When the Watkins Glen race weekend came into view in 2014, Tony Stewart's struggles were no great mystery. The three-time Sprint Cup champ was still trying to find his racing mojo after injuries from a Sprint Car accident cost him a major chunk of the 2013 season.
After the Zippo 200 was run, Stewart had something happen that likely brought his Sprint car racing days to a sad end.
It will be the one-year milestone tomorrow of the accident where Stewart struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. at Canandaigua Motorsports Park. One of the lasting memories I had of that night was how I struggled getting to sleep mainly because social media offered every reaction under the sun over what happened.
Many of them thought Stewart's life should have been over. Call him a murderer, lock him up and throw away the key, cried the keyboard lynch mob. I wrote about it at this link.
Thankfully, those who would speak on the keyboard didn't have the final say.
A grand jury in Ontario County declined to press any criminal charges on Stewart. Life moved on, Smoke returned to the No. 14 three weeks after the tragedy at Atlanta, but he has not been -- and never will be -- the same since.
Emotionally, the sarcasm and fire is at a slow boil. Mentally, the focus comes and goes. Competitively, Stewart hasn't won since the May race at Dover in 2013.
And now he's got another wrench of emotional ugliness to deal with. In what can only be described in the court of public opinion as a shameless money grab, the family of Kevin Ward Jr. has filed a wrongful death civil suit against Stewart.
Specific dollar figures haven't been cited in the suit, but Ward's parents said this in a statement published in USA Today:
“Our hope is that this lawsuit will hold Tony Stewart responsible for killing our son and show him there are real consequences when someone recklessly takes another person’s life.”
Within the link included above the quote, a copy of the 14-page lawsuit is presented. One thing is clear from reading it, at least in my opinion: the case is reopening old emotional wounds for everyone involved.
No one on either side has offered any sort of comment on the matter, but if I could offer the best piece of personal advice, it's simple.
Read about the case at your own risk, Stewart fan or not. Anything to do with winning or racing is secondary at this point until this lawsuit is resolved.
Tom Zulewski is passionate about racing and has written and talked about it through an 18-year journalism career. He welcomes comments and new Twitter followers @Tomzsports.
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