dude lost his head, he was talking crap to a guy he thought had caused his crash then completely lost track of where he was on a live racetrack. Ive seen guys run out onto the track to talk crap, this guy was unlucky... and stupid.

There was obviously no intent, the guy ran out too far and clearly the car fishtailed as he tried to steer it away. It's not "darwinism," don't be an ass. It's a tragedy, one that was avoidable because it was caused by a driver getting pissed in the heat of the moment and taking one step too far into the track.

There's been talk of forbidding racers from leaving their cars while on the track before. The old "race to the yellow flag" thing in the Sprint Cup was tampered with because Dale Jarrett would have gotten hit if he'd gotten out of his car with guys running around at New Hampshire. Maybe this will take it further and they'll start suspending guys for these on-track tirades so that hopefully this kind of thing stops. Of course, what the sprint car divisions do with this is entirely separate.

I don't know, then they won't be able to throw their expensive helmets at other drivers......ill miss that stupidity

they were under caution, it seems unlikely Stewart didn't see him, and he gunned his engine right in front of him. I'd chalk this one up to road rage, he'll probably get manslaughter

"There's been talk of forbidding racers from leaving their cars while on the track before."

Who exactly is preventing this from happening? Funeral Home lobbyists?

Tony Stewart shouldn't be charged. The guy got out of his vehicle and walked in front of Stewart.

"they were under caution, it seems unlikely Stewart didn't see him,"

The guy (Kevin Ward Jr.) WAS wearing a black suit on a dark track at night...and even under a caution flag, a car generally goes pretty fast compared to a pedestrian...

Seems entirely possible to me Stewart didn't see a guy dressed in black at night against a black background until it was too late.

If you know anything about racing sprints you realize that he was doing nothing but caution speed. It was an accident, and idiots that don't know what they're talking about will cry that he should go to jail, but it's pretty clear that from the video here it was a simple accident.

@abge ... They talked of fines and point docks for racers that get out of their cars without official radioed permission from NASCAR while still on the track but obviously that rule was never put in place. That could change now, I'm simply speculating.

"There's been talk of forbidding racers from leaving their cars while on the track before."

Honestly, I'm surprised there isn't already a rule regarding this, as it seems only sensible when you think of how fast these cars are going. Barring a car becoming unsafe to stay in e.g. on fire, I would think drivers would want to stay there anyways, even under caution flags. (I've heard conflicting reports about there actually being a rule regarding it, but I'm not sure which types of races have made it a rule or haven't.)

Stewart at the very least intended to scare Ward. Murder 2nd degree, depraved indifference to human life.

"The guy (Kevin Ward Jr.) WAS wearing a black suit on a dark track at night...and even under a caution flag, a car generally goes pretty fast compared to a pedestrian..."

Except other drivers managed to avoid hitting him, and Ward was waving at him. And why did Stewart accelerate?

Ward was purposefully avoiding other cars whereas he was trying to get as close as possible to Stewart. It's really not clear from the video that he even did accelerate.

Putin... wow. Do you have to be a dirtbag about every issue?

Those cars fishtail when you accelerate, the backend came out which is why Ward was hit in the first place. All reports indicate he accelerated.

Getting out of the car is common in races so the notion that if you get out of the car everybody is entitled to mow you down and kill you is ridiculous, not to mention awful.

No one is making that argument...

Yes they are.

People are arguing that Ward was an idiot. No one is saying Stewart had the right to kill him.

That is interesting about the acceleration, though.

Haven't seen the clip. Not interested in car racing, or death. Sounds like a tragedy either way. That said, ever heard the expression "Accelerate through a turn"? Helps the wheels grip. If he only saw the guy at the last minute, hitting the accelerator would make his turn (presumably to miss) sharper.

I read the acceleration and fishtailing idea as well, and while it is intriguing in that it adds a possible layer of intent into the mix, there's also the possibility that he was trying to brake and fishtailed at the same time. These cars aren't exactly easy to handle and I find it much more plausible that Stewart was coming around the corner on the same line as the previous lap, saw Ward, and tried to brake but fishtailed and didn't have complete control at the time of the accident.

I wonder if there's enough telemetry on the cars in these "minor-league" races to check whether 1) Stewart did accelerate and 2) whether other people did (i.e. it's normal to do) at the same point on the track.

Stewart's teams comments immediately after the race don't lend to the idea that this wasn't intentional either. They called it 'business as usual' until people started to complain and didn't release any statement on the death of Ward until after the ESPN write-up.

If one person can lose their cool, two people can. The same adrenaline-fueled stupidity that makes a dude march onto the track can make another dude try to gun past him with an inch clearance.

"Stewart at the very least intended to scare Ward. Murder 2nd degree, depraved indifference to human life."

...Because wanting to scare someone = intent to kill now? O.o

I'm sorry, you kinda sorta need more than "He wanted to scare the guy" to convict a man of murder, particularly when the guy walked right in front of him AND was wearing black against a back background AT NIGHT--

How good is your visibility, Putin? Going to tell me you're sure you could've seen such a figure when you're going 150 mph?

And who the hell gets out of his car and walks across a speeding racetrack anyway?

Did this guy's mom not tell him crossing an area with speeding cars was a bad idea when the was all of, well, 3 years old?

"People are arguing that Ward was an idiot. No one is saying Stewart had the right to kill him."

^Also, that.

I've seen the clip, and the one thing that's clear from the clip is that Kevin Ward strides out into the middle of the racetrack, and as Stewart approaches, he actually takes further steps towards Stewart and into his path. The other drivers didn't hit him because he wasn't as close to them - he deliberately walks closer to the path of Stewart's car in the moments before he is hit.

At the point of the collision, Stewart is actually going noticably slower than some of the other cars, so the claim he accelerated into Ward isn't supported by the video.

^And also, THAT, what Jamiet said.

"...Because wanting to scare someone = intent to kill now? O.o"

No, which is why it's 2nd degree murder and not 1st degree murder. Learn the law.

"How good is your visibility, Putin? Going to tell me you're sure you could've seen such a figure when you're going 150 mph?"

Tony Stewart is a world class driver, and if visibility was so poor they wouldn't have had the race. Stewart is a good enough driver to avoid a man waving his arms on a minor league track.