It has been one month since the tragic death of Sprint Car driver Kevin Ward Jr. at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in upstate New York. I have had a lot of thoughts and feelings regarding the horrible situation and the family of not only Ward, but Tony Stewart as well.
The night of August 9th I was attending a wedding reception and started getting late night texts about Tony Stewart “running over” a driver in a dirt sprint car race. I started checking out Twitter and the sketchy early reports of the situation. I follow many credible reporters and journalists that cover racing everyday and I did not start taking this story seriously until I saw some of those individuals re-tweeting and posting some details. Then the video of the accident surfaced. Despite seeing some of the most shocking crashes ever, especially growing up in an open-wheel racing household, I was numb. It was very difficult to watch. I stayed up until 4am trying to figure out more details and trying to quell my non-racing fan friends who immediately wanted to throw Stewart in jail and cancel the next day’s Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen. Despite virtually ignoring the story all night, I woke up to ESPN talking non-stop about the “breaking news.” The announcement that Stewart would not race at the Glen came later that morning.
There’s not much I can say about the incident that hasn’t been said already. We can speculate all we want, but no one but Stewart knows what happened in his car when it struck Ward. Despite this, a racing family is mourning. I can’t even begin to fathom how awful it was to not only lose a son, a brother, and friend, but even worse was to see his body laying motionless on television, as was the case in the aftermath of the tragedy involving a popular NASCAR driver and champion. Whether it was intentional or not, and I believe it was not on Stewart’s part, the Ward family continues to need our thoughts and prayers.
Tony Stewart returned to the track in Atlanta last Sunday. He looked like a man who was miserable. He looked horribly distraught. His voice was shaken and his eyes welled up. As he said in his brief statement, this will haunt him for the rest of life, no matter what he does. Only those who have been racing fans or directly involved in racing can understand why getting back to the track was the best thing he could do after sitting out three Sprint Cup weekends. Those who feel Stewart is “getting away with murder,” are foolish to think that his inner demons are not clawing at him every second of every day.
I was never a huge Tony Stewart fan or supporter, but I respected his driving ability and his dedication and passion for the sports. He is a three-time Sprint Cup champion and was a hugely successful IndyCar driver. When he started his own Sprint Cup team with Gene Haas, I had no doubt that despite the obstacles he would be very successful. He has two of his four cars in this year’s Chase. That being said I question Stewart’s ability to move on from this and go back to the level of competitiveness he had before behind the wheel. He already was struggling this season to overcome leg injuries he suffered in a dirt track crash that nearly took his life in 2013. He said throughout the season that he was not 100 percent and he still was in pain at times.
I am not going to say Stewart will walk away from racing. It’s his life. At this point, I see him throwing himself into his work even more. But how will he deal with this? It’s got to be terrifying for him. He’s always been known for his brash toughness, but it will be tough to regain that persona. Maybe a big step would be Stewart trying to become more involved in racing safety efforts. He needs to throw himself into a cause so this does not eat at him. Maybe his racing team will expand to sports car or open wheel. Perhaps he can have a role in Gene Haas’ Formula One team. He also can lean on his family and the racing family, which could be the closest bunch of competitors in any sport.
We have all suffered tragedy and mourned the loss of someone close to us. It is hard to move on. Stewart has begun the process of moving on, but not forgetting Ward and his family. How he carries on and manages his life and professional career will be a continually evolving story that will intrigue all of us involved just as passionately in motorsports as Stewart is himself.
(Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Speed For Thought 