Race Weekend Central

Kevin Ward, Sr. Goes On Record, Calls Out Stewart

Recently, Kevin Ward, Sr., the father of Kevin Ward, Jr., gave his first interview since his son’s fatal crash to the Syracuse Post-Standard.

At the time of the initial crash, he was sitting in the grandstands at Canandaigua Motorsports Park with his wife, Pamela and saw his son crash into the wall.  Once that occurred, he hopped onto an ATV and raced to the Hot Pit so that he could assess the damage to the car with his race team and possibly get his son back on track.  That did not come to pass.  When asked, Ward, Sr. did not hold anything back and went directly after Tony Stewart, claiming that the contact that caused the whole situation was intentional.

“I think the reason he probably got out of that car is who put him into the wall,” Ward told the Syracuse Post-Standard’s Charley Hannagan. “He was definitely put into the wall.”  Ward also claimed that his son had never gotten out of his car during a race like he did Saturday night previously in his career.  He continued and stated that Stewart had by far the best car on track Saturday night, yet apparently felt the need to hog the racing surface.

In regards to Stewart hitting his son, Ward was matter-of-fact.

“Apparently, Tony Stewart was the only one driving out there who didn’t see him,” Ward said.   The video of the crash that has circulated on the internet shows Ward, Jr. exiting his car following the crash and pointing angrily at Stewart.  Chuck Hebing, who was immediately in front of Stewart in the No. 45, took to the infield to avoid him.  Stewart, as we now know, failed to avoid the 20-year-old racer.

Ward Sr. believes that Stewart will ultimately have to answer for the incident in court.

“The one person that knows what happened that night is possibly facing [10] years in prison,” Ward Sr. said.  “Is he going to say what he done?”

Wednesday saw no additional updates from the Ontario County Sheriff’s Department pertaining to the investigation into the crash.  The investigation is expected to take another two weeks.  Canandaigua Motorsports Park cancelled a scheduled “Whacko Wednesday” event due to the investigation, but still currently plans to race Saturday night with some kind of tribute to Ward. However, their plans will not be announced until after Ward’ss funeral and burial later today.

 

About the author

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.

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