.
I aim to hit the target.

I never heard a motor "throttling up", but if one did then you raise a valid point.

Agree with your assessment Buzz completely

I thought the Sheriffs comment went out of his way many times to say that at this time they don't see any wrong doing and that would include negligence on Tony's part. They will make sure they collect all evidence which is pretty much any and all footage that anyone has to see if a different angle shows anything different, otherwise there is really no other physical evidence, its obvious he was ran over and died from those injuries. As far as negligence, Tony's actions will be taken into account  but it also has to be noted that Kevin Wards action of getting out of the car and running toward him will also weigh into it, as he did a very negligent thing as well. I as well am not saying its all his fault either but the fact is it was a negligent thing to do, if Tony truly did try to scare him by throttling it he is negligent as well. At this point my opinion is he will not be charged and this will be considered an accident, that could change if evidence shows otherwise though.

Listening to the comments today I think the majority of the general public are confused as to what kind of racing he was even doing at the time. And when you watch that video its easy to judge from the view you have but Tony's view from the car was completely different and the more I've thought about it I agree that I think the car in front of him blocked his view of seeing Kevin was out on the track. As far as Tony being in the middle of the track, I don't think theres any rule that says under yellow flag you need to go to any certain place on the track, he was very possibly driving threw the middle of the track because he didn't know where the car was the yellow came out for and odds are best it would be high of low so if you drive in the middle you have both options to evade the stopped car as needed when you see it.

I was listening to the NASCAR station on Sirius today and they did have a caller say he was there and in the infield pits and he stated that this was very liekly a complete accident, and gave a lot of the same reason as in my last paragragh, he said he's at this track a lot and by the end of the night it is very dusty and when the incident happened he was by the track in turn 3 and the incident happened in turn 2 and he could barely see that far as to what even happened. He was very well spoken about it obviously thought this was a tragedy but was worried about the growing opinion of many that don't really have any facts other than Tony has a tendency to get into arguments with others. I think it looks very likely that when he came around under yellow he didn't even realize what had occurred and that Kevin was upset with him.

http://gph.is/XMLGff

yes the raw video that i saw on you tube does have a motor sound like you would hear if someone is clearing the motor.

it happens just as tony is beside ward.

to me it looks as if it might be possibe that tony was trying to take evasive action at the last instant and could have been trying to swing the rear of the car to his left away from ward. as the car is stiking ward the rear of tony's car is swinging to driver's left...away from ward.

in the vid i saw it never looked like tony tried to swing the car in wards direction.

some of the "witness" accounts i have seen are so far from what i saw in the vid i was wondering if they saw the same incident.

i can understand non race people on other sites and forums jumping to conclusions and not knowing anything about sprint cars and what it is like...but i am surprised at the people who are in here who are supposed to be fans who are jumping to conclusions.

if tony did in fact hit the gas i will say from what i saw in the vid that he was trying to shake the rear of the car loose away from ward at the last instant.

sprint cars with stagger don't just turn right on a dime. it is kind of like a jet ski or jet boat. you have to hit the thottle to make it turn. and then if you don't break the tires loose it still might not turn.

when i first heard what happened and from the desciptions i heard i thought maybe ward was futher from tony and maybe tony did blow the tires loose at him. but as soon as i saw the vid i was able to understand how this whole thing seemed to be just a tragic accident.

to indy and beyond!!

As I was driving home from knoxville listening to talk radio late into the night I realized how many people know nothing about this sport and how things work. We are just going to have to wait for the investigation to end before we know more.

the racing family has always been known as a tight group full of support and help. thats where we are at now.

  Sprint cars do turn left very quickly at an idle, without hitting the throttle. I have driven them for years. He would not have used throttle to dodge left as many on here say. Whether or not Tony actually burped the throttle is irrelevent if he had not seen the guy on the track. 

who said anything about turning left? to mee it never looked like tony turned left.

it looked to me, as i said, like tony tried to shake the rear of the car to the left to swing it away from ward so tony wouldn't clip ward with the RR. that means he would have had to turn right and blow the tires loose to swing the rear of the car to the left.

that is why i said a sprint car doesn't turn right on a dime.

we all know...or most of us do.. that a sprint car goes left all by itself.

to indy and beyond!!

I went back and watched the video again.  I think you nailed it.   The motor throttling does NOT match the movement of Stewart's car.  

We need to all back off and let the experts at ESPN decide

If it was a local racer that hit him we would never have heard about it. In the videos I have seen, I seen no contact. All I seen was close racing. This track needs better lighting,I know it ws dusty, but the kid should've stayed in his car. Looked like the kid thought he was going to intimadate Tony but should've confronted him after the race. But instead, this happened.So sorry for his family friends and Tony.