Might not be anything at all since there is no real proof that he purposely hit him. Had he not gone on to the middle of the track and Stewart purposely swerved to hit him, it looks bad but this is kinda leaves it up in the air. We can't expect Stewart to purposely swerve and miss him in spite of Ward's stupidity and endanger himself. I wonder if they have a way to recreate that incident on computers so they can tell what actually happened.

Point being that would have also killed his career or hobble it some. Considering that you only have a limited time to make hay while the sun shines, it might be more wise to avoid that. Even if he had hit Stewart, what would it accomplish? A punishment from the sanctioning board?

Here is a crazy idea. Forward the recording to the sanctioning board with your complain. You'd look good, avoid a civil lawsuit and possibly criminal one and avoid punishments from the sanctioning board of the sport. And if you have a case, maybe might get something done. All hitting him accomplishes is making him look like the victim and gets you into trouble. Sure, a career death is not as bad as physical death but how is EITHER a good idea? Both are dumb.

Question is what rage? Assuming he did it purposely, he'd have knocked Ward out of the race. Did ward hit him first where there was rage involved on his part? Didn't see it in the video but maybe it is a case of "you hit me first".

Maybe, maybe not. All publicity is good publicity, so long as you're alive. Bad publicity still beats death in any case.

The videos are so blurry that I cannot see any swerving of any sort of Tony's car at time of impact...nor sound of engine revving....just looks like the other car ahead of tony swerved and apparently Tony did not see him and did not swerve to miss the fellow on the track.

I wouldn't go that far with that adage. I would guess that good publicity is more desirable than bad but that is my guess.

True but the point is why go with either of those 2 options? He wasn't having a gun to his head to chose either.

Yup. His ego got the better of him. Maybe he was not thinking clearly, but every mother has told her child about the dangers of playing in the traffic. I hate to be harsh but trying to stop a speeding car with your body is not a well thought out plan.

Maybe but he can be a lesson of "what not to do" to other's

As a young buck I'm certain that Ward was emulating the now all too famous NASCAR drivers that "git out yer crashed race car on-the-race-track syndrome, and go tumble with the guy who wrecked you out!"


If his tragic death meant anything, I think the racing community will enter the 20th Century in making this stupid 'git out yer car' fightin' behavior taboo.

Rule 1- NEVER get out of the car when it is on the track. That is what the Yellow flag/Light is for.
Rule 2 - Save it for the pits. Argue, Spit, Swing..but do it IN THE PITS!

The kid was a local hero. It was his local track and he was being done in in front of his fans. Clay tracks are like driving on marbles. In racing you are going to get hit, not if but when, it is a fact of racing. Some nights you win, some nights you don't.

But getting out of the car and standing on the track in traffic is pure stupidity.

First, his original meeting with the wall seems to be Wards own fault, he was trying to overtake and there wasn't enough room, and it is not even for sure the two vehicles made contact.

If you enlarge and frame by frame the body contact it looks as if he was aside and trying to grab - and the rear step out was away from the hit trying to avoid it.

Seems Ward went out in youthful ignorance to settle a score not owed him and taking on a vehicle is just nuts.

How is it tragic? You do something stupid and you die. Sorry, no sympathy here. As to this taboo thing, maybe it will make it more interesting.

Nope. It is NOT your track. You won a few races there but that won't make it yours. Somedays, you beat others, some days, others beat you. You got no dibs on the track.

I dunno, maybe you're looking at fuzzier version of it but I can clearly see some fishtail action that looks like more than what the rig would do hitting a body, especially with the sound of the engine being goosed in perfect timing with the fishtail. Don't know what happened but it sure looks fishy.

Then they'll still be a century behind the times.