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Nascar driver Tony Stewart hits and kills fellow racer

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The champion Nascar driver Tony Stewart struck and killed a fellow sprint car competitor in a horrific accident on Saturday night.



VIDEO LINK of incident
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtlTJAWFyRY

Stewart's vehicle smashed into a young rival, Kevin Ward, as he walked on the track after their cars had collided on a bend at the Canandaigua Motorsports Park, near Rochester in upstate New York. According to eyewitness accounts Ward, 20, was thrown up to 50ft by the impact. He was dead on arrival at the local hospital.

Stewart, a 43-year-old three-time winner of Nascar's premier event, the Sprint Cup Series, was unhurt. On Sunday afternoon, he released a statement which said: 'There aren't words to describe the sadness I feel about the accident that took the life of Kevin Ward Jr ... My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and everyone affected by this tragedy."

The champion driver initially announced that he would compete in a Nascar race at Watkins Glen, also in New York, within 24 hours. This prompted complaints on social media; on Sunday morning his team, Stewart-Hass racing, released a statement saying he would not compete.

Stewart's own statement said: 'It's a very emotional time for all involved, and it is the reason I've decided not to participate in today's race at Watkins Glen. "

Some spectators present at Canandaigua on Saturday night said Stewart appeared to aim for Ward, after the young driver strode across the track apparently to confront him over their crash. But the sheriff of Ontario County, Philip Povero, said the investigation into the incident was not criminal and that Stewart was 'fully cooperative" and appeared to be 'very upset" over what had happened.

'He was visibly shaken by this accident," Povero said.

A graphic video, filmed by a spectator, was posted to YouTube. It was taken down soon afterwards, although it was again available online on Sunday afternoon.

Stewart and Ward's cars hit each other as they roared around a bend during the dirt-track race. Stewart was able to continue driving, while Ward's vehicle was shunted to the side of the track. Spectators saw Ward climb, apparently unhurt, from his car and, as Stewart came around for the next lap, walk across the track. Witnesses said Stewart's car appeared to go into a 'fishtail" skid before hitting Ward.

'They went into turn two and someone spun out and the guy, he got out of his car and then Tony Stewart came back around and he just fishtailed and just hit the guy. The guy rolled over on the ground," one eyewitness told a local TV station, CBS 5.

Stills from the posted YouTube video showed Ward in his helmet and fire-retardant suit striding across the track and pointing in the direction of other cars coming around the bend towards him.

Sheriff Povero said Stewart's car was behind another as Ward stepped across the track. 'The first car swerved to avoid the driver," he said.

Another eyewitness said it appeared Ward was heading out to confront Stewart. 'The next thing, I didn't see [the other driver] anymore. It just seemed he was suddenly gone," said spectator Michael Messerly.

Povero said Stewart was questioned then released. A spokesman for Stewart-Haas called Ward's death a tragic accident.

'Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. We're still attempting to sort through the details," said the spokesman.

Ward's personal website said he began racing go-karts in 1998 when he was just 4 years old and he began driving sprint cars in 2010. Ward, from Port Leyden, New York, was Empire Super Spring rookie of the year in 2012.

Stewart was involved in another incident at the Canandaigua track in 2013, when he admitted he had triggered a 15-car crash in which driver Alysha Ruggles broke her back.

Stewart suffered a compound fracture to his right leg in a race in Iowa last year. He did not return to racing until he began preparing in February for Nascar's season-opening Daytona 500 race.

The Stewart-Haas driving organisation features four drivers including the well-known female driver Danica Patrick, who is among the sport's top 10 earners with income last year totalling $13.5m, according to Forbes. Nascar, (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), attracts almost six million television viewers for every major race. Fox and NBC paid a total of $8.2bn last year for a new 10-year deal to televise it.

The Stewart-Haas organisation is worth $148m in earnings and endorsements, according to Forbes.
 
Pretty horrible incident. What was the guy thinking walking out on to the circuit....red mist got the better of him, very sad.
 
I saw the video earlier today and although number 14 Stewart was released without charge, to me it looks like he gave him a little nudge with his car, and it sounds like he used a bit of throttle at the time, there's no way Kevin Ward jumped into the car when it was coming towards him but he was stupid to get out and confront the guy who spun him off onto an open track.

I hope Stewart sleeps easy in the knowledge of what he did, he could of driven past easily.
 
Its impossible to tell from that clip who was at fault.
 
infrasilver said:
It is a little inconclusive but to me using throttle on a car that's meant to go sideways with a human at the side of the car is enough for me to think he did it on purpose. Murder or Manslaughter but not Innocent :dont know:

the use of the throttle at that moment is indefensible :dont know:
 
The guy shouldn't have been walking on the circuit. The car with blue stripes nearly hit him and probably blocked Stewarts view of what was happening, hence he couldn't avoid the chap on the track.

I feel sorry for Stewart. He will have to live with killing someone when it looks to me like he knew very little about it. It could so easily have been the car in front that killed him.
 
infrasilver said:
It is a little inconclusive but to me using throttle on a car that's meant to go sideways with a human at the side of the car is enough for me to think he did it on purpose. Murder or Manslaughter but not Innocent :dont know:

I tend to agree.....

The angle of the contact car was the opposite to the others who steered to the lower part of the track and slowed down more.

The fact that it was the same two drivers who had tangled earlier, makes it all the more difficult for me to believe that it was just an accident.

Maybe he just wanted to scare him but certainly serious questions need to be asked about that cars angle, direction and speed as it looks bad......really bad.
 
Looks like the USA legal machine could start to roll on this.......

The 20 year old was driving car No 13.......... :what:
 
That was definitely a blip of the throttle as he approached the site of the incident he knew was there, which cannot be justified.
 
There's so much adrenaline pumping in those drivers, it would be the most foolish thing to do running on that track.
Anyone of those drivers could have killed him, or even caused a pile up with potentially more deaths.
Sad.
 
From what i can remember Ward was higher up the track when the blue car went past (who also blipped the throttle and got the car sideways to turn for evasive maneuver). Then moved down

Having not driven/raced these sort of cars but from what i can gather, steering these cars is also related to acceleration.

Way i see it, Stewart has 3 options;
1. Carry on straight and hope matey dives out of the way
2. Blip throttle and go right
3. Blip throttle and go left

2/3 of these would have resulted in death and youve got to pick one in what was assuming a split second before seeing the person
 
Previous controversy from 2012 that on reflection does not do Stewart any favours.

"Stewart has jumped out of his car before, just like Ward did on Saturday, following collisions that have made him angry.

One such collision in August 2012 left Stewart utterly furious during a race in Tennessee. Stewart threw his helmet at Matt Kenseth's car and the helmet hit the vehicle as it drove past.

Following the incident, Stewart infamously said something that in the light of this recent incident does not reflect kindly on him.

'I checked up twice not to run over him. And I learned my lesson there, and I'm going to run over him every chance I got until the end of the year. Every chance I got," Stewart told CBS News afterwards."


and there is more.....

February 2000, Daytona "” Stewart and Robby Gordon got into each other on the track and in the garage during Speedweeks, with Stewart slapping at Gordon during a confrontation in the garage.

August 2000, Watkins Glen "” Stewart and Jeff Gordon were involved in a post-race war of words in the garage after a crash. The two were separated by crew members.

March 2001, Bristol "” Gordon spun Stewart in the closing laps of the Bristol spring race. Stewart spun out Gordon on pit road after the race.

July 2001, Daytona "” The NASCAR media experienced Stewart's emotion first-hand as Stewart slapped a tape recorder out of a reporter's hand and kicked it under a team hauler. Stewart also got into a confrontation with Cup series director Gary Nelson. Stewart was fined $10,000 and placed on probation through season's end.

August 2002, Indianapolis "” Stewart shoved a photographer at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and was placed on probation.

June 2004, Sonoma "” Stewart was placed on probation after an altercation with Brian Vickers following the race. Described Vickers, "He hit the armrest and he reached in the car and he grabbed me in the chest and when he did, (he) hit me."

March 2005, Bristol "” Stewart was fined $5,000 after intentionally hitting Vickers following a Busch Series race. He was placed on probation until year's end.

August 2006, Pocono "” Stewart had a crash and dispute with Clint Bowyer on the track and after the race, hitting Bowyer's car on the cool-down lap. Stewart later claimed full responsibility.

June 2007, Dover "” Stewart was involved in an on-track incident with Kurt Busch. Busch responded by charging at Stewart's car on pit road and almost hitting a member of Stewart's pit crew.

February 2008, Daytona "” Stewart was involved in a crash during practice with Busch, and they banged into each other on pit road. Afterward, Stewart allegedly punched Busch in a NASCAR hauler.

December 2011, Australia "” Stewart is briefly jailed after throwing a helmet at and then fighting Parramatta City Raceway co-owner Brett Morris. Morris did not press charges but said, "I don't care who Tony Stewart is, if he wants to come to Australia and throw a helmet, he'd better learn to fight."

August 2012, Bristol "” After being involved in a crash with Matt Kenseth, Stewart launches his helmet at Kenseth's car when it passed on pit road.

:nooo:
 

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