Stewart answers questions in public setting for the first time since fatal on-track incident
Sept. 29, 2014
By Joe Menzer
NASCAR Wire Service
KANNAPOLIS,
N.C. – Talking with the media and answering questions in a group
setting Monday for the first time since his involvement in the Aug. 9
incident which resulted in the death of 20-year-old driver Kevin Ward
Jr., Tony Stewart said he is willing to “be available” to talk to the
grieving family of Ward.
But
Stewart also insisted that the incident in which the sprint car he was
driving in a non-NASCAR-sanctioned event struck and killed Ward on a
dirt
track in New York was an accident.
“I
want to be available to them if they want to talk about it,” Stewart
said of Ward’s family during a news conference at Stewart-Haas Racing,
the
company he co-owns with Gene Haas. “At this point, I don’t need to talk
to them for closure. I know what happened, and I know it was an
accident. But I’m offering to talk to them to help them, if it helps
them with closure.”
At
least three of Ward’s family members have reached out to various media
outlets and suggested that Stewart was negligent in his actions the
night
of Aug. 9. But after all evidence from an extensive investigation by
the Ontario County (N.Y.) Sheriff’s Department was turned over to a
grand jury, it was announced last Wednesday that no criminal charges
would be filed against Stewart.
Ontario
County District Attorney Michael Tantillo also said that Ward was under
the influence of marijuana during the race. The incident occurred after
Stewart had clipped Ward’s car, causing the younger driver to wreck –
and Ward then climbed from his car and started walking down the track
toward the racing groove as the rest of the cars, including Stewart’s,
circled the track under caution. Stewart’s car
struck Ward seconds later.
Stewart admitted that he has had a very difficult time emotionally, as far as handling what happened.
“I
think the first three days that I was home (after it happened), I
really didn’t do anything,” he said. “I didn’t get out of bed. I didn’t
care if
I took a shower. I left my room to go get food, and that you almost had
to make yourself eat.
“In the first three or four days, I didn’t want to talk to anybody, didn’t want to see anybody. I just wanted to be by myself.”
Stewart
did say that his return to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, where he
drives the No. 14 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing, has been somewhat
therapeutic
for him. He sat out three races after the Aug. 9 tragedy, but returned
to NASCAR’s premier series at Atlanta on Aug. 31 and has participated in
five races since then.
“We’ve
been racing since Atlanta, obviously, but it’s not been business as
usual by any means, and this is going to be a healing process for me,”
Stewart
said. “It makes you think about a lot of things other than driving race
cars, but the one thing that’s probably helped me more than anything is
being back at the racetrack and being around my racing family and
remembering that I have a passion for what I do.
So that’s probably helped me more than anything when it’s come to
trying to make that next step forward.”
Even
though he has had a life-long passion for racing sprint cars on dirt,
Stewart admitted he is not certain he will ever race them again.
“I don’t know if or when I’ll ever get back in a sprint car again,” he said.
Stewart
also said his brief time away from racing has given him time to
reevaluate all aspects of his life. And to those who want to assign
blame
for what happened, he said that is a waste of time.
“To
me, it’s worthless to pick sides,” Stewart said. “A young man lost his
life, and I don’t care what side you’re on, it doesn’t change that. His
family is in mourning. I’m in mourning. My family is in mourning.
Picking sides isn’t solving or fixing anything.
“Instead
of honoring a young man who had a promising racing career, people are
picking sides and it’s like watching people throw darts at each other.
It’s disappointing at this point, honestly, because instead of
supporting each other – and the racing community is such a strong family
– it’s dividing people that on a daily basis would (normally) help each
other. There is no point in it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment