Saturday August 9 a tragic fatal incident occurred at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in Ontario County, New York between Sprint Car 13 of Kevin Ward & Sprint Car 14 Tony Stewart. Car 13 & Car 14 made contact with each other sending Sprint Car 13 into the wall in turn 2. The driver Ward of Sprint Car 13 exited his car to confront to Tony Stewart on track in which Stewart’s car fishtailed & struck Ward with its right-rear tire and sending him a sizable distance from the crash site. Rescue personnel arrived on the scene & called for a ambulance for to transport Kevin Ward to hospital. Ward was declared dead on his arrival to a local hospital. The event was then cancelled as a police investigation was started, which happens when any death occurs at an event.
Sheriff Philip Povero addressed the media to update his ongoing investigation with more information.
“Right now, we’re less than 16 hours into this investigation and it continues to be ongoing. … There are no criminal charges pending at this time and I would follow that up by saying that as we have reviewed the investigation to this point with the Ontario County District Attorney,” Povero said. “I want to make it very clear that as we speak at this time, there is no evidence in hand or no facts that would support a criminal charge or support criminal intent on the part of anybody.”
“The district attorney is very interested and supportive in the investigation and has offered their assistance and any other advice they can offer.”
Povero also noted that as the investigation continues, his department is soliciting amateur videos that can be used to further his investigation and is calling assistance from the public to come forth with such material.
“With the media present, I would ask for some assistance from the public that if there are persons hearing or seeing this message that had recorded a video of this crash or had first-hand knowledge of this crash, our investigators would like to reach out to you, retrieve this data and conduct interviews to obtain relevant information.”
Povero said that both Stewart and track officials were “cooperating fully” with the ongoing investigation. According to the sheriff, no charges are pending. He said Stewart “is very upset and confirmed his continuing cooperation.”
ABC News in Rochester, New York reported that Ward’s parents released the following statement: “We appreciate the prayers and support we are receiving from the community, but we need time to grieve and wrap our heads around all of this.”
Statement from Stewart-Haas Racing
A Stewart-Haas Racing spokesperson issued the following statement that read: “A tragic accident took place last night during a sprint car race in which Tony Stewart was participating. Tony was unhurt, but a fellow competitor lost his life. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. We’re still attempting to sort through all the details and we appreciate your understanding during this difficult time.”
NASCAR STATEMENT
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 10, 2014) – “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family, friends, and fellow competitors of Kevin Ward Jr. We support Tony Stewart’s decision to miss today’s race and we will continue to respect the process and timeline of the local authorities and will continue to monitor this situation moving forward.”
Statement from Tony Stewart
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., (Aug. 10, 2014) – The following is a statement from Tony Stewart regarding the fatal accident last night during the sprint car feature at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park involving Kevin Ward Jr.
“There aren’t words to describe the sadness I feel about the accident that took the life of Kevin Ward Jr. It’s a very emotional time for all involved, and it is the reason I’ve decided not to participate in today’s race at Watkins Glen. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and everyone affected by this tragedy.”
A YouTube video of the incident has created a media frenzy of the event.
Tony Stewart was injured last year in his Sprint car with a broken leg August 5/13; which required multiple surgeries to be able to race again. Out of all oval racing, Sprint car racing is known as one of the most dangerous due to the likely of crashes. The general rule given to oval racers in the drivers meeting is to stay in their cars unless the car is on fire as there no is safer place to be than in the car. Also Rescue can better access an injured driver still in their car as with more time adrenalin starts to ware off when injuries become present.
This is a sad day in motorsports & our condolences go out to the family, friends, and fellow competitors of Kevin Ward Jr. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and everyone affected by this tragedy.
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series.html