Sunday, August 10, 2014

NASCAR: Tony Stewart and Kevin Ward Confrontation Leads to Death

By Douglas V. Gibbs

In a society where tempers flare, and individuals are quick to retaliation, during a Sprint Car Race in upstate New York, after contact slammed Kevin Ward Jr.'s car into the wall, the younger driver exited his vehicle to confront the oncoming car of Tony Stewart.  Keven Ward was struck by the three-time NASCAR champion. Ward, 20, was pronounced dead Saturday night at a hospital in Canandaigua.

Stewart chose not to race in Sunday's Sprint Cup race. The remainder of the race the incident occurred in was cancelled after the accident. Even though he will not race Sunday, Stewart can still make the Chase if he wins before the Chase. Including Sunday, there are five races before the Chase (Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta, Richmond).

Ward began racing spring cars in 2010, winning the Empire Super Sprint rookie of the year in 2012.

In Saturday's fatal tragedy, after the collision Ward was in confrontation-mode as he walked onto the track, waiting for Stewart's car to come around for another lap of the dirt track.  The closer Stewart's car came, the more Ward stepped forward toward the oncoming vehicle.  Even though the cars had slowed down under caution, the force of the impact was still enough to send Ward's body spinning, and flying 50 feet, ultimately it killing him.  Early reports claim that Stewart had not slowed down under the yellow flag, and even hit the throttle as he approached the angry young man standing on the dirt pointing his finger at Stewart.

Tony Stewart released a statement on Sunday. "There aren't words to describe the sadness I feel about the accident that took the life of Kevin Ward Jr. 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. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and everyone affected by this tragedy," he said.

Sheriff Philip Povero said Stewart, 42, was 'visibly shaken,' 'fully cooperative' and had been questioned and released. “This is right now being investigated as an on-track crash, and I don’t want to infer that there are criminal charges pending,” Povero said. “When the investigation is completed, we will sit down with the district attorney and review it. But I want to make it very clear: there are no criminal charges pending at this time.”

When asked about the accident, itself, "The first car swerved to avoid the driver," Povero said.

According to a witness, "People (who could see it better) said the guy got out of his car and was gesturing angrily at Tony Stewart when Tony Stewart came by during the next lap under yellow. He approached him and evidently when he was driving by the guy standing on the track gesturing at him, he gunned his engine.  What happened was the back end kicked out and clipped the guy and the guy flew across the track."

Another driver, a friend of Ward, and spectator at the event, Tyler Graves, said of the incident, "Tony pinched him into the frontstretch wall, a racing thing.  The right rear tire went down, he spun on the exit of (Turn) 2. They threw the caution and everything was toned down. Kevin got out of his car. … He was throwing his arms up all over the place at Tony for most of the corner.

"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."

Tony Stewart, a racing veteran, often competes in extracurricular events. The multimillionaire is known to participate in races with purses worth less than $3,000 and drive alongside drivers of varying ages and talent levels.

“Everybody has hobbies. Everybody has stuff they like to do when they have downtime, and that’s just what it is for me,” he said last month following his return to sprint car racing. “That’s what I like to do when I have extra time. I don’t think there is anything wrong with doing it. I feel like there are a lot of other things I could be doing that are a lot more dangerous and a lot bigger waste of time with my time off do than doing that.”

The accident Saturday came almost exactly a year after Stewart suffered a compound fracture to his right leg in a sprint car race in Iowa. The injury cost him the second half of the NASCAR season.  He didn't return to racing in any form until February.

In July last year, Stewart was also involved in another accident at the same track that took Ward's life. He later took responsibility for his car making contact with another and triggering the 15-car accident that left Alysha Ruggles, a nineteen year old female driver in the event, with a compression fracture in her back.

Stewart has struggled a bit this year since returning from his leg injury, and was heading into Sunday’s race winless on the season and ranked 19th in the standings.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary




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