MOTORSPORT: NASCAR driver involved in speedway incident
Tony Stewart focus of speedway incident investigationThree-times NASCAR champion and speedway driver Tony Stewart has been involved in an incident in which another driver was fatally injured.
News from the USA suggests Stewart’s car hit driver Kevin Ward Jr after the two drivers clashed in a sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in up-state New York.
Stewart and Ward were racing in the Empire Super Sprints series when the incident took place. Stewart was due to drive in the Watkins Glen round of the NASCAR Sprint Cup tonight Australian time.
Various reports have been published regarding the incident.
Top NASCAR and motorsport correspondent Bob Pockrass detailed two eyewitness accounts of the incident for US outlet SportingNews. In one, Pockrass quoted Tyler Graves, “a sprint car racer and friend of Ward’s”.
Graves account in part stated: “Kevin [Ward] got out of his car. … He was throwing his arms up all over the place at Tony for most of the corner.
"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 [sic] hit Kevin. Kevin was sucked underneath and was stuck under it for a second or two and then it threw him about 50 yards.”
According to the same report, local Ontario County Sheriff’s Office personnel were investigating the incident.
More recent reports state the investigation is not of a criminal nature.
There had been no official confirmation of Ward’s death at the time of writing, however, news sources including ESPN were quoting officials stating that the driver injured at the event had passed away.
Full details in our Monday motorsport wrap.
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