Racing Tony stewart involved in on track fatality

[ranbethscards]

I watched several Sports Talk Shows on ESPN and Fox Sports... tried to think of the whole scenario as someone who has never watched any type of racing before... holy crap... if you are someone who has no idea about what the sport is about and you listen to the "evidence" (which I will explain later), you would come to the conclusion that this was a deliberate act by Stewart. Sad but true.

The "evidence" (as I mentioned) involves Stewart's past history... his on-track attitude, the fact that he has more than once talked about "getting even" with another driver when he is put into the wall or bumped... his aggressive driving... getting out of his car and getting up-in-the-face of the other driver to confront them...

Of course, NONE of the above "evidence" has anything to do with what happened Saturday night, but once you are given the label... it sticks with you no matter what.

Honestly, I think the media has already decided Tony's fate.

I watched the latest Sheriff's Briefing last night and the Sheriff made it clear that "NO criminal charges are pending" against Tony.

HOWEVER!!!... the news media immediately reported that the Sheriff had commented: "No criminal charges have been filed yet." What? That's NOT what the Sheriff said.

The only thing the Media has done right is... they have corrected their story about the "revving of the engine", stating that there is no way to prove it was Tony's engine that was revved. Tony's car was on the other side of the track while being filmed... several cars were located, and moving, on the side of the track where the spectator was filming the incident.

Again, I have to say... THE MEDIA HAS ALREADY DECIDED TONY'S FATE.

 

[Mike]

Some good logic there Randy, and I think that explains why my initial thoughts was that it was intentional. Media bias is a powerful thing. And, one more thing, if this does become a criminal case, the chances are that they're going to put people on the jury who have no connection to racing, on the premise that people who are familiar with racing would be biased one way or another about Tony Stewart, and the only way to get an impartial jury is to not have people who have any connection to racing.

 

[Zahadum]

Like everyone else I have heard and read all kinds of remarks and speculation (although some are stating as fact). Opinions are like a$$h0les everyone has one and I was not going to comment on any threads on any forums but after reading Randy’s post I have decided to add to this thread.

When the accident happened almost immediately some “experts” said Tony was at fault and guilty of involuntary manslaughter and deserved to be locked up for life, Typical Troublemaker Tony and now he will get what he has been deserving for years. Statements from “Imitation gone wrong to it was intentional. Calling Tony scum, idiot, jacka$$ to everything else possible.

The statements like this from Tyler Graves just fuel the fire:
"Tony pinched him into the frontstretch wall, a racing thing," Graves said. "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."


So Mr. Graves was in the race competing that night so know exactly how the conditions were on the track, the lighting and everything and first hand experienced the conditions in the turn? No he was not he was sitting in the Turn 1 grandstands and saw everything. But he an expert witness….

What did the driver of the # 45 say what he saw????

The way I saw the video is Mr. Stewart and Mr. Ward are racing hard like all the other competitors that night and as happens with all oval track racing a driver gets squeezed in a turn and spins out like what happened to Mr. Ward. Mr. Ward is pissed as any other driver would be. Mr. Ward makes a decision that IMO was stupid and leaves his car (before the safety crews are on the scene) to confront Mr. Stewart on the track. Mr. Ward is dressed in black and walks out into the track. He walks out pointing his finger not really paying attention to anything but the # 14 car and almost goes in front of # 45 car as it drives by. Then proceeds to try and walk in front of the #14. The # 14 moves/jerks and the back half kicks out and strikes Mr. Ward.

Here is what I have yet to see posted or talked about by the “experts”.
Here is a scenario for comparison:
Mr. Smith is driving at night going 35 MPH. As Mr. Smith is on a left curve he is momentarily blinded by a flood light/street light/ a reflected light or has a brief blind spot. Then Mr. Smith sees an instant of movement of something dark out of the corner of his eye. Does Mr. Smith turn right into where he see the movement, Slam on his brakes or turn left away from the movement? Mr. Smith makes a quick turn left away from the movement. The back end tries to kick out but it’s a paved road that is dry and the car holds to the road.
So what would have happened to Mr. Smith’s car if he was on a dirt road and did that same maneuver at 35 MPH? What if Mr. Smith was say driving a open wheel sprint car and made that same maneuver?

Like what Randy posted THE MEDIA HAS ALREADY DECIDED TONY'S FATE.

So if the media is the judge and jury now and Stewart is guilty of intent to harm, involuntary manslaughter or whatever and he is charged officially with such and convicted then the other drivers in all sports better be prepared.
Other drivers that have caused serious injuries or death to other drivers or intent should then be held liable as well. Sterling Marlin, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logono, Carl Edwards, etc could fall into such categories. Where do you draw the line?

If you hit a driver while they are still in their car while “racing” and cause injury or death get a fine and move on but you hit a driver because they foolishly left their vehicle and started to roam on the track is not and you go to jail?

Someone has lost their life do to a poor decision they made.

The NASCAR star could be charged with second-degree manslaughter under New York law if prosecutors believe he ''recklessly caused the death of another person,'' with negligent homicide another possibility, according to criminal law professor Corey Rayburn Yung of the Kansas University School of Law.

This whole thing is turning into a Tony Stewart witch hunt. Tony is 100% guilty and Kevin was well within his rights and innocent of everything. It’s sickening.

 

[Zahadum]

Nice to see a few drivers have grown a pair and started to support Tony publicly.

Also nice to see that rules are being changed so an incident like this will not happen again.

Still a lot of speculation out there and will probably always will be.

Interesting read about legal possibilities

I think this will be going on for a long time and not sure it Tony will ever be able to successfully come back as a driver.

I think it's time for nascar,sponsors and others to limit drivers to one racing venue and not allow participation in multiple ones. Either race in Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Camping World or whatever.

 

[ranbethscards]

I think it's time for nascar,sponsors and others to limit drivers to one racing venue and not allow participation in multiple ones. Either race in Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Camping World or whatever.

I've been complaining of the "Busch-Whackers" (as they were called back in the good ol' days) for years.

NASCAR says letting the "names" drive in the other categories puts fans in the seats.

 

[CamaroDMD]

NASCAR says letting the "names" drive in the other categories puts fans in the seats.

I have no doubt that it does...and the more fans in the seats means more money.

 

[Zahadum]

I've been complaining of the "Busch-Whackers" (as they were called back in the good ol' days) for years.

NASCAR says letting the "names" drive in the other categories puts fans in the seats.

Yep the Busch Series was for drivers that were coming up the ranks but not having the backing of the big sponsors that were in the Winston or not ready for the Winston. Which is why there was limits on sets of tires and everything else to give teams a chance.

Now it's all about the "Benjamins" then again so is most things now a days.

 

[Zahadum]

Awesome to hear!

Tony's Return

There was a lot of rumors that this would be the race/track as lot of support from sponsors and such are at this race historically.

 

[Zahadum]

Well...next week we find out what the outcome of the investigation.

Investigation complete

Will be interesting to see what the DA says and how it will affect racing as a whole and Tony's career moving forward.

 

[ranbethscards]

I wish, for Tony's and the Ward Family's sake, that they get this over with.