Tony Stewart runs over another racer who is on foot, kills him.

**Fordgalaxy** · August 16, 2014

I find this country's blame addiction and the litigation industry that it feeds revolting. Accidents happen.
...and wanton recklessness doesn't.

Not nearly as often as a lawyer would lead you to believe. Never mind that lawyers gets 35 or 40% of the settlement.

**troutman** · August 16, 2014

I know the father is grieving and emotional right now, but someday he's gonna have to face the fact his hotheaded son was entirely responsible for his own death.

Exactly,

No one in their right mind would get out of his car and walk out on to the track while the other drivers are still driving.

**Slack jaw gaze** · August 16, 2014

I had only seen the video on TV with little to no audio before a couple of hours ago. Holy effing shit that was blatant. You hear all the throttles dropping to idle, then whaaaaaaah, sideways snap, body tumbling. That was a sickening display.

**lerxt1990** · August 16, 2014

I had only seen the video on TV with little to no audio before a couple of hours ago. Holy effing shit that was blatant. You hear all the throttles dropping to idle, then whaaaaaaah, sideways snap, body tumbling. That was a sickening display.

Is there a newer better quality clip to observe? Where?

**KenJennings** · August 17, 2014

“I know Tony could see him. I know how you can see out of these cars. When Tony got close to him, he hit the throttle. When you hit a throttle on a sprint car, the car sets sideways. It set sideways, the right rear tire hit Kevin, Kevin was sucked underneath and was stuck under it for a second or two and then it threw him about 50 yards.”

http://thebiglead.co...irt-track-race/

This quote was taken before the original video was even released. It was an emotionally charged eyewitness testimony. And I really don't know how we can consider it accurate, being that we know visibility was a problem at the time.

I had only seen the video on TV with little to no audio before a couple of hours ago. Holy effing shit that was blatant. You hear all the throttles dropping to idle, then whaaaaaaah, sideways snap, body tumbling. That was a sickening display.

The only sickening display is your witch hunting. I really can't believe, after all that's been said here, you're doubling down on your bullshit.

Edited August 17, 2014 by KenJennings

**KenJennings** · August 17, 2014

Robin Miller- who is actually a legit motorsports expert, former USAC driver, former Indycar pit crew member; wrote an excellent article on this whole situation:

Tony Stewart, Kevin Ward Jr., and the senseless rush to judgement
We'll never have all the answers for what happened that night.

By Robin Miller August 14, 2014

Everybody has an opinion, whether they've watched the video once or 20 times or not at all. In the Social Media Court of Public Opinion, it seems like Tony Stewart has already been found guilty of everything from murder to manslaughter. On the flip side, Stewart's loyalists believe Kevin Ward Jr. walked right in the path of the Grim Reaper and suffered the fatal consequences.

When the NASCAR star hit Ward during a caution flag period at the sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park and killed the 20-year-old it wasn't treated as a tragedy as much as it was a call to arms. Several "experts" from around the country weighed in, sportswriters and broadcasters who have never met Stewart or attended a sprint car race gave us their "educated" opinions. They railed on track safety, lighting, the barbaric being of dirt racing, the mental state of both drivers at the time and what drastic steps need to be taken to prevent this from happening again.

It's natural because the only time most of these media types ever write or talk about racing is when somebody dies and then they can wax poetic and be applauded at the next baseball or football game by their press-box brethren.

The only person who truly knows what happened last Saturday night on that little dirt track in upstate New York is Stewart—everybody else is guessing. What some of us aren't guessing about is the man in the eye of the storm.

I've known Stewart since the mid-'90s. I've never been part of his posse, inner circle or pretend to be a confidant. We did a TV show together in 1996 for the local ABC affiliate and I was a big supporter, writing in 1996 he might be the next Parnelli Jones.

We've clashed verbally over the past three decades because Stewart enjoys arguing as much as he does running the Chili Bowl. In print I've called him petulant, brilliant, a punk, a wunderkind, a hypocrite, a throwback, a crybaby, a great guy with a big heart and a putz with a big mouth. I've watched him act like an 8-year-old and a week later make an 80-year-old tear up with an act of kindness. I've seen him lecture other drivers on professional protocol and then unhook his brain and drive into the side of the same guys he was preaching safety to.

We respect him for not pulling punches and at the same time we abhor him for shoving a defenseless photographer or cameraman. He could make Joe Gibbs swear – and not on a bible. But he's also done a lot of magnanimous things for people on the QT. Sometime his IQ didn't seem to match his car number and other times he was at the top of the class in street smarts. He can be maddening, charming and generous all in the same hour.

For much of his 43 years on this planet he's been a magnet for controversy and today he finds himself in a firestorm that nobody could imagine. And, because he's always been combative with the media, he's an easy target for the national media that seem convinced he's guilty of road rage.

The facts, as we know them, are that an angry young man ran down the track to gesture at Stewart for causing him to wreck and, in the blink of an eye, he was dead.

Did Ward get too close to Stewart and not give him a chance to react? It appears the driver directly in front of Tony has to swerve to miss Ward.

If you haven't sat inside a sprint car, visibility is limited with the seat, the built-up side panels, wings, etc. Combined with the lighting, all-black silhouette and close quarters, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Tony didn't see him until the last second.

Of course the only real evidence that something sinister could have occurred and this wasn't an open-and-shut case of wrong place/wrong time is the apparent audio of Stewart's throttle blipping. A few Tony's friends called to say they're worried he might have tried to squirt a little dirt on Ward or scare the kid and misjudged the distance. But there's also the very real chance he sped up to try and miss him. You steer a sprinter with the throttle as much as you do the steering wheel, so how do we know Stewart wasn't trying to turn down, accelerate and miss Ward?

There's even a new video that appears to show Ward reaching to grab Stewart's wing, although it's far from conclusive—just like the video we've been watching for five days.

It's all up for debate until we hear from Tony but to say he hit Ward on purpose is ludicrous. What makes anyone think Stewart even knew that somebody was mad at him until the agitated kid appeared right in front of him? The cause of the previous lap's collision wasn't some heinous slide job by Stewart; it was more like two guys racing hard for the same patch of ground. How can we know Stewart even felt what appeared to be the slight contact?

The fact Stewart has a reputation (and documentation) of being a hothead and walking onto a track in order to throw his helmet at another car is both ironic and not applicable in this situation. His tantrums at other drivers came under the bright lights of Bristol or sunshine at Martinsville and he stood off to the side while launching his weapons of choice. He didn't play chicken with on-coming traffic.

Which is not to say that Ward is guilty of anything but reacting emotionally to a testosterone-charged moment like so many drivers before him. He was racing hard on his track with a legend before running out of room and smacking the guardrail. Did the fact it was Tony Stewart make Ward unbuckle, jump out and charge down the track? Would Ward have done that after tangling with anybody else? Did these two have some history?

Sadly, we'll never know the answers. And you can't help but wonder what might have happened if the kid had waited until after the race to confront Stewart. Pat Sullivan, the longtime voice of USAC racing at tracks all around the Midwest, reckons that Stewart might have put his arm around Ward and given him a couple grand to fix the car because that's the way he can be at times.

On the track, Stew is more sinner than saint. Intentionally ramming another stock car out of the way or spinning somebody on pit road is part of the NASCAR culture. But I can't believe the former IndyCar champion would ever use something as lethal as a sprint car as a weapon against a defenseless driver on foot. This wasn't some premeditated act of machismo or payback by either driver. There was one angry young man's actions, fueled by adrenaline. Whether the NASCAR star's reactions were in similar vein or whether he was instead completely startled by the sudden appearance of a gesticulating pedestrian in front of him is something only Stewart knows. What we all know is that the scene had the worst possible ending. One promising life is over and another will be permanently scarred.

The NASCAR star has always championed short-track and sprint-car racing. He loves running the dirt, owning teams and tracks, and he also knows that his presence can give promoters a big night. Yet he likes the fact he's just another driver at a sprint show and is allowed to blend in with the scenery.

Not anymore. I don't know what happened in those split seconds last Saturday, other than a guy who lives to race is likely dying inside and a young racer died needlessly.

Stewart certainly isn't the devil like some people think, but right now he's got to be in the same hell as Kevin Ward's grieving family.

Nice to see a guy who's done it all, who's surrounded his life with the sport, speak clearly about the situation.

**EagleMoon** · August 17, 2014

Honestly everyone can speculate but we'll never know unless Tony makes a statement as to what he actually saw or admits that he saw.

**edhunter** · August 17, 2014

Honestly everyone can speculate but we'll never know unless Tony makes a statement as to what he actually saw or admits that he saw.

The best thing is for him to just lay low for a while, and let the attention move elsewhere. He's still facing charges, which I don't see happening. But all the social media assholes, including the one right here in this thread are just waiting to pounce.

And Ward's parents I'm sure have scumbag lawyers in their ears telling them about the money they can make right now.

He'd never do it, but Stewart should file a preemptive suit against Ward's family. Their son's stupidity has created extreme emotional distress and loss of income. But he's in a no-win situation right now. He'd be crucified in the media.

**Slack jaw gaze** · August 17, 2014

Robin Miller- who is actually a legit motorsports expert, former USAC driver, former Indycar pit crew member; wrote an excellent article on this whole situation:

Tony Stewart, Kevin Ward Jr., and the senseless rush to judgement
We'll never have all the answers for what happened that night.

By Robin Miller August 14, 2014

Everybody has an opinion, whether they've watched the video once or 20 times or not at all. In the Social Media Court of Public Opinion, it seems like Tony Stewart has already been found guilty of everything from murder to manslaughter. On the flip side, Stewart's loyalists believe Kevin Ward Jr. walked right in the path of the Grim Reaper and suffered the fatal consequences.

When the NASCAR star hit Ward during a caution flag period at the sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park and killed the 20-year-old it wasn't treated as a tragedy as much as it was a call to arms. Several "experts" from around the country weighed in, sportswriters and broadcasters who have never met Stewart or attended a sprint car race gave us their "educated" opinions. They railed on track safety, lighting, the barbaric being of dirt racing, the mental state of both drivers at the time and what drastic steps need to be taken to prevent this from happening again.

It's natural because the only time most of these media types ever write or talk about racing is when somebody dies and then they can wax poetic and be applauded at the next baseball or football game by their press-box brethren.

The only person who truly knows what happened last Saturday night on that little dirt track in upstate New York is Stewart—everybody else is guessing or dead. What some of us aren't guessing about is the man in the eye of the storm.

I've known Stewart since the mid-'90s. I've never been part of his posse, inner circle or pretend to be a confidant. We did a TV show together in 1996 for the local ABC affiliate and I was a big supporter, writing in 1996 he might be the next Parnelli Jones.

We've clashed verbally over the past three decades because Stewart enjoys arguing as much as he does running the Chili Bowl. In print I've called him petulant, brilliant, a punk, a wunderkind, a hypocrite, a throwback, a crybaby, a great guy with a big heart and a putz with a big mouth. I've watched him act like an 8-year-old and a week later make an 80-year-old tear up with an act of kindness. I've seen him lecture other drivers on professional protocol and then unhook his brain and drive into the side of the same guys he was preaching safety to.

We respect him for not pulling punches and at the same time we abhor him for shoving a defenseless photographer or cameraman. He could make Joe Gibbs swear – and not on a bible. But he's also done a lot of magnanimous things for people on the QT. Sometime his IQ didn't seem to match his car number and other times he was at the top of the class in street smarts. He can be maddening, charming and generous all in the same hour.

For much of his 43 years on this planet he's been a magnet for controversy and today he finds himself in a firestorm that nobody could imagine. And, because he's always been combative with the media, he's an easy target for the national media that seem convinced he's guilty of road rage.

The facts, as we know them, are that an angry young man ran down the track to gesture at Stewart for causing him to wreck and, in the blink of an eye, he was dead.

Did Ward get too close to Stewart and not give him a chance to react? It appears the driver directly in front of Tony has to swerve to miss Ward.

If you haven't sat inside a sprint car, visibility is limited with the seat, the built-up side panels, wings, etc. Combined with the lighting, all-black silhouette and close quarters, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Tony didn't see him until the last second.

Of course the only real evidence that something sinister could have occurred and this wasn't an open-and-shut case of wrong place/wrong time is the apparent audio of Stewart's throttle blipping. A few Tony's friends called to say they're worried he might have tried to squirt a little dirt on Ward or scare the kid and misjudged the distance. But there's also the very real chance he sped up to try and miss him. You steer a sprinter with the throttle as much as you do the steering wheel, so how do we know Stewart wasn't trying to turn down, accelerate and miss Ward?

There's even a new video that appears to show Ward reaching to grab Stewart's wing, although it's far from conclusive—just like the video we've been watching for five days.

It's all up for debate until we hear from Tony but to say he hit Ward on purpose is ludicrous. What makes anyone think Stewart even knew that somebody was mad at him until the agitated kid appeared right in front of him? The cause of the previous lap's collision wasn't some heinous slide job by Stewart; it was more like two guys racing hard for the same patch of ground. How can we know Stewart even felt what appeared to be the slight contact?

The fact Stewart has a reputation (and documentation) of being a hothead and walking onto a track in order to throw his helmet at another car is both ironic and not applicable in this situation. His tantrums at other drivers came under the bright lights of Bristol or sunshine at Martinsville and he stood off to the side while launching his weapons of choice. He didn't play chicken with on-coming traffic.

Which is not to say that Ward is guilty of anything but reacting emotionally to a testosterone-charged moment like so many drivers before him. He was racing hard on his track with a legend before running out of room and smacking the guardrail. Did the fact it was Tony Stewart make Ward unbuckle, jump out and charge down the track? Would Ward have done that after tangling with anybody else? Did these two have some history?

Sadly, we'll never know the answers. And you can't help but wonder what might have happened if the kid had waited until after the race to confront Stewart. Pat Sullivan, the longtime voice of USAC racing at tracks all around the Midwest, reckons that Stewart might have put his arm around Ward and given him a couple grand to fix the car because that's the way he can be at times.

On the track, Stew is more sinner than saint. Intentionally ramming another stock car out of the way or spinning somebody on pit road is part of the NASCAR culture. But I can't believe the former IndyCar champion would ever use something as lethal as a sprint car as a weapon against a defenseless driver on foot. This wasn't some premeditated act of machismo or payback by either driver. There was one angry young man's actions, fueled by adrenaline. Whether the NASCAR star's reactions were in similar vein or whether he was instead completely startled by the sudden appearance of a gesticulating pedestrian in front of him is something only Stewart knows. What we all know is that the scene had the worst possible ending. One promising life is over and another will be permanently scarred.

The NASCAR star has always championed short-track and sprint-car racing. He loves running the dirt, owning teams and tracks, and he also knows that his presence can give promoters a big night. Yet he likes the fact he's just another driver at a sprint show and is allowed to blend in with the scenery.

Not anymore. I don't know what happened in those split seconds last Saturday, other than a guy who lives to race is likely dying inside and a young racer died needlessly.

Stewart certainly isn't the devil like some people think, but right now he's got to be in the same hell as Kevin Ward's grieving family.

Nice to see a guy who's done it all, who's surrounded his life with the sport, speak clearly about the situation.

Article was fine but missing two important words that I supplied.

**lerxt1990** · August 17, 2014

Honestly everyone can speculate but we'll never know unless Tony makes a statement as to what he actually saw or admits that he saw.

The best thing is for him to just lay low for a while, and let the attention move elsewhere. He's still facing charges, which I don't see happening. But all the social media assholes, including the one right here in this thread are just waiting to pounce.

And Ward's parents I'm sure have scumbag lawyers in their ears telling them about the money they can make right now.

He'd never do it, but Stewart should file a preemptive suit against Ward's family. Their son's stupidity has created extreme emotional distress and loss of income. But he's in a no-win situation right now. He'd be crucified in the media.

Not sure suing the parents of the guy you ran over, even if accidental, is the right thing to do either....

**lerxt1990** · August 17, 2014

I assume its legal action that is keeping Stewart from giving his side, worried that theyll use any statement he gives against him in court. Cherged with a crime or not, he will be sued civilly for sure.

**lerxt1990** · August 17, 2014

Robin Miller- who is actually a legit motorsports expert, former USAC driver, former Indycar pit crew member; wrote an excellent article on this whole situation:

Tony Stewart, Kevin Ward Jr., and the senseless rush to judgement
We'll never have all the answers for what happened that night.

By Robin Miller August 14, 2014

Everybody has an opinion, whether they've watched the video once or 20 times or not at all. In the Social Media Court of Public Opinion, it seems like Tony Stewart has already been found guilty of everything from murder to manslaughter. On the flip side, Stewart's loyalists believe Kevin Ward Jr. walked right in the path of the Grim Reaper and suffered the fatal consequences.

When the NASCAR star hit Ward during a caution flag period at the sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park and killed the 20-year-old it wasn't treated as a tragedy as much as it was a call to arms. Several "experts" from around the country weighed in, sportswriters and broadcasters who have never met Stewart or attended a sprint car race gave us their "educated" opinions. They railed on track safety, lighting, the barbaric being of dirt racing, the mental state of both drivers at the time and what drastic steps need to be taken to prevent this from happening again.

It's natural because the only time most of these media types ever write or talk about racing is when somebody dies and then they can wax poetic and be applauded at the next baseball or football game by their press-box brethren.

The only person who truly knows what happened last Saturday night on that little dirt track in upstate New York is Stewart—everybody else is guessing or dead. What some of us aren't guessing about is the man in the eye of the storm.

I've known Stewart since the mid-'90s. I've never been part of his posse, inner circle or pretend to be a confidant. We did a TV show together in 1996 for the local ABC affiliate and I was a big supporter, writing in 1996 he might be the next Parnelli Jones.

We've clashed verbally over the past three decades because Stewart enjoys arguing as much as he does running the Chili Bowl. In print I've called him petulant, brilliant, a punk, a wunderkind, a hypocrite, a throwback, a crybaby, a great guy with a big heart and a putz with a big mouth. I've watched him act like an 8-year-old and a week later make an 80-year-old tear up with an act of kindness. I've seen him lecture other drivers on professional protocol and then unhook his brain and drive into the side of the same guys he was preaching safety to.

We respect him for not pulling punches and at the same time we abhor him for shoving a defenseless photographer or cameraman. He could make Joe Gibbs swear – and not on a bible. But he's also done a lot of magnanimous things for people on the QT. Sometime his IQ didn't seem to match his car number and other times he was at the top of the class in street smarts. He can be maddening, charming and generous all in the same hour.

For much of his 43 years on this planet he's been a magnet for controversy and today he finds himself in a firestorm that nobody could imagine. And, because he's always been combative with the media, he's an easy target for the national media that seem convinced he's guilty of road rage.

The facts, as we know them, are that an angry young man ran down the track to gesture at Stewart for causing him to wreck and, in the blink of an eye, he was dead.

Did Ward get too close to Stewart and not give him a chance to react? It appears the driver directly in front of Tony has to swerve to miss Ward.

If you haven't sat inside a sprint car, visibility is limited with the seat, the built-up side panels, wings, etc. Combined with the lighting, all-black silhouette and close quarters, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Tony didn't see him until the last second.

Of course the only real evidence that something sinister could have occurred and this wasn't an open-and-shut case of wrong place/wrong time is the apparent audio of Stewart's throttle blipping. A few Tony's friends called to say they're worried he might have tried to squirt a little dirt on Ward or scare the kid and misjudged the distance. But there's also the very real chance he sped up to try and miss him. You steer a sprinter with the throttle as much as you do the steering wheel, so how do we know Stewart wasn't trying to turn down, accelerate and miss Ward?

There's even a new video that appears to show Ward reaching to grab Stewart's wing, although it's far from conclusive—just like the video we've been watching for five days.

It's all up for debate until we hear from Tony but to say he hit Ward on purpose is ludicrous. What makes anyone think Stewart even knew that somebody was mad at him until the agitated kid appeared right in front of him? The cause of the previous lap's collision wasn't some heinous slide job by Stewart; it was more like two guys racing hard for the same patch of ground. How can we know Stewart even felt what appeared to be the slight contact?

The fact Stewart has a reputation (and documentation) of being a hothead and walking onto a track in order to throw his helmet at another car is both ironic and not applicable in this situation. His tantrums at other drivers came under the bright lights of Bristol or sunshine at Martinsville and he stood off to the side while launching his weapons of choice. He didn't play chicken with on-coming traffic.

Which is not to say that Ward is guilty of anything but reacting emotionally to a testosterone-charged moment like so many drivers before him. He was racing hard on his track with a legend before running out of room and smacking the guardrail. Did the fact it was Tony Stewart make Ward unbuckle, jump out and charge down the track? Would Ward have done that after tangling with anybody else? Did these two have some history?

Sadly, we'll never know the answers. And you can't help but wonder what might have happened if the kid had waited until after the race to confront Stewart. Pat Sullivan, the longtime voice of USAC racing at tracks all around the Midwest, reckons that Stewart might have put his arm around Ward and given him a couple grand to fix the car because that's the way he can be at times.

On the track, Stew is more sinner than saint. Intentionally ramming another stock car out of the way or spinning somebody on pit road is part of the NASCAR culture. But I can't believe the former IndyCar champion would ever use something as lethal as a sprint car as a weapon against a defenseless driver on foot. This wasn't some premeditated act of machismo or payback by either driver. There was one angry young man's actions, fueled by adrenaline. Whether the NASCAR star's reactions were in similar vein or whether he was instead completely startled by the sudden appearance of a gesticulating pedestrian in front of him is something only Stewart knows. What we all know is that the scene had the worst possible ending. One promising life is over and another will be permanently scarred.

The NASCAR star has always championed short-track and sprint-car racing. He loves running the dirt, owning teams and tracks, and he also knows that his presence can give promoters a big night. Yet he likes the fact he's just another driver at a sprint show and is allowed to blend in with the scenery.

Not anymore. I don't know what happened in those split seconds last Saturday, other than a guy who lives to race is likely dying inside and a young racer died needlessly.

Stewart certainly isn't the devil like some people think, but right now he's got to be in the same hell as Kevin Ward's grieving family.

Nice to see a guy who's done it all, who's surrounded his life with the sport, speak clearly about the situation.
Article was fine but missing two important words that I supplied.

What is this match game? Could you highlight the words?

**Narps** · August 17, 2014

Robin Miller- who is actually a legit motorsports expert, former USAC driver, former Indycar pit crew member; wrote an excellent article on this whole situation:

Tony Stewart, Kevin Ward Jr., and the senseless rush to judgement
We'll never have all the answers for what happened that night.

By Robin Miller August 14, 2014

Everybody has an opinion, whether they've watched the video once or 20 times or not at all. In the Social Media Court of Public Opinion, it seems like Tony Stewart has already been found guilty of everything from murder to manslaughter. On the flip side, Stewart's loyalists believe Kevin Ward Jr. walked right in the path of the Grim Reaper and suffered the fatal consequences.

When the NASCAR star hit Ward during a caution flag period at the sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park and killed the 20-year-old it wasn't treated as a tragedy as much as it was a call to arms. Several "experts" from around the country weighed in, sportswriters and broadcasters who have never met Stewart or attended a sprint car race gave us their "educated" opinions. They railed on track safety, lighting, the barbaric being of dirt racing, the mental state of both drivers at the time and what drastic steps need to be taken to prevent this from happening again.

It's natural because the only time most of these media types ever write or talk about racing is when somebody dies and then they can wax poetic and be applauded at the next baseball or football game by their press-box brethren.

The only person who truly knows what happened last Saturday night on that little dirt track in upstate New York is Stewart—everybody else is guessing or dead. What some of us aren't guessing about is the man in the eye of the storm.

I've known Stewart since the mid-'90s. I've never been part of his posse, inner circle or pretend to be a confidant. We did a TV show together in 1996 for the local ABC affiliate and I was a big supporter, writing in 1996 he might be the next Parnelli Jones.

We've clashed verbally over the past three decades because Stewart enjoys arguing as much as he does running the Chili Bowl. In print I've called him petulant, brilliant, a punk, a wunderkind, a hypocrite, a throwback, a crybaby, a great guy with a big heart and a putz with a big mouth. I've watched him act like an 8-year-old and a week later make an 80-year-old tear up with an act of kindness. I've seen him lecture other drivers on professional protocol and then unhook his brain and drive into the side of the same guys he was preaching safety to.

We respect him for not pulling punches and at the same time we abhor him for shoving a defenseless photographer or cameraman. He could make Joe Gibbs swear – and not on a bible. But he's also done a lot of magnanimous things for people on the QT. Sometime his IQ didn't seem to match his car number and other times he was at the top of the class in street smarts. He can be maddening, charming and generous all in the same hour.

For much of his 43 years on this planet he's been a magnet for controversy and today he finds himself in a firestorm that nobody could imagine. And, because he's always been combative with the media, he's an easy target for the national media that seem convinced he's guilty of road rage.

The facts, as we know them, are that an angry young man ran down the track to gesture at Stewart for causing him to wreck and, in the blink of an eye, he was dead.

Did Ward get too close to Stewart and not give him a chance to react? It appears the driver directly in front of Tony has to swerve to miss Ward.

If you haven't sat inside a sprint car, visibility is limited with the seat, the built-up side panels, wings, etc. Combined with the lighting, all-black silhouette and close quarters, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Tony didn't see him until the last second.

Of course the only real evidence that something sinister could have occurred and this wasn't an open-and-shut case of wrong place/wrong time is the apparent audio of Stewart's throttle blipping. A few Tony's friends called to say they're worried he might have tried to squirt a little dirt on Ward or scare the kid and misjudged the distance. But there's also the very real chance he sped up to try and miss him. You steer a sprinter with the throttle as much as you do the steering wheel, so how do we know Stewart wasn't trying to turn down, accelerate and miss Ward?

There's even a new video that appears to show Ward reaching to grab Stewart's wing, although it's far from conclusive—just like the video we've been watching for five days.

It's all up for debate until we hear from Tony but to say he hit Ward on purpose is ludicrous. What makes anyone think Stewart even knew that somebody was mad at him until the agitated kid appeared right in front of him? The cause of the previous lap's collision wasn't some heinous slide job by Stewart; it was more like two guys racing hard for the same patch of ground. How can we know Stewart even felt what appeared to be the slight contact?

The fact Stewart has a reputation (and documentation) of being a hothead and walking onto a track in order to throw his helmet at another car is both ironic and not applicable in this situation. His tantrums at other drivers came under the bright lights of Bristol or sunshine at Martinsville and he stood off to the side while launching his weapons of choice. He didn't play chicken with on-coming traffic.

Which is not to say that Ward is guilty of anything but reacting emotionally to a testosterone-charged moment like so many drivers before him. He was racing hard on his track with a legend before running out of room and smacking the guardrail. Did the fact it was Tony Stewart make Ward unbuckle, jump out and charge down the track? Would Ward have done that after tangling with anybody else? Did these two have some history?

Sadly, we'll never know the answers. And you can't help but wonder what might have happened if the kid had waited until after the race to confront Stewart. Pat Sullivan, the longtime voice of USAC racing at tracks all around the Midwest, reckons that Stewart might have put his arm around Ward and given him a couple grand to fix the car because that's the way he can be at times.

On the track, Stew is more sinner than saint. Intentionally ramming another stock car out of the way or spinning somebody on pit road is part of the NASCAR culture. But I can't believe the former IndyCar champion would ever use something as lethal as a sprint car as a weapon against a defenseless driver on foot. This wasn't some premeditated act of machismo or payback by either driver. There was one angry young man's actions, fueled by adrenaline. Whether the NASCAR star's reactions were in similar vein or whether he was instead completely startled by the sudden appearance of a gesticulating pedestrian in front of him is something only Stewart knows. What we all know is that the scene had the worst possible ending. One promising life is over and another will be permanently scarred.

The NASCAR star has always championed short-track and sprint-car racing. He loves running the dirt, owning teams and tracks, and he also knows that his presence can give promoters a big night. Yet he likes the fact he's just another driver at a sprint show and is allowed to blend in with the scenery.

Not anymore. I don't know what happened in those split seconds last Saturday, other than a guy who lives to race is likely dying inside and a young racer died needlessly.

Stewart certainly isn't the devil like some people think, but right now he's got to be in the same hell as Kevin Ward's grieving family.

Nice to see a guy who's done it all, who's surrounded his life with the sport, speak clearly about the situation.
Article was fine but missing two important words that I supplied.

What is this match game? Could you highlight the words?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Gene_Rayburn_the_match_game.jpg/220px-Gene_Rayburn_the_match_game.jpg

**Slack jaw gaze** · August 17, 2014

Robin Miller- who is actually a legit motorsports expert, former USAC driver, former Indycar pit crew member; wrote an excellent article on this whole situation:

Tony Stewart, Kevin Ward Jr., and the senseless rush to judgement
We'll never have all the answers for what happened that night.

By Robin Miller August 14, 2014

Everybody has an opinion, whether they've watched the video once or 20 times or not at all. In the Social Media Court of Public Opinion, it seems like Tony Stewart has already been found guilty of everything from murder to manslaughter. On the flip side, Stewart's loyalists believe Kevin Ward Jr. walked right in the path of the Grim Reaper and suffered the fatal consequences.

When the NASCAR star hit Ward during a caution flag period at the sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park and killed the 20-year-old it wasn't treated as a tragedy as much as it was a call to arms. Several "experts" from around the country weighed in, sportswriters and broadcasters who have never met Stewart or attended a sprint car race gave us their "educated" opinions. They railed on track safety, lighting, the barbaric being of dirt racing, the mental state of both drivers at the time and what drastic steps need to be taken to prevent this from happening again.

It's natural because the only time most of these media types ever write or talk about racing is when somebody dies and then they can wax poetic and be applauded at the next baseball or football game by their press-box brethren.

The only person who truly knows what happened last Saturday night on that little dirt track in upstate New York is Stewart—everybody else is guessing or dead. What some of us aren't guessing about is the man in the eye of the storm.

I've known Stewart since the mid-'90s. I've never been part of his posse, inner circle or pretend to be a confidant. We did a TV show together in 1996 for the local ABC affiliate and I was a big supporter, writing in 1996 he might be the next Parnelli Jones.

We've clashed verbally over the past three decades because Stewart enjoys arguing as much as he does running the Chili Bowl. In print I've called him petulant, brilliant, a punk, a wunderkind, a hypocrite, a throwback, a crybaby, a great guy with a big heart and a putz with a big mouth. I've watched him act like an 8-year-old and a week later make an 80-year-old tear up with an act of kindness. I've seen him lecture other drivers on professional protocol and then unhook his brain and drive into the side of the same guys he was preaching safety to.

We respect him for not pulling punches and at the same time we abhor him for shoving a defenseless photographer or cameraman. He could make Joe Gibbs swear – and not on a bible. But he's also done a lot of magnanimous things for people on the QT. Sometime his IQ didn't seem to match his car number and other times he was at the top of the class in street smarts. He can be maddening, charming and generous all in the same hour.

For much of his 43 years on this planet he's been a magnet for controversy and today he finds himself in a firestorm that nobody could imagine. And, because he's always been combative with the media, he's an easy target for the national media that seem convinced he's guilty of road rage.

The facts, as we know them, are that an angry young man ran down the track to gesture at Stewart for causing him to wreck and, in the blink of an eye, he was dead.

Did Ward get too close to Stewart and not give him a chance to react? It appears the driver directly in front of Tony has to swerve to miss Ward.

If you haven't sat inside a sprint car, visibility is limited with the seat, the built-up side panels, wings, etc. Combined with the lighting, all-black silhouette and close quarters, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Tony didn't see him until the last second.

Of course the only real evidence that something sinister could have occurred and this wasn't an open-and-shut case of wrong place/wrong time is the apparent audio of Stewart's throttle blipping. A few Tony's friends called to say they're worried he might have tried to squirt a little dirt on Ward or scare the kid and misjudged the distance. But there's also the very real chance he sped up to try and miss him. You steer a sprinter with the throttle as much as you do the steering wheel, so how do we know Stewart wasn't trying to turn down, accelerate and miss Ward?

There's even a new video that appears to show Ward reaching to grab Stewart's wing, although it's far from conclusive—just like the video we've been watching for five days.

It's all up for debate until we hear from Tony but to say he hit Ward on purpose is ludicrous. What makes anyone think Stewart even knew that somebody was mad at him until the agitated kid appeared right in front of him? The cause of the previous lap's collision wasn't some heinous slide job by Stewart; it was more like two guys racing hard for the same patch of ground. How can we know Stewart even felt what appeared to be the slight contact?

The fact Stewart has a reputation (and documentation) of being a hothead and walking onto a track in order to throw his helmet at another car is both ironic and not applicable in this situation. His tantrums at other drivers came under the bright lights of Bristol or sunshine at Martinsville and he stood off to the side while launching his weapons of choice. He didn't play chicken with on-coming traffic.

Which is not to say that Ward is guilty of anything but reacting emotionally to a testosterone-charged moment like so many drivers before him. He was racing hard on his track with a legend before running out of room and smacking the guardrail. Did the fact it was Tony Stewart make Ward unbuckle, jump out and charge down the track? Would Ward have done that after tangling with anybody else? Did these two have some history?

Sadly, we'll never know the answers. And you can't help but wonder what might have happened if the kid had waited until after the race to confront Stewart. Pat Sullivan, the longtime voice of USAC racing at tracks all around the Midwest, reckons that Stewart might have put his arm around Ward and given him a couple grand to fix the car because that's the way he can be at times.

On the track, Stew is more sinner than saint. Intentionally ramming another stock car out of the way or spinning somebody on pit road is part of the NASCAR culture. But I can't believe the former IndyCar champion would ever use something as lethal as a sprint car as a weapon against a defenseless driver on foot. This wasn't some premeditated act of machismo or payback by either driver. There was one angry young man's actions, fueled by adrenaline. Whether the NASCAR star's reactions were in similar vein or whether he was instead completely startled by the sudden appearance of a gesticulating pedestrian in front of him is something only Stewart knows. What we all know is that the scene had the worst possible ending. One promising life is over and another will be permanently scarred.

The NASCAR star has always championed short-track and sprint-car racing. He loves running the dirt, owning teams and tracks, and he also knows that his presence can give promoters a big night. Yet he likes the fact he's just another driver at a sprint show and is allowed to blend in with the scenery.

Not anymore. I don't know what happened in those split seconds last Saturday, other than a guy who lives to race is likely dying inside and a young racer died needlessly.

Stewart certainly isn't the devil like some people think, but right now he's got to be in the same hell as Kevin Ward's grieving family.

Nice to see a guy who's done it all, who's surrounded his life with the sport, speak clearly about the situation.
Article was fine but missing two important words that I supplied.

What is this match game? Could you highlight the words?

I can even suggest an eye doctor.

**lerxt1990** · August 17, 2014

Robin Miller- who is actually a legit motorsports expert, former USAC driver, former Indycar pit crew member; wrote an excellent article on this whole situation:

Tony Stewart, Kevin Ward Jr., and the senseless rush to judgement
We'll never have all the answers for what happened that night.

By Robin Miller August 14, 2014

Everybody has an opinion, whether they've watched the video once or 20 times or not at all. In the Social Media Court of Public Opinion, it seems like Tony Stewart has already been found guilty of everything from murder to manslaughter. On the flip side, Stewart's loyalists believe Kevin Ward Jr. walked right in the path of the Grim Reaper and suffered the fatal consequences.

When the NASCAR star hit Ward during a caution flag period at the sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park and killed the 20-year-old it wasn't treated as a tragedy as much as it was a call to arms. Several "experts" from around the country weighed in, sportswriters and broadcasters who have never met Stewart or attended a sprint car race gave us their "educated" opinions. They railed on track safety, lighting, the barbaric being of dirt racing, the mental state of both drivers at the time and what drastic steps need to be taken to prevent this from happening again.

It's natural because the only time most of these media types ever write or talk about racing is when somebody dies and then they can wax poetic and be applauded at the next baseball or football game by their press-box brethren.

The only person who truly knows what happened last Saturday night on that little dirt track in upstate New York is Stewart—everybody else is guessing or dead. What some of us aren't guessing about is the man in the eye of the storm.

I've known Stewart since the mid-'90s. I've never been part of his posse, inner circle or pretend to be a confidant. We did a TV show together in 1996 for the local ABC affiliate and I was a big supporter, writing in 1996 he might be the next Parnelli Jones.

We've clashed verbally over the past three decades because Stewart enjoys arguing as much as he does running the Chili Bowl. In print I've called him petulant, brilliant, a punk, a wunderkind, a hypocrite, a throwback, a crybaby, a great guy with a big heart and a putz with a big mouth. I've watched him act like an 8-year-old and a week later make an 80-year-old tear up with an act of kindness. I've seen him lecture other drivers on professional protocol and then unhook his brain and drive into the side of the same guys he was preaching safety to.

We respect him for not pulling punches and at the same time we abhor him for shoving a defenseless photographer or cameraman. He could make Joe Gibbs swear – and not on a bible. But he's also done a lot of magnanimous things for people on the QT. Sometime his IQ didn't seem to match his car number and other times he was at the top of the class in street smarts. He can be maddening, charming and generous all in the same hour.

For much of his 43 years on this planet he's been a magnet for controversy and today he finds himself in a firestorm that nobody could imagine. And, because he's always been combative with the media, he's an easy target for the national media that seem convinced he's guilty of road rage.

The facts, as we know them, are that an angry young man ran down the track to gesture at Stewart for causing him to wreck and, in the blink of an eye, he was dead.

Did Ward get too close to Stewart and not give him a chance to react? It appears the driver directly in front of Tony has to swerve to miss Ward.

If you haven't sat inside a sprint car, visibility is limited with the seat, the built-up side panels, wings, etc. Combined with the lighting, all-black silhouette and close quarters, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Tony didn't see him until the last second.

Of course the only real evidence that something sinister could have occurred and this wasn't an open-and-shut case of wrong place/wrong time is the apparent audio of Stewart's throttle blipping. A few Tony's friends called to say they're worried he might have tried to squirt a little dirt on Ward or scare the kid and misjudged the distance. But there's also the very real chance he sped up to try and miss him. You steer a sprinter with the throttle as much as you do the steering wheel, so how do we know Stewart wasn't trying to turn down, accelerate and miss Ward?

There's even a new video that appears to show Ward reaching to grab Stewart's wing, although it's far from conclusive—just like the video we've been watching for five days.

It's all up for debate until we hear from Tony but to say he hit Ward on purpose is ludicrous. What makes anyone think Stewart even knew that somebody was mad at him until the agitated kid appeared right in front of him? The cause of the previous lap's collision wasn't some heinous slide job by Stewart; it was more like two guys racing hard for the same patch of ground. How can we know Stewart even felt what appeared to be the slight contact?

The fact Stewart has a reputation (and documentation) of being a hothead and walking onto a track in order to throw his helmet at another car is both ironic and not applicable in this situation. His tantrums at other drivers came under the bright lights of Bristol or sunshine at Martinsville and he stood off to the side while launching his weapons of choice. He didn't play chicken with on-coming traffic.

Which is not to say that Ward is guilty of anything but reacting emotionally to a testosterone-charged moment like so many drivers before him. He was racing hard on his track with a legend before running out of room and smacking the guardrail. Did the fact it was Tony Stewart make Ward unbuckle, jump out and charge down the track? Would Ward have done that after tangling with anybody else? Did these two have some history?

Sadly, we'll never know the answers. And you can't help but wonder what might have happened if the kid had waited until after the race to confront Stewart. Pat Sullivan, the longtime voice of USAC racing at tracks all around the Midwest, reckons that Stewart might have put his arm around Ward and given him a couple grand to fix the car because that's the way he can be at times.

On the track, Stew is more sinner than saint. Intentionally ramming another stock car out of the way or spinning somebody on pit road is part of the NASCAR culture. But I can't believe the former IndyCar champion would ever use something as lethal as a sprint car as a weapon against a defenseless driver on foot. This wasn't some premeditated act of machismo or payback by either driver. There was one angry young man's actions, fueled by adrenaline. Whether the NASCAR star's reactions were in similar vein or whether he was instead completely startled by the sudden appearance of a gesticulating pedestrian in front of him is something only Stewart knows. What we all know is that the scene had the worst possible ending. One promising life is over and another will be permanently scarred.

The NASCAR star has always championed short-track and sprint-car racing. He loves running the dirt, owning teams and tracks, and he also knows that his presence can give promoters a big night. Yet he likes the fact he's just another driver at a sprint show and is allowed to blend in with the scenery.

Not anymore. I don't know what happened in those split seconds last Saturday, other than a guy who lives to race is likely dying inside and a young racer died needlessly.

Stewart certainly isn't the devil like some people think, but right now he's got to be in the same hell as Kevin Ward's grieving family.

Nice to see a guy who's done it all, who's surrounded his life with the sport, speak clearly about the situation.
Article was fine but missing two important words that I supplied.

What is this match game? Could you highlight the words?
I can even suggest an eye doctor.

Hahahaaa. (*wipes glasses off*) - I need more bold, higher point font to see that, Im old.

There is, in fact, only one side to the story involving participants, true.

**Slack jaw gaze** · August 17, 2014

The only sickening display is your witch hunting. I really can't believe, after all that's been said here, you're doubling down on your bullshit.

It's quite revealing that a bag of shattered bones tumbling down a track doesn't qualify as a sickening display.

Nevertheless, "A few Tony's friends called to say they're worried he might have tried to squirt a little dirt on Ward or scare the kid and misjudged the distance" demonstrates that my "bullshit" is on the minds of his friends as a real possibility. There's a reason for that. It perfectly fits what actually happened and the history of the driver.

The dead, for obvious reasons, need people to tell their side. Stewart can speak for himself, has millions of automatic allies, and the fortune to hire as many more as he needs. I make no apologies for not giving him the benefit of the (very little) doubt.

**lerxt1990** · August 17, 2014

Robin Miller- who is actually a legit motorsports expert, former USAC driver, former Indycar pit crew member; wrote an excellent article on this whole situation:

Tony Stewart, Kevin Ward Jr., and the senseless rush to judgement
We'll never have all the answers for what happened that night.

By Robin Miller August 14, 2014

Everybody has an opinion, whether they've watched the video once or 20 times or not at all. In the Social Media Court of Public Opinion, it seems like Tony Stewart has already been found guilty of everything from murder to manslaughter. On the flip side, Stewart's loyalists believe Kevin Ward Jr. walked right in the path of the Grim Reaper and suffered the fatal consequences.

When the NASCAR star hit Ward during a caution flag period at the sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park and killed the 20-year-old it wasn't treated as a tragedy as much as it was a call to arms. Several "experts" from around the country weighed in, sportswriters and broadcasters who have never met Stewart or attended a sprint car race gave us their "educated" opinions. They railed on track safety, lighting, the barbaric being of dirt racing, the mental state of both drivers at the time and what drastic steps need to be taken to prevent this from happening again.

It's natural because the only time most of these media types ever write or talk about racing is when somebody dies and then they can wax poetic and be applauded at the next baseball or football game by their press-box brethren.

The only person who truly knows what happened last Saturday night on that little dirt track in upstate New York is Stewart—everybody else is guessing or dead. What some of us aren't guessing about is the man in the eye of the storm.

I've known Stewart since the mid-'90s. I've never been part of his posse, inner circle or pretend to be a confidant. We did a TV show together in 1996 for the local ABC affiliate and I was a big supporter, writing in 1996 he might be the next Parnelli Jones.

We've clashed verbally over the past three decades because Stewart enjoys arguing as much as he does running the Chili Bowl. In print I've called him petulant, brilliant, a punk, a wunderkind, a hypocrite, a throwback, a crybaby, a great guy with a big heart and a putz with a big mouth. I've watched him act like an 8-year-old and a week later make an 80-year-old tear up with an act of kindness. I've seen him lecture other drivers on professional protocol and then unhook his brain and drive into the side of the same guys he was preaching safety to.

We respect him for not pulling punches and at the same time we abhor him for shoving a defenseless photographer or cameraman. He could make Joe Gibbs swear – and not on a bible. But he's also done a lot of magnanimous things for people on the QT. Sometime his IQ didn't seem to match his car number and other times he was at the top of the class in street smarts. He can be maddening, charming and generous all in the same hour.

For much of his 43 years on this planet he's been a magnet for controversy and today he finds himself in a firestorm that nobody could imagine. And, because he's always been combative with the media, he's an easy target for the national media that seem convinced he's guilty of road rage.

The facts, as we know them, are that an angry young man ran down the track to gesture at Stewart for causing him to wreck and, in the blink of an eye, he was dead.

Did Ward get too close to Stewart and not give him a chance to react? It appears the driver directly in front of Tony has to swerve to miss Ward.

If you haven't sat inside a sprint car, visibility is limited with the seat, the built-up side panels, wings, etc. Combined with the lighting, all-black silhouette and close quarters, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Tony didn't see him until the last second.

Of course the only real evidence that something sinister could have occurred and this wasn't an open-and-shut case of wrong place/wrong time is the apparent audio of Stewart's throttle blipping. A few Tony's friends called to say they're worried he might have tried to squirt a little dirt on Ward or scare the kid and misjudged the distance. But there's also the very real chance he sped up to try and miss him. You steer a sprinter with the throttle as much as you do the steering wheel, so how do we know Stewart wasn't trying to turn down, accelerate and miss Ward?

There's even a new video that appears to show Ward reaching to grab Stewart's wing, although it's far from conclusive—just like the video we've been watching for five days.

It's all up for debate until we hear from Tony but to say he hit Ward on purpose is ludicrous. What makes anyone think Stewart even knew that somebody was mad at him until the agitated kid appeared right in front of him? The cause of the previous lap's collision wasn't some heinous slide job by Stewart; it was more like two guys racing hard for the same patch of ground. How can we know Stewart even felt what appeared to be the slight contact?

The fact Stewart has a reputation (and documentation) of being a hothead and walking onto a track in order to throw his helmet at another car is both ironic and not applicable in this situation. His tantrums at other drivers came under the bright lights of Bristol or sunshine at Martinsville and he stood off to the side while launching his weapons of choice. He didn't play chicken with on-coming traffic.

Which is not to say that Ward is guilty of anything but reacting emotionally to a testosterone-charged moment like so many drivers before him. He was racing hard on his track with a legend before running out of room and smacking the guardrail. Did the fact it was Tony Stewart make Ward unbuckle, jump out and charge down the track? Would Ward have done that after tangling with anybody else? Did these two have some history?

Sadly, we'll never know the answers. And you can't help but wonder what might have happened if the kid had waited until after the race to confront Stewart. Pat Sullivan, the longtime voice of USAC racing at tracks all around the Midwest, reckons that Stewart might have put his arm around Ward and given him a couple grand to fix the car because that's the way he can be at times.

On the track, Stew is more sinner than saint. Intentionally ramming another stock car out of the way or spinning somebody on pit road is part of the NASCAR culture. But I can't believe the former IndyCar champion would ever use something as lethal as a sprint car as a weapon against a defenseless driver on foot. This wasn't some premeditated act of machismo or payback by either driver. There was one angry young man's actions, fueled by adrenaline. Whether the NASCAR star's reactions were in similar vein or whether he was instead completely startled by the sudden appearance of a gesticulating pedestrian in front of him is something only Stewart knows. What we all know is that the scene had the worst possible ending. One promising life is over and another will be permanently scarred.

The NASCAR star has always championed short-track and sprint-car racing. He loves running the dirt, owning teams and tracks, and he also knows that his presence can give promoters a big night. Yet he likes the fact he's just another driver at a sprint show and is allowed to blend in with the scenery.

Not anymore. I don't know what happened in those split seconds last Saturday, other than a guy who lives to race is likely dying inside and a young racer died needlessly.

Stewart certainly isn't the devil like some people think, but right now he's got to be in the same hell as Kevin Ward's grieving family.

Nice to see a guy who's done it all, who's surrounded his life with the sport, speak clearly about the situation.
Article was fine but missing two important words that I supplied.

What is this match game? Could you highlight the words?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Gene_Rayburn_the_match_game.jpg/220px-Gene_Rayburn_the_match_game.jpg

Nice.

**Narps** · August 17, 2014

Robin Miller- who is actually a legit motorsports expert, former USAC driver, former Indycar pit crew member; wrote an excellent article on this whole situation:

Tony Stewart, Kevin Ward Jr., and the senseless rush to judgement
We'll never have all the answers for what happened that night.

By Robin Miller August 14, 2014

Everybody has an opinion, whether they've watched the video once or 20 times or not at all. In the Social Media Court of Public Opinion, it seems like Tony Stewart has already been found guilty of everything from murder to manslaughter. On the flip side, Stewart's loyalists believe Kevin Ward Jr. walked right in the path of the Grim Reaper and suffered the fatal consequences.

When the NASCAR star hit Ward during a caution flag period at the sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park and killed the 20-year-old it wasn't treated as a tragedy as much as it was a call to arms. Several "experts" from around the country weighed in, sportswriters and broadcasters who have never met Stewart or attended a sprint car race gave us their "educated" opinions. They railed on track safety, lighting, the barbaric being of dirt racing, the mental state of both drivers at the time and what drastic steps need to be taken to prevent this from happening again.

It's natural because the only time most of these media types ever write or talk about racing is when somebody dies and then they can wax poetic and be applauded at the next baseball or football game by their press-box brethren.

The only person who truly knows what happened last Saturday night on that little dirt track in upstate New York is Stewart—everybody else is guessing or dead. What some of us aren't guessing about is the man in the eye of the storm.

I've known Stewart since the mid-'90s. I've never been part of his posse, inner circle or pretend to be a confidant. We did a TV show together in 1996 for the local ABC affiliate and I was a big supporter, writing in 1996 he might be the next Parnelli Jones.

We've clashed verbally over the past three decades because Stewart enjoys arguing as much as he does running the Chili Bowl. In print I've called him petulant, brilliant, a punk, a wunderkind, a hypocrite, a throwback, a crybaby, a great guy with a big heart and a putz with a big mouth. I've watched him act like an 8-year-old and a week later make an 80-year-old tear up with an act of kindness. I've seen him lecture other drivers on professional protocol and then unhook his brain and drive into the side of the same guys he was preaching safety to.

We respect him for not pulling punches and at the same time we abhor him for shoving a defenseless photographer or cameraman. He could make Joe Gibbs swear – and not on a bible. But he's also done a lot of magnanimous things for people on the QT. Sometime his IQ didn't seem to match his car number and other times he was at the top of the class in street smarts. He can be maddening, charming and generous all in the same hour.

For much of his 43 years on this planet he's been a magnet for controversy and today he finds himself in a firestorm that nobody could imagine. And, because he's always been combative with the media, he's an easy target for the national media that seem convinced he's guilty of road rage.

The facts, as we know them, are that an angry young man ran down the track to gesture at Stewart for causing him to wreck and, in the blink of an eye, he was dead.

Did Ward get too close to Stewart and not give him a chance to react? It appears the driver directly in front of Tony has to swerve to miss Ward.

If you haven't sat inside a sprint car, visibility is limited with the seat, the built-up side panels, wings, etc. Combined with the lighting, all-black silhouette and close quarters, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Tony didn't see him until the last second.

Of course the only real evidence that something sinister could have occurred and this wasn't an open-and-shut case of wrong place/wrong time is the apparent audio of Stewart's throttle blipping. A few Tony's friends called to say they're worried he might have tried to squirt a little dirt on Ward or scare the kid and misjudged the distance. But there's also the very real chance he sped up to try and miss him. You steer a sprinter with the throttle as much as you do the steering wheel, so how do we know Stewart wasn't trying to turn down, accelerate and miss Ward?

There's even a new video that appears to show Ward reaching to grab Stewart's wing, although it's far from conclusive—just like the video we've been watching for five days.

It's all up for debate until we hear from Tony but to say he hit Ward on purpose is ludicrous. What makes anyone think Stewart even knew that somebody was mad at him until the agitated kid appeared right in front of him? The cause of the previous lap's collision wasn't some heinous slide job by Stewart; it was more like two guys racing hard for the same patch of ground. How can we know Stewart even felt what appeared to be the slight contact?

The fact Stewart has a reputation (and documentation) of being a hothead and walking onto a track in order to throw his helmet at another car is both ironic and not applicable in this situation. His tantrums at other drivers came under the bright lights of Bristol or sunshine at Martinsville and he stood off to the side while launching his weapons of choice. He didn't play chicken with on-coming traffic.

Which is not to say that Ward is guilty of anything but reacting emotionally to a testosterone-charged moment like so many drivers before him. He was racing hard on his track with a legend before running out of room and smacking the guardrail. Did the fact it was Tony Stewart make Ward unbuckle, jump out and charge down the track? Would Ward have done that after tangling with anybody else? Did these two have some history?

Sadly, we'll never know the answers. And you can't help but wonder what might have happened if the kid had waited until after the race to confront Stewart. Pat Sullivan, the longtime voice of USAC racing at tracks all around the Midwest, reckons that Stewart might have put his arm around Ward and given him a couple grand to fix the car because that's the way he can be at times.

On the track, Stew is more sinner than saint. Intentionally ramming another stock car out of the way or spinning somebody on pit road is part of the NASCAR culture. But I can't believe the former IndyCar champion would ever use something as lethal as a sprint car as a weapon against a defenseless driver on foot. This wasn't some premeditated act of machismo or payback by either driver. There was one angry young man's actions, fueled by adrenaline. Whether the NASCAR star's reactions were in similar vein or whether he was instead completely startled by the sudden appearance of a gesticulating pedestrian in front of him is something only Stewart knows. What we all know is that the scene had the worst possible ending. One promising life is over and another will be permanently scarred.

The NASCAR star has always championed short-track and sprint-car racing. He loves running the dirt, owning teams and tracks, and he also knows that his presence can give promoters a big night. Yet he likes the fact he's just another driver at a sprint show and is allowed to blend in with the scenery.

Not anymore. I don't know what happened in those split seconds last Saturday, other than a guy who lives to race is likely dying inside and a young racer died needlessly.

Stewart certainly isn't the devil like some people think, but right now he's got to be in the same hell as Kevin Ward's grieving family.

Nice to see a guy who's done it all, who's surrounded his life with the sport, speak clearly about the situation.
Article was fine but missing two important words that I supplied.

What is this match game? Could you highlight the words?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Gene_Rayburn_the_match_game.jpg/220px-Gene_Rayburn_the_match_game.jpg
Nice.

I remember when it first came on I believe it was called Match Game 73'. I actually met him once in NY very briefly when I was a kid.....

Edit: Apologies for the interrupt. Back to the subject at hand..... :sigh:

Edited August 17, 2014 by Narpski

**lerxt1990** · August 17, 2014

Robin Miller- who is actually a legit motorsports expert, former USAC driver, former Indycar pit crew member; wrote an excellent article on this whole situation:

Tony Stewart, Kevin Ward Jr., and the senseless rush to judgement
We'll never have all the answers for what happened that night.

By Robin Miller August 14, 2014

Everybody has an opinion, whether they've watched the video once or 20 times or not at all. In the Social Media Court of Public Opinion, it seems like Tony Stewart has already been found guilty of everything from murder to manslaughter. On the flip side, Stewart's loyalists believe Kevin Ward Jr. walked right in the path of the Grim Reaper and suffered the fatal consequences.

When the NASCAR star hit Ward during a caution flag period at the sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park and killed the 20-year-old it wasn't treated as a tragedy as much as it was a call to arms. Several "experts" from around the country weighed in, sportswriters and broadcasters who have never met Stewart or attended a sprint car race gave us their "educated" opinions. They railed on track safety, lighting, the barbaric being of dirt racing, the mental state of both drivers at the time and what drastic steps need to be taken to prevent this from happening again.

It's natural because the only time most of these media types ever write or talk about racing is when somebody dies and then they can wax poetic and be applauded at the next baseball or football game by their press-box brethren.

The only person who truly knows what happened last Saturday night on that little dirt track in upstate New York is Stewart—everybody else is guessing or dead. What some of us aren't guessing about is the man in the eye of the storm.

I've known Stewart since the mid-'90s. I've never been part of his posse, inner circle or pretend to be a confidant. We did a TV show together in 1996 for the local ABC affiliate and I was a big supporter, writing in 1996 he might be the next Parnelli Jones.

We've clashed verbally over the past three decades because Stewart enjoys arguing as much as he does running the Chili Bowl. In print I've called him petulant, brilliant, a punk, a wunderkind, a hypocrite, a throwback, a crybaby, a great guy with a big heart and a putz with a big mouth. I've watched him act like an 8-year-old and a week later make an 80-year-old tear up with an act of kindness. I've seen him lecture other drivers on professional protocol and then unhook his brain and drive into the side of the same guys he was preaching safety to.

We respect him for not pulling punches and at the same time we abhor him for shoving a defenseless photographer or cameraman. He could make Joe Gibbs swear – and not on a bible. But he's also done a lot of magnanimous things for people on the QT. Sometime his IQ didn't seem to match his car number and other times he was at the top of the class in street smarts. He can be maddening, charming and generous all in the same hour.

For much of his 43 years on this planet he's been a magnet for controversy and today he finds himself in a firestorm that nobody could imagine. And, because he's always been combative with the media, he's an easy target for the national media that seem convinced he's guilty of road rage.

The facts, as we know them, are that an angry young man ran down the track to gesture at Stewart for causing him to wreck and, in the blink of an eye, he was dead.

Did Ward get too close to Stewart and not give him a chance to react? It appears the driver directly in front of Tony has to swerve to miss Ward.

If you haven't sat inside a sprint car, visibility is limited with the seat, the built-up side panels, wings, etc. Combined with the lighting, all-black silhouette and close quarters, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Tony didn't see him until the last second.

Of course the only real evidence that something sinister could have occurred and this wasn't an open-and-shut case of wrong place/wrong time is the apparent audio of Stewart's throttle blipping. A few Tony's friends called to say they're worried he might have tried to squirt a little dirt on Ward or scare the kid and misjudged the distance. But there's also the very real chance he sped up to try and miss him. You steer a sprinter with the throttle as much as you do the steering wheel, so how do we know Stewart wasn't trying to turn down, accelerate and miss Ward?

There's even a new video that appears to show Ward reaching to grab Stewart's wing, although it's far from conclusive—just like the video we've been watching for five days.

It's all up for debate until we hear from Tony but to say he hit Ward on purpose is ludicrous. What makes anyone think Stewart even knew that somebody was mad at him until the agitated kid appeared right in front of him? The cause of the previous lap's collision wasn't some heinous slide job by Stewart; it was more like two guys racing hard for the same patch of ground. How can we know Stewart even felt what appeared to be the slight contact?

The fact Stewart has a reputation (and documentation) of being a hothead and walking onto a track in order to throw his helmet at another car is both ironic and not applicable in this situation. His tantrums at other drivers came under the bright lights of Bristol or sunshine at Martinsville and he stood off to the side while launching his weapons of choice. He didn't play chicken with on-coming traffic.

Which is not to say that Ward is guilty of anything but reacting emotionally to a testosterone-charged moment like so many drivers before him. He was racing hard on his track with a legend before running out of room and smacking the guardrail. Did the fact it was Tony Stewart make Ward unbuckle, jump out and charge down the track? Would Ward have done that after tangling with anybody else? Did these two have some history?

Sadly, we'll never know the answers. And you can't help but wonder what might have happened if the kid had waited until after the race to confront Stewart. Pat Sullivan, the longtime voice of USAC racing at tracks all around the Midwest, reckons that Stewart might have put his arm around Ward and given him a couple grand to fix the car because that's the way he can be at times.

On the track, Stew is more sinner than saint. Intentionally ramming another stock car out of the way or spinning somebody on pit road is part of the NASCAR culture. But I can't believe the former IndyCar champion would ever use something as lethal as a sprint car as a weapon against a defenseless driver on foot. This wasn't some premeditated act of machismo or payback by either driver. There was one angry young man's actions, fueled by adrenaline. Whether the NASCAR star's reactions were in similar vein or whether he was instead completely startled by the sudden appearance of a gesticulating pedestrian in front of him is something only Stewart knows. What we all know is that the scene had the worst possible ending. One promising life is over and another will be permanently scarred.

The NASCAR star has always championed short-track and sprint-car racing. He loves running the dirt, owning teams and tracks, and he also knows that his presence can give promoters a big night. Yet he likes the fact he's just another driver at a sprint show and is allowed to blend in with the scenery.

Not anymore. I don't know what happened in those split seconds last Saturday, other than a guy who lives to race is likely dying inside and a young racer died needlessly.

Stewart certainly isn't the devil like some people think, but right now he's got to be in the same hell as Kevin Ward's grieving family.

Nice to see a guy who's done it all, who's surrounded his life with the sport, speak clearly about the situation.
Article was fine but missing two important words that I supplied.

What is this match game? Could you highlight the words?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Gene_Rayburn_the_match_game.jpg/220px-Gene_Rayburn_the_match_game.jpg
Nice.
I remember when it first came on I believe it was called Match Game 73'. I actually met him once in NY very briefly when I was a kid.....

Edit: Apologies for the interrupt. Back to the subject at hand..... :sigh:

Gene Rayburn is always relavent.

Edited August 17, 2014 by lerxt1990

**edhunter** · August 17, 2014

Honestly everyone can speculate but we'll never know unless Tony makes a statement as to what he actually saw or admits that he saw.

The best thing is for him to just lay low for a while, and let the attention move elsewhere. He's still facing charges, which I don't see happening. But all the social media assholes, including the one right here in this thread are just waiting to pounce.

And Ward's parents I'm sure have scumbag lawyers in their ears telling them about the money they can make right now.

He'd never do it, but Stewart should file a preemptive suit against Ward's family. Their son's stupidity has created extreme emotional distress and loss of income. But he's in a no-win situation right now. He'd be crucified in the media.

Not sure suing the parents of the guy you ran over, even if accidental, is the right thing to do either....

All things being equal, of course not. But Stewart has at lot at stake and he needs to protect himself. I'd be getting the paperwork ready quietly, and the minute they sue, countersue them into the f*ckin' ground. At that point, all will be fair. Bring up the dead guy's own past and let the shit fly. It'll be his only defense if he wants to protect what he has built. The dumbfucks (like our resident accuser here) in the public will get over it within a year or so.

**EagleMoon** · August 17, 2014

Honestly everyone can speculate but we'll never know unless Tony makes a statement as to what he actually saw or admits that he saw.

The best thing is for him to just lay low for a while, and let the attention move elsewhere. He's still facing charges, which I don't see happening. But all the social media assholes, including the one right here in this thread are just waiting to pounce.

And Ward's parents I'm sure have scumbag lawyers in their ears telling them about the money they can make right now.

He'd never do it, but Stewart should file a preemptive suit against Ward's family. Their son's stupidity has created extreme emotional distress and loss of income. But he's in a no-win situation right now. He'd be crucified in the media.

I'm sure you're right. Really I'm surprised he hasn't made a public statement of any kind at all though. You would think he would immediately say it wasn't intentional or he didn't see the guy. In a way that seems a bit suspicious that he hasn't said anything.

**lerxt1990** · August 17, 2014

Honestly everyone can speculate but we'll never know unless Tony makes a statement as to what he actually saw or admits that he saw.

The best thing is for him to just lay low for a while, and let the attention move elsewhere. He's still facing charges, which I don't see happening. But all the social media assholes, including the one right here in this thread are just waiting to pounce.

And Ward's parents I'm sure have scumbag lawyers in their ears telling them about the money they can make right now.

He'd never do it, but Stewart should file a preemptive suit against Ward's family. Their son's stupidity has created extreme emotional distress and loss of income. But he's in a no-win situation right now. He'd be crucified in the media.

Not sure suing the parents of the guy you ran over, even if accidental, is the right thing to do either....

All things being equal, of course not. But Stewart has at lot at stake and he needs to protect himself. I'd be getting the paperwork ready quietly, and the minute they sue, countersue them into the f*ckin' ground. At that point, all will be fair. Bring up the dead guy's own past and let the shit fly. It'll be his only defense if he wants to protect what he has built. The dumbfucks (like our resident accuser here) in the public will get over it within a year or so.

Tony Stewart has the best legal counsel money can buy, Im sure. Digging up the others guy past is not the only defense to "I didnt purposefully hit him" Im sure. Well see how this plays out. In the cout of public opinion, nopt racing only goes so far, and a statement, prepared or not, is expected by the [public...

**troutman** · August 17, 2014

Honestly everyone can speculate but we'll never know unless Tony makes a statement as to what he actually saw or admits that he saw.

The best thing is for him to just lay low for a while, and let the attention move elsewhere. He's still facing charges, which I don't see happening. But all the social media assholes, including the one right here in this thread are just waiting to pounce.

And Ward's parents I'm sure have scumbag lawyers in their ears telling them about the money they can make right now.

He'd never do it, but Stewart should file a preemptive suit against Ward's family. Their son's stupidity has created extreme emotional distress and loss of income. But he's in a no-win situation right now. He'd be crucified in the media.

I'm sure you're right. Really I'm surprised he hasn't made a public statement of any kind at all though. You would think he would immediately say it wasn't intentional or he didn't see the guy. In a way that seems a bit suspicious that he hasn't said anything.

Maybe so,

But being involved in a person's death affects people in different ways. But, I agree he needs to make a statement at some point soon. Taking legal advise for sure.

**KenJennings** · August 17, 2014

It's quite revealing that a bag of shattered bones tumbling down a track doesn't qualify as a sickening display.

Referring to the dead as 'a bag of shattered bones' really demonstrates your superior compassion here... :eyeroll:

But in regards to human behavior, which are the kinds of displays I think we both know we're referring to when we set aside the smartass opportunities for cheap shots, I stand by my statement.

Nevertheless, "A few Tony's friends called to say they're worried he might have tried to squirt a little dirt on Ward or scare the kid and misjudged the distance" demonstrates that my "bullshit" is on the minds of his friends as a real possibility. There's a reason for that. It perfectly fits what actually happened and the history of the driver.

Convenient to leave off the next sentance. Also convenient to focus on a few speculative, shortsighted words, rather than the whole rest of the article, especially passes like: "What makes anyone think Stewart even knew that somebody was mad at him until the agitated kid appeared right in front of him? The cause of the previous lap's collision wasn't some heinous slide job by Stewart; it was more like two guys racing hard for the same patch of ground. How can we know Stewart even felt what appeared to be the slight contact?"

So yeah, it's also convenient to throw logical deduction out the window.

The dead, for obvious reasons, need people to tell their side. Stewart can speak for himself, has millions of automatic allies, and the fortune to hire as many more as he needs. I make no apologies for not giving him the benefit of the (very little) doubt.

That just demonstrates a lack of character on your behalf. The ability to defend ones self should never afford them less benefit of doubt than they would ever receive in any other circumstances. It is only moral that benefit of the doubt should ALWAYS follow the accused, no matter how much you don't want that to be the case.

**Slack jaw gaze** · August 17, 2014

It's quite revealing that a bag of shattered bones tumbling down a track doesn't qualify as a sickening display.

Referring to the dead as 'a bag of shattered bones' really demonstrates your superior compassion here... :eyeroll:

He was ground up by the huge rear tire of a sprint car that was probably spinning at a couple of thousand RPMs rather than the couple hundred it should have been spinning at that time. Just keepin it real.

Tony Stewart runs over another racer who is on foot, kills him.

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