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Yeah it pretty much looks like Tony Stewart is following the line of the 45 car, which narrowly avoids hitting the young driver. In the video even, the kid disappears behind the 45 car for a second or two. It's not inconceivable that Tony Stewart didn't see the kid in the dark racing suit until he was very close to him and then gunned the engine to avoid hitting him. It was really his only option if he already thought he was going to hit him, since turning the wheel while not in the throttle does nothing in these sprint cars on a dirt track. Or maybe he really did do something stupid like try to scare/clip the kid. I don't know. But the first scenario I just described is a hell of a lot more likely. The kid didn't deserve to die or even be hurt at all, but getting out of your race car and walking around on the track while other cars are still running is like Russian Roulette. With how dumb and childish race car drivers act I'm surprised this is the first time this has happened to be honest. Maybe NASCAR will start suspending drivers that do this poo poo and basically condone this sort of childish display. Anyways, I hope Tony loses every dime he has in the civil case, but he's not a murderer.
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Aug 10, 2014 15:12
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VikingSkull posted:Well if your first paragraph is what happened, he shouldn't even lose a dime. The burden of proof in a civil trial is a hell of a lot different than in a criminal trial. It's "based on the preponderance of evidence" instead of "beyond a reasonable doubt". All they would need to prove in a civil trial is that Tony Stewart recklessly tried to scare the kid and killed him. If 50.1% of the evidence supports that, Tony would lose. No, I'm not a lawyer. Yes, I might be talking out of my rear end.
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Aug 10, 2014 15:23
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Maybe the NRA will sponsor him. They wrote the book on deflecting blame for people's deaths.
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Aug 10, 2014 16:28
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Let's face it, it was probably just a horrible combination of Stewart intending to scare the kid, and the kid stepping right into the path where Stewart intended the car to go, not knowing that Stewart was going to gun it and fishtail the car. That doesn't absolve anyone of blame, but it likely explains how this might have happened.
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Aug 10, 2014 17:50
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At the very least, if Tony Stewart is completely blame-free as far as his actions behind the wheel (not saying he is), he is totally responsible (and probably, in fact, Exhibit A) for perpetuating the stupid bullshit macho getting out of your car on the track childish poo poo.
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Aug 10, 2014 22:54
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Retail Slave posted:Just because Tony Stewart had done it previously doesn't mean he's at fault because another adult made the conscious decision to do it themselves. While it's very tragic that Kevin Ward, Jr was killed, this never would have happened if he would have just stayed in his drat car. Even the guys racing on dirt tracks at county fairs or whatever have been around long enough to know that running on a racetrack with cars whizzing by is a bad loving idea. He is at least 95% responsible for his own death. You read something into my post that wasn't there. I'm not saying that Stewart would be at fault for his death because he's done that poo poo before, just that he's one of the dumber driver who has continually done that Dumb Thing.
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Aug 11, 2014 01:32
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There's a car before the 45 that came in on an even higher line than the 45 and Stewart and he's also going much faster. Immediately after that car passes, Ward takes about 3 or 4 steps toward the bottom of the race track where the 45 narrowly avoids hitting him (Ward jumps out of the way) before Stewart hits him. I'm sorry but the more I see that video, the more this just seems like dumb person getting too close to moving race car. If this wasn't Tony Stewart, noted hot head, and was instead the guy in the 45 or the first car before that, it's a tiny sad blip on the sports radar. Instead, it's straight up murder.
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Aug 11, 2014 05:09
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You can't tell me with a straight face if you've seen video footage of Ward jumping out of the way of the 45 car that this was anything but Ward's fault. Dude literally walked in front of two race cars and failed to get out of the way of the second. Why aren't more people discussing the fact that maybe Ward misjudged how close he was getting to the cars. After all, sprint cars on dirt don't really travel in a straight-ish line the way a stock car or indy car would on asphalt. Maybe he stepped where he thought the car would miss him and made a fatal error in judgement.
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Aug 11, 2014 16:16
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If a dumb person was walking out into lanes of traffic on the freeway and was hit and killed, I can think of almost no circumstance where we would blame the driver. Because you just don't walk out into lanes of traffic.
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Aug 11, 2014 16:39
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Yes, you found a situation that disproves my statement. And it has zero resemblance to the Stewart/Ward incident other than the driver being a famous athlete.
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Aug 11, 2014 17:09
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canti32 posted:45 didn't dodge him, Ward jumped back at the last second. Bingo. And let's not forget the car before the 45 that takes a MUCH higher line at a much faster speed. Let's not pretend everyone slowed to a crawl and hugged the bottom of the track except Stewart. Ward was playing Russian Roulette the second he took steps toward the bottom of the racetrack.
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Aug 13, 2014 04:10
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Another thing to consider that I just read. Winged sprint cars are much more difficult to drive at 40 mph (the approximate speed that Stewart was traveling when he struck Ward) than at, say 100mph because of the lack of down force. So despite many peoples claims that the race was under caution and therefore Stewart should have been under complete control of the car, it's just not supported by facts.
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Aug 16, 2014 22:01
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Drunk Canuck posted:Obviously you have not read this thread. I have, I'm just more willing to believe the people quoted in the article I read. It was a lot more technically and scientifically detailed than "Trust me, I've driven these things. Thing I say is true."
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Aug 16, 2014 22:53
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Cat Terrist posted:You are seriously trying to say throwing one of these cars into a corner at 160 kph is easier than tooling around at 65kph? And you are trying to say a guy that has actual experience knows less than some article? Or the current or retired motorracers that know a thing or two also are wrong? The people quoted in the article were experienced sprint car drivers. Edit: as soon as I find the article I'll post it.
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Aug 17, 2014 02:57
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 05:53 |
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So much for the sports story of the century.
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Aug 19, 2014 17:28
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