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Tony Stewart, a NASCAR racer has reportedly hit and killed a fellow driver during a dirt race track after their cars collided on the previous lap.
The 42-year-old American driver was investigated by the Ontario County Sheriff’s department who is in charge of the case. Sheriff Philip Povero said Stewart was “fully co-operative” and appeared “very upset”. The victim was reported to be Kevin Ward Jr.
The incident took place on Saturday night at the Canandaigua Motorsports Park located at the southeast of Rochester, New York. In the video that has been speading all over social media, Stewart’s car is seen colliding with Ward’s, sending it crashing towards the right wall. It is clearly visible that the car was damaged by the collision which forced the driver to come out of the vehicle.
Stewart in his next lap dashed into Ward, who was thrown off a fair bit of distance. The 20-year-old was pronounced dead on reaching the hospital.
Stewart was released after the initial investigation which was ‘not criminal’, as per known information. All races were cancelled following the incident.
Ward’s friend Tyler Graves, who himself is a sprint car racer, witnessed the unfortunate incident from the stands.
“Tony pinched him into the front-stretch wall, a racing thing. 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,” explained Graces in a telephonic interview to Sporting News.
Graves also asserted that he didn’t believe Stewart’s actions were intentional.
“You never mean to do something like that. Kevin was pissed and he let Tony know. And Tony was trying to give the message back that he wasn’t happy either. He went over the line with it,” Graves said.
Social media has been awash with posts blaming Stewart for the incident.
There have also been vociferous calls asking NASCAR to bar Stewart from participating in today’s race.
On the other hand, there have also been calls to exercise restraint before assigning blame.
And of course, everyone’s prayers are with Ward and his family.
