Stand with Smoke- an Editorial

Editors Note: This editorial is published with permission and was published yesterday September 23, 2014  (HERE) PRIOR to any announcements.  The opinions are those of the author and the author only. Comments are disabled. 

For the last several weeks I have watched a great champion and a great man be dragged through the mud by reporters, a sheriff and a DA. I did what others thought I should do and I sat on my hands. His case has now been sent to a Grand Jury. It’s time to stop sitting on my hands. This editorial may well cost me everything that I have worked so hard for and if it does, at least I can say that I lost it showing loyalty to a friend and a mentor. Honestly that means more than any accolade or acknowledgment that I could ever receive because it will give me the peace of mind that I was true to my roots and who I am as well as a man that has given so much to so many and gone out of his way to try to improve the lives and opportunities of many in this world.

On August 9, 2014, Tony Stewart’s life was forever changed. His heart was torn from his chest and placed on display for the world to see because a young man disregarded a very basic rule. That young driver made a bad choice and a bad decision when he chose to get out of his winged sprint car and went on to a live track to express his displeasure with what may or may not have been contact that caused him to spin out in a local race in Canandaigua New York with the Empire Sprints. His actions turned tragic as he was killed when he apparently lost his footing on the track and was struck by Tony Stewart’s car.

Within minutes of the tragedy people from the track were calling Stewart a murderer and worse. The tragedy was escalated by media people who instead of waiting for the story, became experts on dirt racing and “winged sprint cup cars”. Please note here, there has never been a winged sprint cup car.

Journalists who had never seen these cars race, and had extremely limited dirt racing experience had an opinion, and they were out to prove a point. Past incidents became proof that Stewart had intentionally hit the young man, or at the very least struck him while “trying to teach him a lesson”. The reality of the situation was stunning. The released video showed something completely different. But yet the video was not clear enough for anyone to point a definite finger at the 11 time national champion. Still point they did.

Over the next few weeks we watched a series of vendettas’ unfold before us in the media. We watched an investigation drag out even after the body had been released, the cars returned, and the track began to race again. The investigation hinged on a video that was not released to the public and an autopsy that was sealed other than cause of death.

Speculation ran amuck. But no one asked the obvious questions. Why was the autopsy sealed including its toxicology report? Why was the remaining video kept secret? Press releases from the Sheriff continued to say there was no evidence to indicate that there was any criminal wrong doing on the part of Mr. Stewart. But other than that, we had this conference and sent this release because we wanted to tell you that we have nothing more to tell you. Not a single member of the media asked the questions that continued to be brought up by fans that read their articles.

At no time was ESPN asked to justify why they had published a video interview with Stewart Friesen who is married to Stewart’s ex-girlfriend, Jessica Zemken, who was at the track. At no time were they asked how they determined Friesen to be a qualified evaluator when his sprint car experience is very limited. He is obviously a biased source as the relationship between Zemken and Stewart ended badly. They continued to insinuate that somehow Stewart was this horrible hot headed monster that took the life of a young driver intentionally.

At no time were members of the NASCAR media asked what their dirt credentials were as they appeared on TV to give their expert opinions. At no time was Nancy Grace asked what her expertise in the racing community was. These people instead, were given free rein to continue what had become a Salem type witch hunt of a man who stayed silent and allowed the legal process to proceed.

Kevin Ward Jr. was made a martyr and a hero. His actions quickly forgotten in the rush to find fault and rid the racing community of the hot head that took his life. T-Shirts were made and sold and the car was used to promote events held in his memory and benefitting his family.

The real story here was Kevin Ward Jr. was not a rookie. He had been driving 360 winged sprint cars for four years. He had four victories to his credit in that time. He had history of being volatile and had been warned previously about exiting a vehicle on to a live track. Ward was a second generation racer who had been around the sport since he was four. His knowledge and experience should have kept him in the minimally damaged car. The rule book said he should have stayed in the car, but he made a different choice and that choice cost him his life and forever changed the life of Tony Stewart.

The saddest part of that is that here was a young man who had the opportunity to have the ear of one of the greatest drivers in history. He had the chance to tell him he was unhappy and why. He had the opportunity to learn from a man whose skills and abilities could have helped him improve his career and lead to many more victories than the four he had. Instead, he chose to act out in anger and he paid the ultimate price for that choice.

It was not the actions of the driver of the car that struck him that cost him his life. It was the choice he made on a live track in a dark uniform and helmet on a poorly lit track that cost him his life.

At some point there has to be some accountability for Ward, for the Sheriff, for the DA, for the media. At some point there has to be a line drawn that says you made the choice and decision to race a car on a dirt track and to get out of that car on a dirt track and approach a car moving 35 to 40 mph. Despite everything that you were told and taught, you chose to attempt to make physical contact with that car, and or its driver, you paid for it with your life.

Stewart has assumed the accountability for not being able to avoid the unavoidable. He has offered his prayers, his thoughts and his cooperation.

Now it has been sent to the Grand Jury and we face the ultimate end to the vendettas. The inexperienced, unknowledgeable media has educated the grand jury with misinformation and tainted data. Those 23 people will make the decision on what is to happen to a man who went to a track to try to boost awareness and ticket sales and enjoy his roots. What happened turned into a tragedy that he may never recover from emotionally.

Those same reporters are now quoting law handbooks and projecting what they believe will be the outcome. Yet they have little knowledge of what those handbooks mean and represent, just as they know little about dirt racing and winged sprint cars.

At this point the greatest dirt drivers in the world will not speak to what the car is or isn’t, what it can or can’t do. They are afraid to speak on anything that can be used to support or otherwise assist a man that has helped most all of them at one time or another. Men that have been heroes to the dirt family for a long time sit in silence and fear, and watch to see what will happen.

The dirt media family sits silently trying hard to follow journalistic protocol which says that you can’t address what you do not know. Sanctioning bodies sit silently while teams he owns run their series every single race, but will not speak to what their rule books say in similar matters.

I will no longer do that. I am going to say flat out this entire thing is a travesty of justice. It was a tragic accident that was brought about by a poor choice made by a young man who let his temper get away from him and he paid the price for that. But he is not alone in paying that price. Tony Stewart is paying that price every single day of his life and he has to go on living. He has given up everything but his ability to make a pay check to pay his bills. A pay check that will undoubtedly be claimed by a family that will more than likely file a civil suit once the criminal proceedings are completed.

Ontario County New York has garnered the profits from an investigation that went on for over a month and got their Sheriff re-elected to office. The DA has sent it to the Grand Jury but won’t say when that date will be, anymore than they would disclose autopsy and toxicology reports. No one is questioning the process or the reasoning behind it. No one is questioning who the experts were that made such a grand impression that the final outcome was to send the case to a criminal grand jury.

I am asking the questions. What are you hiding? Who were these experts, and what are their qualifications? How do their skills and resumes line up in comparison to the man they are to testify against? Why did you continue to investigate when the evidence and the crime scene and even the body had been released? How do you find fault with a man who even with the skills he has, was at a disadvantage from the time the yellow flag flew? How do ignore points of law that are this blatant, and yet expect the world that is watching to believe you are interested in fair and just results? My questions went unanswered. In fact I was told that they were not pertinent and the only statements that were going to be made had been made.

It is time as an auto racing family, that motorsports comes together and say to those journalists and outlets, that they have crossed the line from freedom of the press, and freedom of speech, to vendetta and invective. It is time for those of us with experience and knowledge of the car, and how it races and handles to say enough is enough.

It is time to give some peace and strength back to an 11 time champion who has given so much to our sport and its drivers, writers, fans, promoters, and sanctioning bodies. It is time to allow our anger to bring us to our feet and fight for one of our own. It is time to stop the madness and the law suits and criminal charges, and come to the reality that race tracks are dangerous places, and you knew that when you bought your ticket or your pit pass. It’s time to accept the fact that tragedies happen on and off the track. But there is no point in pointing fingers and finding fault. The result is the same no matter where the fault lies. It’s time people, to come to the reality that we are all responsible for our own actions and we cannot continue to blame others for them. We are responsible for the words we write and how they affect other people. People will learn from what we write and make decisions regarding their civic duties that will decide futures.

Silence is golden. But it is not concession. It is time to break the silence. Find your courage and stand and be counted. Voice an opinion. I don’t have to agree with you. You may not change mine, but be true to yourself and our sport. Stand behind the men that have shed blood, broken bones and given their lives to entertain you. Because if you sit silently by and are not counted, the absence of your voice may be loud enough to change the sport as we know it today. The results of those changes cannot be known. Be the voice of reason, in the darkness. As for me, I will stand in front of, next to, or behind the Rushville Rocket and all he has to do, is tell me where I am needed.