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Reports on Twitter and elsewhere suggest NASCAR driver Tony Stewart ran over a competitor during an altercation at a sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in the Finger Lakes region.

This doesn't look good for Tony Stewart at all.

*Update* - 20 year-old Kevin Ward Jr passed away before reaching the hospital.

What a complete dumbass for running up to a sprint car on the outside, at night, on a dimly lit track, in a black racing suit.

Suicide by sprint car.

It appears that the car in front of Stewart (the blue and white one) was going slower than all the other cars and made a move to the inside to avoid hitting Ward. Stewart was moving a little faster than the blue and white one but slower than the cars further in front, and on a line a bit further to the outside. You have to wonder if he saw him.

i really cant see evidence of an intentional act from that video

Only Tony Stewart knows if it was intentional. The rest of us can only guess.

The video did not look good to me. It looked like he gunned it to kick out the back at the guy. Whether to scare him or hit him is up in the air but it really looks that way. Perhaps he tried to get out of the way of the guy and it was just an unfortunate situation. Honestly, Tony is one of the best drivers in the world and his reaction time and driving skills in my opinion should have avoided the incident.

grizinidaho wrote:The video did not look good to me. It looked like he gunned it to kick out the back at the guy. Whether to scare him or hit him is up in the air but it really looks that way. Perhaps he tried to get out of the way of the guy and it was just an unfortunate situation. Honestly, Tony is one of the best drivers in the world and his reaction time and driving skills in my opinion should have avoided the incident.

But there was a car in front of Stewart screening him from the outside of the turn and this guy was moving in from the outside. Plus this is a dirt track, likely groomed and watered before the race, designed for cars to slide sideways around the turns. The cars are also heavily offset (ie. if you look at one straight on, the right side protrudes much farther out than the left). Then there's the power. Sprint cars have absolutely insane power. A driver could sneeze and the car would be up to 100 mph.

What if the guy surprised Stewart and he had to make a split second evasion attempt? On pavement you might gun it and turn hard left. The same move on dirt would kick out the right rear severely.

This guy forced Stewart's brain to make that instant decision and he paid the price.

I don't know what Stewart saw or what he was thinking. I do know that Ward got out of his car and ran on to the track. Not enough info on the video to blame Stewart, but Ward clearly f'd up.

93henfan wrote:

grizinidaho wrote:The video did not look good to me. It looked like he gunned it to kick out the back at the guy. Whether to scare him or hit him is up in the air but it really looks that way. Perhaps he tried to get out of the way of the guy and it was just an unfortunate situation. Honestly, Tony is one of the best drivers in the world and his reaction time and driving skills in my opinion should have avoided the incident.

But there was a car in front of Stewart screening him from the outside of the turn and this guy was moving in from the outside. Plus this is a dirt track, likely groomed and watered before the race, designed for cars to slide sideways around the turns. The cars are also heavily offset (ie. if you look at one straight on, the right side protrudes much farther out than the left). Then there's the power. Sprint cars have absolutely insane power. A driver could sneeze and the car would be up to 100 mph.

What if the guy surprised Stewart and he had to make a split second evasion attempt? On pavement you might gun it and turn hard left. The same move on dirt would kick out the right rear severely.

This guy forced Stewart's brain to make that instant decision and he paid the price.

ESPN said that driver had to swerve to miss Ward. I can't tell from the video if that is the case or not, but it will be very interesting to hear what that driver has to say.

Don't forget they're on dirt. One has to gun the engine to get through the turn and it will send the right rear out in the process.

Not to mention: night, black racing suit, confined space in the car, behind additional cars, etc.

In the end: Stupid people doing stupid things will end in stupid results.

Please tell me that dipshit didn't have any kids....

AZGrizFan wrote:Please tell me that dipshit didn't have any kids....

The 20 year old had no kids.

MSUDuo wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:Please tell me that dipshit didn't have any kids....

The 20 year old had no kids.

Thanks. I guess I should have clarified which dipshit I was talking about...

MSUDuo wrote:Don't forget they're on dirt. One has to gun the engine to get through the turn and it will send the right rear out in the process.

Not to mention: night, black racing suit, confined space in the car, behind additional cars, etc.

In the end: Stupid people doing stupid things will end in stupid results.

Which would explain why Stewart had accelerated as was reported. He was trying to turn on a dirt track.

But that won't stop all the "he should be in prison" talk.

Natural selection did its job.

Natural selection did its job.

As soon as I saw the video I thought, "Darwin Award material."

Later in the day, though, I was listening to some national radio show and the host said that race car drivers doing that is not uncommon. Somebody clips them and knocks them out of the race and they get out of their car and run out and rail at the driver that did it. He said this incident should bring about rules saying you do not get out of your car on the racetrack unless you have to (car on fire or something).

Still a stupid thing to do though. If it hasn't been uncommon for race car drivers to do that it hasn't been uncommon for them to do a really stupid thing.

JohnStOnge wrote:

Natural selection did its job.

As soon as I saw the video I thought, "Darwin Award material."

Later in the day, though, I was listening to some national radio show and the host said that race car drivers doing that is not uncommon. Somebody clips them and knocks them out of the race and they get out of their car and run out and rail at the driver that did it. He said this incident should bring about rules saying you do not get out of your car on the racetrack unless you have to (car on fire or something).

Still a stupid thing to do though. If it hasn't been uncommon for race car drivers to do that it hasn't been uncommon for them to do a really stupid thing.

I've seen it happen at least four times, including Mr. Stewart himself throwing his helmet at a car. The pundits have been focused on recent history, but perhaps the most important outside-the-car activity in NASCAR history occurred at the 1979 Daytona 500. It was the first NASCAR race broadcast live in its entirety on a national network. Much of the east coast was snowed in due to a massive nor'easter so CBS had a captive audience. On the final lap, second place Cale Yarborough attempted a slingshot pass of leader Donnie Allison, who blocked Yarborough into the grass infield. Yarborough lost control and both drivers were wrecked, leading to 3rd place Richard Petty, who was half a lap behind, winning. Yarborough and Allison both got out of their cars and began fistfighting, and were also joined by Donnie's brother Bobby. It was hugely entertaining and was precursor for the rise of NASCAR in the 80s.

93henfan wrote:I've seen it happen at least four times, including Mr. Stewart himself throwing his helmet at a car. The pundits have been focused on recent history, but perhaps the most important outside-the-car activity in NASCAR history occurred at the 1979 Daytona 500. It was the first NASCAR race broadcast live in its entirety on a national network. Much of the east coast was snowed in due to a massive nor'easter so CBS had a captive audience. On the final lap, second place Cale Yarborough attempted a slingshot pass of leader Donnie Allison, who blocked Yarborough into the grass infield. Yarborough lost control and both drivers were wrecked, leading to 3rd place Richard Petty, who was half a lap behind, winning. Yarborough and Allison both got out of their cars and began fistfighting, and were also joined by Donnie's brother Bobby. It was hugely entertaining and was precursor for the rise of NASCAR in the 80s.

entirely different situation.
Yarborough and Allison were off the track. Plus it was a paved track with stock cars, during the day (or at least well lit). And both cars were already stopped when the drivers got out.

I suppose Stewart could claim that he hit the other guy in self defense.....

93henfan wrote:

JohnStOnge wrote:
As soon as I saw the video I thought, "Darwin Award material."

Later in the day, though, I was listening to some national radio show and the host said that race car drivers doing that is not uncommon. Somebody clips them and knocks them out of the race and they get out of their car and run out and rail at the driver that did it. He said this incident should bring about rules saying you do not get out of your car on the racetrack unless you have to (car on fire or something).

Still a stupid thing to do though. If it hasn't been uncommon for race car drivers to do that it hasn't been uncommon for them to do a really stupid thing.

I've seen it happen at least four times, including Mr. Stewart himself throwing his helmet at a car. The pundits have been focused on recent history, but perhaps the most important outside-the-car activity in NASCAR history occurred at the 1979 Daytona 500. It was the first NASCAR race broadcast live in its entirety on a national network. Much of the east coast was snowed in due to a massive nor'easter so CBS had a captive audience. On the final lap, second place Cale Yarborough attempted a slingshot pass of leader Donnie Allison, who blocked Yarborough into the grass infield. Yarborough lost control and both drivers were wrecked, leading to 3rd place Richard Petty, who was half a lap behind, winning. Yarborough and Allison both got out of their cars and began fistfighting, and were also joined by Donnie's brother Bobby. It was hugely entertaining and was precursor for the rise of NASCAR in the 80s.

I'd say that Cale said something like "If I can't win, neither will you", and deliberately drove him into the wall. I was in my infancy of stock car racing fandom, but that incident hooked me.
IIRC, there was a billboard outside the track of the next week's race at Rockingham that said something like "Welcome to Round 2". Cale and Donnie again wrecked with each other, on lap 10 , but no fist fight ensued.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXbHQtZH8dE[/youtube]