Tony Stewart: Instigator of NASCAR trend to push "the limit" from edgy to "accidentally" deadly.
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Star driver Tony Stewart officially became NASCAR’s ‘‘bad boy’’ in 2001, when he spun out Jeff Gordon at Bristol Motor Speedway after Gordon had pulled a ‘‘bump-and-run’’ on him to finish higher in the race. Stewart was put on probation for his loony act, and his temper was firmly documented.
Stewart and Gordon already had gotten into it in a 2000 crash at Watkins Glen International, and Stewart had been fined for his wild-eyed, X-rated tirade after the race. In time, Stewart would have altercations with reporters, with photographers, with Kurt Busch, on and on. En route, he racked up lots of victories and money.
At times, though, Stewart and his foes made NASCAR look like a demolition derby, with the skilled drivers bumping and nudging each other and sometimes blatantly forcing someone to crash. There grew a lawless subculture of post-race confrontations, screaming and punches and even near-assaults while races were in still in action.
The lines between the desire to win, rough driving, ‘‘trading paint’’ and near-deadly aggression blurred. Pit row could resemble a mosh pit.
This was not all because of Stewart, mind you. NASCAR has been rough since the git-go. You don’t start a sport based on souped-up moonshiners’ hot rods and wild-driving good ol’ boys and expect Cinderella to break out.
But the bubbling culture of danger and machismo came to a tragic head Aug. 9, when Stewart hit and killed 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr. in a non-NASCAR-sanctioned sprint-car event in Canandaigua, New York. Ward had jumped out of his car after spinning out and crashing because of a bump by Stewart, and he was doing the macho screaming act he probably had seen many times on TV when Stewart came around and nailed him with the right side of his car.
Could Stewart have avoided Ward? Did he want to? Was he trying to teach the kid a little ‘‘attitude’’ lesson? Not kill him but scare him? Maybe a little sideswipe and some face grit?
We may never know.
Stewart himself might not know. Instincts, twitches, reactions, impulses — they are tied up with brain neurons and muscle fibers that act almost without conscious guidance in a race.
But Stewart has bowed out of two NASCAR races since the incident, including the Pure Michigan 400 on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. The investigation into Ward’s death is ongoing. Maybe two more weeks, officials say.
It seems certain Stewart will be hit with some kind of civil charges in the end, and criminal charges are also a possibility. That’s a heavy load for a sports star, no matter how any of it came into play.
The whole thing is horrible. Ward was buried Thursday in upstate New York, and his family was sad and angry. Understandable.
NASCAR, a little late to the party, made a rule Friday banning drivers from exiting their cars except in an emergency. The rule also states: ‘‘At no time should a driver or crew member(s) approach another moving vehicle.’’
It’s weird when you have to make laws to enforce common sense and decency.
Sports are all about pushing rules to the limit, hitting the corners, tiptoeing down the line, timing the starter’s gun, grabbing, pushing, hitting, intimidating. And doing it all without getting called for a penalty or harming your team. And taking your medicine when you do get flagged by the refs.
That’s how sports have to be played at the highest levels because the edges of the game are where victory lies, where beauty lies.
But there’s something else that has to be at work. It’s called morality. There is a point beyond which you don’t go. It has nothing to do with the written rules of the game. It has nothing to do with penalties or fines. It has to do with the fact you’re human, and there are things known as sportsmanship and, yes, empathy.
It was probably inevitable that something such as this tragic death would occur sooner or later. As Ward’s father said coldly after the race, Stewart was by far the best driver on the little-town track, and he could have prevented the mess. Right?
Call it a perfect storm, if you like. An arrogant, 43-year-old star chillin’ in a small-time race, doing it like a hobby, teaching an upstart local kid a big lesson.
Oh, what a lesson.
For Stewart most of all.
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