Tony Stewart...........................

[tripledog]

Wow! "Track Rage". Who 'da thunk it? Just a sad situation all the way around. Choose your battles wisely, as you may not truly understand what your adversary may be capable of, or unable to avoid.

[DohcBikes]

Enjoying gore is not the point. I certainly don't enjoy watching a fellow racer die. It's certainly unfortunate but man, the guy was pissed, clenching fists, completely oblivious to the danger, and was undoubtedly aggressively approaching race traffic, and he got hit. KASEY might be right, the wiggle is hard to read, he may have kicked it to avoid Kevin. Either way, the kid had lost his temper and reason, and was playing chicken with open wheel race cars on a dirt track.

[Slingblade]

It is so sad that a 20 year old kid lost his life over a spin out on a race track. Absolutely tragic, I can't imigine the pain of his family.

I have watched this video many times and here's my take. First of all, the sound of the car. Watch the first part of the video to get the perspective of the guy filming from the stands and
the sound of the cars. The sound comes from the cars right in front of him, on the front straight. It's possible that is not Tony's car you hear revving but a car closer to the guy filming, sound doesn't "zoom" with the video.

Secondly, the "kicking" of the car. It really looks like the car doesnt kick until he actually hits Kevin. As bad as that may sound, that's my perspective. Watch the video without sound and it will give you a different look.



The kid was mad, running on a boost of adrenaline, leaned in to give Stewart what for. Tony is a bull-headed arse and wasn't budging a bit, maybe even moved up a little to buzz him.

Then came the reminder of just how big the right rear is on a sprint car, and in that second a kid lost his life, a father and mother lost a son. Lives changed forever.

I, too was almost moved to tears when I watched this today. I can't believe it's still up, even on youtube and Sportscenter. I'm not a Stewart fan at all, never liked him.

But that is my perspective.

[El Camexican]

Testosterone gone wild, plain and simple. The kid made a BIG mistake, no doubt, but was he murdered? Only one person knows for sure.

[jakep53]

first off my prayers to the kids family.....I watch NASCAR but not very often so I am not familiar with the driver but he sounds like an ass!! but the kid should not have let his anger get the better of him he was dodging cars in the middle of a RACETRACK and as the driver comes around the kid steps forward getting struck by the tyre causing the car to fishtail both men were in the wrong but sadly it ended up the way it did!!

[atc007]

Car pitched to the left,,,AFTER he killed him. After.. There is zero doubt Kevin should have stayed in his car. To say that he was right to charge traffic would be ludicrous. And I assure you,by next weekend,it will be law at every race track in America that a driver will only be allowed to be dismissed form his racecar until.... A, On fire, B, In grave danger he feels he HAS to get out. Or C, The track safety crew has granted him permission...... To pay with his life over a temper COULD have been avoided. Anyone who would argue it wasn't tony's temper hasn't seen much of his career. He knows,and will now live with it everyday of the rest of this life,,and probably the next .. I just simply feel, there is NO place for his type of attitude in big league motorsports,or anywhere else as far as I'm concerned. JMO,, There will be a lot of changes out this week because of it.

[jakep53]

Over here in Oz recently a spectator was killed while walking through a pitstop and the car hit him and now they have to push pull or tow the cars around the pitstop!!

[DohcBikes]

Why should the racer that stayed in his race car on a race track be forced out of his line to avoid a crazed, angry idiot that's running around TRYING TO GET CLOSER TO CARS. Idve held my line as well.

Blaming Stewart is about like blaming Honda for killing people with ATC's.
Tonys past has nothing to do with this incident. If it were any other driver the kid had jumped in front of a race track, y'all wouldn't be so quick to judge. If it were Dale Jr. Youd be blaming the kid.

Bill your 'rules' for not leaving a car,,, ARE in effect at most tracks, but are things that any driver knows. So here we go with more rules because this kid didn't respect his own sport and fellow drivers. Again, KEVIN put many others in danger with the bone head move that cost his life.


Its a race track. Dont walk on it, you might get hit and die. R.I.P. Kevin.

P.S....funny that several Stewart haters here have mentioned how much they love and miss Dale Sr. One of the most aggressive and dangerous drivers in history.

[DohcBikes]

Its not about the inconvenience. Its about the danger it poses to the racers that stayed in their cars like they were supposed to. Crash avoidance is not as easy as you think on a dirt track folks. The kid made a huge mistake and it cost his life, that's all. Keep blaming from your inexperienced chair. Its all been said now anyway.

[atc007]

Since I started this thread,I should try and clarify a bit,which I suck at Clearly,everyone has an opinion.Mine is this. I HAVE watched,,unfortunately,,for the last 20 ? years.. Tony Stuart,,smoke,as his supporters call him. Dirt track,open wheel, nascar..MANY different cars and venues. During interviews, Completely and totally disrespect,swear,punch, yes punch,,throw the interviewers family,friends,network,nascar,and everyone else he could think of ATM to whine about,under the bus.. If he rubs you 20 times in a corner,and you rub him ONCE,,Literally,,once. YOU should be banned,your team,,etc. It really is like WWE,but in his mind,,it IS the way it is. Obviously,,it strikes a great chord with many,as he has LOTS of supporters.Stuart has MANY times,done the EXACT SAME thing he killed Kevin for. Jumped out of his racecar,like a angry raging bull and walked down to the cars,sometimes throwing his helmet,,and having his helmet bounce off and HIT him. THAT close. So,is this new for smoke to see a raging mad driver waiting for him under caution. No,not by ANY stretch of the imagination. He has certainly seen it 50 times,most likely 100 or more. This guy has raced all around the world for many decades! Did these other drivers HE charged,have the common sense to not try and scare him,and run him down. Yes. But He decided to "show" this kid. Again,it would be ridiculous to say he premeditated this.But he DID,absolutely ,intend to get as close as possible. The ONLY thing,and I mean the ONLY thing that SHOULD save his ass,will be a video,showing Kevin tripping and falling toward his wheel. And he shouldn't have been that close anyhow. The "sheriffs department" is awaiting go pro in car videos,,,,which as of late last night. They had ZERO, nada,none,not one. It was said that most EVERY car there has a go pro in it.?? They have "none" in their posession. They are also awaiting"fans cell videos and other angles" After,closing the track and escorting everyone out of the facility. Generally,but not always,,if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck,it might be a duck. Hopefully tons of video shows up this week for BOTH sides to try and gain some peace.

[DohcBikes]

Yep that's right and if tony had been the one to die from charging a race car, he wouldn't want people to blame the driver.

Watching, yes. Many have been watching for a long time. Some of have been racing. I see just a couple posts indicating dirt track experience. Guess what the opinion is of these people...

Thanks for starting the thread Bill! Great place to discuss this with all the brains here. Hopefully we can keep it civil and continue to dicuss instead of argue!

[oldskool83]

I didn't see the news but I watched the video...revved his motor and hit the guy. I think all the guy wanted was for him to stop maybe take it to the fists.

He should see jail time or just killed. It was caught on tape. Def no need to hit the guy.

I know nothing about this type of racing or this Tony guy but he's a walking lying dead man for all I can see now.

[ironchop]

Here`s my take:

I wasn`t there. I saw an unfortunate video which should not have been posted to the media out of respect for the victims family. I saw a guy get mad at another driver, got his hackles in an uproar, walked onto the track on a caution lap, assumed the ENTIRE WORLD STOPS FOR HIM and his attitude, tried to stop the offending car acting like a dickhead, and then got runover and killed by the dickhead behind that guy whom he had no issue with.

I`m a fan of all forms of dirt track. being a Hoosier native, I watched Tony since the 80`s because he was a local successful racer. Sprints, Outlaw wedges, Roadrunner classes, etc. Dirt track racing is very popular south of Indy and I also frequented Kitley in Indpls for many years.

I don`t know what kind of white-washed sissy racing they been showing everyone on TV, but Dirt Track racing where I`m from has fistfights, chest-pounding, posturing, gangs of crews will have group melees, and fans will fight drivers and crew. You take a bunch of workin class stiffs, spend all their pay for two years on a raggedy "racecar" and suddenly a $1000 purse becomes a matter of survival for many of them and they get emotional, reactionary, and outright violent when they lose. I know since NASCAR has been sanitized SO much everyone tends to think that nothing but Renaissance (sp?) Gentlemen pursue the sport. This race where the guy was killed is NOT NASCAR and its NOT F1, or Indy and they don`t play by the same gentlemen`s rules and expectations. Now I`m NOT condoning any of this behavior but to act as if these are isolated incidents in any form of auto racing is really just kidding ourselves. Guys die every weekend all across this country and a lot of times it was caused or was contributed to by heated tempers and irrational decisions. I can`t count the Dirt track races on one hand that have ended in a death....spectators, drivers, crew members, race officials and even seen an EMT get killed once.

On the "tony is a crybaby" and therefore is to blame or whatever I think is a little unfair. I don`t watch NASCAR at all.......not for years....wanna know why? Because they are ALL a bunch of whiny pussies on camera....Gordon crys and blames, Tony complains and blames, Danica whines, they ALL are a bunch of entitled little narcissists and THE LARGEST group of sore-losing whiners in ALL of professional auto racing...period. That facet has infected all of NASCAR and the problem is the staunch fan base will excuse all their own favorite driver`s transgressions and outright bad behavior but are indoctrinated to throw an absolute fit should any other driver act in a similar manner. The Hypocrisy around NASCAR is reaching legendary status. You take a bunch of hillbilly speed freaks and toss them into a 1.5 million dollar car and expect them to act like Lords and Ladies it isn`t goin to happen......no more than handing a troubled child a sports scholarship full ride to a major university and we all think somehow he will forget about acting like a ghetto thug and become and instant knight of the Roundtable....all too often our expectations exceed the abilities or personal expectations of those we have placed upon a pedestal. Once they show any HUMAN traits, we get our hackles up in arms and we are ready to condemn.

The truth is, ALL professional sports could use a healthy dose of "professional" all around and maybe the fact that it was a famous driver involved might shed some light on a problem that is endemic and needs to be addressed NOW. It is, by no means, rare or new and it needs to stop.


I have met Stewart numerous times so I have a little different take on his personality than many of the internet experts, I guess. I`m reserving my comments about him for another time because these days folks see what they want and they won`t listen long enough to change their mind. Just know this, Tony is no more a giant dick like he portrays himself on TV and Willie and Jase Robertson are nowhere near as funny or lazy as they appear on TV either, I`m sure. I could go on for days about judging people by their TV personas but it`s moot really.

The fact remains that one young man has lost his life too soon and somewhere, there is a family who is in mourning while the media is having a gore-fest showing the death of their son. Meanwhile Stewart haters want him dead or beatup.........This ain`t about dirt-track racing....This ain`t about being a badass driver with a bone to pick....it isn`t about NASCAR......or Chevy.....This ain`t about Stewart....or Sprint.....or manliness.

This is about a dead driver and his family and friends. Right now is THEIR TIME. Right now it`s about HIM.

I think we should all take a minute and remember what this is about. His family ain`t buried him yet and despite this, the entire country and race fans are all making this ALL ABOUT how THEY feel about it. His family doesn`t give a damn what any of us thinks about this situation and righly so.....they need peace right now.

Now ain`t the time for speculation or judgement...It`s a time for mourning, reflection, and getting your own affairs in order in case your family has to bury you too soon as well....Now is the time to remember life is precious and hating first thing on a Monday morning is counterproductive...after this then will be the time for investigations and finger pointing and banning and whatnot....that's all I`m sayin on this subject

[fabiodriven]

Avoid a crash with another vehicle by killing a man in the process DOHC? Seriously?

[86T3]

Ive watched it a couple times on three different occasions after reading comments to see if what i read was true. I dont like watching it but i really would like to know what happened. From watching it i realized that most people commenting on this on espn have no clue what theyre talking about. Most of the comments here are pretty valid but ill explain a couple things that are important to this accident. Sprint cars have direct drives, they need to be push started and can only go so slow before they stall. The other important aspect of sprint cars is that they have a ton of tire stagger in the rear which means the right rear tire is a larger diameter than the left rear. When the punch the throttle on these cras it makes the car turn left and it pitches the rear to the right.

Like i said, i watchd the video a couple times but without the ability to slow the video down i really have a hard time being able to tell what happened. It appears to me that tony was going a little faster than the first car that missed kevin and he did seem to be higher on the track but his car never changed direction until the right rear tire hit kevin. Thats when the car swerved to the right and thats when you hear an engine rev (which is probably tony's car but it could have been any car on the track) If tony punched the car to roost kevin the car would have swerved to the left. I think this was just an unfortunate act but i feel that its mostly kevin's fault. The only thing in life that you are truely in control of is what you do. He put himself in a situation where he was in serious danger and unfortunately payed the ultimate price for it. I feel terrible for kevin, his family, and tony, i can imagine that noones life will ever be the same after