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

Every time you climb in a race car it could be your last moments on earth. Many have left wives, kids and parents. Racing has and will continue to claim lives. I lost a good friend of mine in a sprint car accident and the one thing we all understood was he was doing what he wanted to do all his life. You walk the pits and you ask any driver if it ever crosses there mind ? Nobody makes a deal about it yet everyone of us understand it can happen. In the end, that kid getting out of his car and acting like a j**koff led to his untimely demise. Kevin got up side down at knoxville on the start of the race, he is making a remarkable come back, do we blame the guys he was banging wheels with ? I do feel for his parents. Why is it if a settlement is reached and say they get $$$. Is that going to take the pain of losing a son away ? Is that going to bring him back ?  I don't think so. 

Please stop with the "if he didn't get out of the car.....". I've seen Tony Stewart himself do it over the years = moot point.

Question about the whole incident in general. Why do people think that Tony was mad at Kevin Ward? Unless something happened before the video started which from all statements that have been said, nothing did, it appears that Stewart pulls a slide job on Ward and if there is contact it is very little which causes Ward to crash initially. Stewart's car is intact, no damage, from statements he has said he has never met Kevin Ward previously, and he has no sight of Ward or his car after the pass is completed. There are no spotters, and by the time the caution lights come out and everyone gets slowed down Stewart is more than likely in turns 3 and 4.

The next time Stewart comes in view of Ward or his car is the next time around (maybe 30 seconds after) probably not realizing what the caution is for unless the officals have told the drivers. That is when the incident occurs. We know from statement that the driver ahead of Stewart (I believe Chuck Hebing??) has told the courts that he was surprised that he himself did not hit Ward and thought to himself that the next car behind him would which tragically is what happened. From the video you can even see Ward walk down trying to get even closer to the cars to try to get Stewart's attention.

I will be the first to admit that even though I have been a Stewart fan he has been at times an a$$ho!e, a d!ck, hypocrite, a baby, a little girl who has peed her pants on the play ground. But if you look back at all of the history of Tony Stewart from the Kenny Irwin incident, Robby Gordon, Matt Kenseth at Daytona, the Jeff Gordon incidents they are all times in which Tony in a way was or either felt he was provoked.

I cannot see in this situation where Stewart was or could have felt he was provoked. If Ward had pull a slider on Stewart and caused damage then I could see Tony having a temper. If they had a run-in previously in the feature or before that night I can see it, if the cars went by Ward once on the track and he threw something at Tony or gave him the bird or whatever I can see it. I cannot however see with all of the evidence that Tony Stewart lost his temper has some people are suggesting and gassed the car to try to scare the kid. I do not see the reason he would have to do that as there would be no point.

Please stop with the common sense, facts, and logic.  (j/k man, I think you are 100% on point)

For the life of me I cant understand why people think that Tony was out to show him a lesson by "scaring him with the throttle because he was standing on the race track," it is absolute assinine for someone to think that if they simply look at the facts.

While what happend is tragic, the family is just looking for a couple million Tony Stewart bucks to feel better about themselves at the end of the day. 

Not a moot point, the difference between tony getting out of his car to show displeasure with other drivers, he did not walk infront of their cars. Throw your helmet, throw broken parts of your car, take your suit off and run around naked, go back to the pits and take a shit on his trailer floor before the race gets over, however, do not walk in front of a moving sprint car! Especially on the race track when drivers have no reason to believe there should be someone walking on the race track. 

i agree with you, considering your screen name I am guessing we grew up in the same area.  My point is that people deal with death in different ways and that just because we don't agree with the way this family is doing it, personally I think that a race in his name with Tony's support would have been the route to take, I don't see any reason had the situation been handled differently up front, why this couldn't have happened and had Tony not been automatically assumed guilty by most outside of the sprint car world and even some of those who are apart of it, I think he would have made whatever contributions asked.  He has proven to have this kind of track record around our sport before and after the incident. But the family handled things the way they did and have stuck to their position.   I am just not going to criticize someone for their actions during a time in which most of us can't relate to.  

I agree it could have and probably should have been handled differently, whether the actions are caused by greed or grief is not for me to figure out. 

Just my opinion but let's reverse the roles here. 

If Tony was the one that walked down teh track and was killed would the Ward's be facing a lawsuit?  IMO, no they would not.

If another driver had been the one to hit Kevin would there be a lawsuit?  IMO, no there would not

This feels as though it is all about $$$.  Tony has some so a lawyer convinced them that they need to sue for wrongful death becuase they (and he) can get a big payday. 

If it was a driver that had no money that had hit him, they never would have sued as they never would have gotten anything out of it.  

If they want to honor their son, they need to honor him instead of dragging his name in the mud everytime the lawsuit is mentioned in the papers (what's the #1 thing that is said about Kevin everytime? think about it).

Honor him by holding a race in his honor every year, honor him by having safety awareness classes at local tracks, honor him by raising $ for underpriveledged youth or injured drivers.

I always remind myself that one family started a foundation in their son's memory after he was killed - the Steve King Foundation.  They could have been bitter and mad, but instead turned their tragedy into a calling for their family and have helped may other families by doing so.

Kevin Ward was not hit by the front of Stewart's car. He did not step out in front of Stewart's car. You can't blame someone for doing the same thing that the driver in question has done several times.  That is hypocricy. If the situation were reversed, and Stewart got out of his car and was struck by Kevin Ward, the Stewart homers would still be blaming Ward.

The bottom line is this: who are we to judge a family's actions following the death of a loved one, in any situation?  Who is anybody to judge their motivations? The legal system allows them to seek judgement. Until you walk in someone's shoes.....

Sounds like it's finally going to be over. 

http://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story/_/id/23006392/tony-stewart-kevin-ward-jr-family-agree-settle-wrongful-death-lawsuit

Thank you for the most sensible post on the thread. Yes, Ward shouldn't have got out of the car and yes, Tony shouldn't have gassed it up as he drove by. Im so sick of seeing people defend this either way trying to place blame.

Last thing I want is Tony in trouble after everything hes done for the dirt racing community but for those defending him... c'mon! My favorite excuse I've seen so far is "you have to turn these cars with the throttle, so he punched the throttle in an attempt to miss him!" Bullshit, Tony revved it up trying to intimidate him and got a little too close.

As for Ward, the fact drugs are in his system and he obviously made questionable decisions (getting out, running down the track) himself makes it impossible to defend him as well. Glad this is finally settled. Hope the family got what they were looking for and Tony can put this behind him.

Can someone prove where Tony "Gasses it up or revved it up" this is the part I dont understand. 

The car is sideways when he hits Ward, watch the video. Anyone that knows anything about sprint cars knows in order for the rear end of the car to kick out like that you have to give it throttle. Plus you can see it clear as day in the video Tony is accelerating and from my memory (because its been awhile since I've seen the video) I think you can even hear the engine rev. 

EDIT: yep just watched the video again. you can hear the engine rev...

Stay in the car.....still alive! That's it in a nut shell!!! No excuse....just the fact!

Got news for you, if you're watching the same video that's on youtube that everyone else has seen it's inconclusive at best.   Last I checked if you do something intentional that leads to someone's death it's still a crime even if the intent wasn't to kill them.   Stewart not only wasn't charged with murder, he wasn't charged with anything including any form of assault or negligent homicide.   The youtube video wasn't the only video evidence either.   I guarantee you that law enforcement or the DA would have been salivating over the chance to prosecute a celebrity if there had been any hint of a crime, but there wasn't.      

Inconclusive? hahahaha you hear the engine rev clear as day and see his car accelerate towards Ward. I don't care about the DA or what crimes were charged. He was trying to scare the kid and accidently hit him and you're not going to change my mind. Im evenly putting Ward at fault for getting out of the car and running down the track. 

Everyone wants to say, "If he stayed in the car he would be alive." Yeah thats true. If Tony idled around the corner instead of accelerating I'm guessing he would still be alive as well.

The engine you hear is a car going down the front straight. It is not Stewarts car...

Don't know how you can differentiate that but ok. I guess I can't prove it came from Stewart's car either. Regardless he still accelerated. If you know anything about a sprint car you know he had to hit the throttle to have the car slightly sideways like it was. I'm done arguing about this now. I love what Tony has done for sprint car racing but I'm not going to defend him on this. I don't think he meant to hit him. I think he meant to get close to send a message and didnt expect Ward to come down the track towards him before it was too late.

I think there was a thread on here long ago when the accident happened that showed that someone had altered the sound on youtube and when you put them together with each other the engine rev you hear comes at a different point in each of the two videos. Depends on what video you are watching because some of the have been edited on youtube (although I don't know which one is the actual one).

Thing I keep going back to or get past is why would Tony be trying to prove something or send a message to this kid?? As I have stated before Tony in the past has been a crybaby, a hot head, rude, stubborn, assho!e when prevoked. In the video I see no where in which he is prevoked beforehand. Tony pulls a slide job on the kid and whether contact is made or not, no damage is made to Tony's car, and he does not lose any positions on the track. I can see if there was damage made or if there were any dirty moves made prior to the racing incident but from all the testimony, no one pointed out anything where they were racing dirty. Tony has even said he never even met the kid.

Had they had a history, made contact previously, damage made, or if the kid chopped him previously I would be the first to admit that Tony was trying to show the kid who was boss. But in this case to prove a point just for the kid simply walking on the track seems to be too low for any driver. And not to speak ill of the dead but I'm sorry it seems that the kid was trying to get as close as he could to Tony's car versus Tony trying to get as close to the kid as possible.

You're right........he was already so damn close to Stewart's car he could have touched the wing and he was still moving towards him. With every action there is a reaction and the kid's action cost him his life. No one knows if Stewart reacted poorly and contributed to his death, except for Stewart (and God). And all the speculation in the world won't change that.

Hopefully they will get enough money out of the deal to buy enough ganga, smoke multiple big spliffs, and forget for a period of time their son died because he was an idiot.