http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/n...tory?id=3505127

My brother was at that event and said Smoke should have been arrested for his actions.

Gov

Arrested?
wow
Is racing going to change if that starts happening.
I think the sanctioning body should and will handle the situation.
Getting the police and the government involved in racing squabbles, I hope not.
Since when did race car drivers and owners quit showing passion and anger at certain times.
It is not a sport for everyone, sort of like golf.

why should he have been arrested...he did nothing wrong....you tell me you never seen a shove at your local track when when the tension was high....or how about a FIST being thrown...ive seen it plenty this year in the pits...tony didnt do nothing..that noone else hasnt done...someone got in his face...he got them out...he took the hat of his head....he didnt hurt him....come on arrested...please....you know it and i do...youve done it to

Yes, he should have been arrested.... He went to the officials and when he laid his hands on the official is where he crossed the line. You can be passionate without touching someone or possibly ruining their equipment.

The track is liable for the safety of their owners, drivers, officials, and fans. If owners, drivers, fans, and officials are allowed to do what they want in the name of racing, not very many tracks would be able to afford insurance or the lawyer bills.

Just because he is a Nascar driver, does not put him above the LAW.

I wonder what Tony Stewart would have done if say.. Kurt Busch had been running a Dirt Late Model at Eldora and came running down out of the Pits and smacked the headset off an Eldora official ?

He needs his @$$ kicked then he would think a little before he started pushing people

I'm thinking Tony handled things much better than Kyle ever would be capable of doing, at least until he matures a little more.



"The statement also included an apology by Stewart.

"Obviously, I handled this particular situation the wrong way, and if I had to do it over again, it never would've happened," he said.

Stewart also volunteered to pay for new radios and uniforms for USAC officials. "While what took place at ORP last week was unfortunate, we applaud Tony's commitment to bettering USAC and for providing additional equipment officials use week in and week out," said Kevin Miller, chief executive and president of USAC."

excerpted from the following story:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/8389...et-race-actions


have a good day,

schinde

So if one apologizes for these actions, and throws a bunch of money (material items) at it, does it make it ok???

Nope, not what I am saying here.

I am merely saying that he at least attempted to make amends.

He did make a public statement of apology, and probably realized afterwards that his reputation, especially as a track owner/promoter, was damaged by this fit that he had.

I persoanlly do not condone such action by anyone, even by my friends and fellow mod racers on a small track, let alone someone of Tony's stature on the USAC tour, but,

When one takes responsiblity for what they have done,

I am willing to cut them some slack.

Tony is lucky enough to have money to throw at the USAC system,

When I feel a fit coming on, I go straight into my hauler and stay there until I have calmed my adrenaline charged self down.

And try to make amends as best I can, in the ways that I can, usually behind the scenes with those involved.

Which is what I am speaking of here with Tony.

No, he shouldn't have acted that way.

Yes, he did take some personal action regarding his behavior.

He won't get a total pass, but will get some slack from my side of the fence.

have a good day,

schinde

I havent paid to close attention to the whole situation, but what brought about his actions. Why did he do it?

I hear ya Matt, and don't disagree with your thoughts. I don't know that I lean one way or the other here, I was just asking the question more than anything, for discussion, negitive or positive.

rkargel18,

I don't know if you caught the video in the opening post here or not. But other than that, I'm not sure what happened before his outburst. Maybe someone that was there knows.

If I am not mistaken, his car was off the track for a quick repair during a caution, and was not allowed back ont he track before the restart of the race,

or something very similar to that.

have a good day,

schinde

Tracy Hines drives the USAC car that Tony owns, I am pretty sure they came in under caution to change a flat tire and the official wouldnt let him back out saying that the car was not in race ready condition or something. Tracy was the points leader going in to the event.

Big Ed, just saw the part where he hit the official and was curious what would cause him to do that..


As far as his car not being back allowed on the track, is that normal procedure for USAC. Although even if it isnt not sure it warrants assaulting someone.

Thats the problem with the world these days... you knock a headset off and it automatically becomes "assault" and the person doing it should be in jail or sued . Stewart was making his point loud and clear... In the heat of the moment you don't always get a chance to think about "the right way" to do things.

you know it and i do...youve done it to
[/quote]

You are correct I have done that, I once slapped a landlord of a trailer park my daughter lived in with set of rules the trailer park had.

Guess what, he called the cops on me. That was over 10 years ago and today I would have most likley gone to jail.

Look I was only repeating what my brother told me. From what he said I think it was much worse in person than what the video shows.

He threw the headset on the ground twice on the first guy after pushing him and also pushed the second guy after throwing his headset down.

Gov

LMAO. What you see in the video, is about exactly what happened. He knocked one headset of an official. No more. Not that I think it is OK to do that, not by any means. He did not hit the guy. he grabbed the headset and threw it down. He did not smack it off from him. The second altercation was a second official who decided to take matters in his own hands. Stewart was walking away from everything. It was done, and over. The second official came up, and physically stopped Stewart.

Want the rest of the story? The second official in that video, was released by USAC after that race.

Sorry, just the facts. You can tell who the fans of Stewart are, and who are not. The man has done more for racing that most anyone in history. Not to mention everything he has done outside of racing.

Totally off topic. What is with all this "smoke" deal. That nickname has been around for a couple years but whatever happened to the "Rushville Rocket". Good old sprinter nickname got lost in the mess apparently.

I am just wondering for those that think this its no biggie what would happen if someone walked up and smacked your headset off your head ?

As an official, a driver would touch me once and the crap would hit the fan. There is no excuse whatsoever for you putting your hands on another person. Whether its cuffing someone along side the head, knocking their hat off or tearing the headset off someone. It is complete disrespect.

Where I come from you do not ever put your hands on another person. If so then katy better bolt the door because someone is going to open a big 55 gal drum of ass whopping on you. It's called respect for another person. Period and obviously Tony has none and thinks he can do whatever he wants to another.

What Smoke needs and I hope he gets it is to push the wrong person someday and they whoop his ass. Of course then that person will surely go to jail. But heck it would be worth it. This isn't his first altercation and probably wont be his last. I talked to a deputy who was involved in Smokes pushing incident at Bristol a couple years ago ( when he knocked someone on their ass over some tires next to his hauler ). Nascar made a few phone calls to some Bristol / Sheriff officials and everything went underground from there. Poof......gone.......

People who think these type of things are no big deal are the same ones I would like to see on the receiving end of these incidents. What would you do then ? Proclaim its OK because its Tony......? Yeah right.

I simply do not believe in putting your hands on anyone ( however it might be ) and if its done, then that person deserves a good old fashioned ass stomping.

Just my opinion,

Chris

Arrested? for pushing somebody? let me tell you how I got the name Rocky. When I was in high school one of my freinds got into a small altercation on the race track at Dixie and some big kid from the other guys pit crew came down talkin smack trying to get my freinds mechanic to swing at him he kept saying I'm 15 why don't you hit me, you know you want to. me being only 16 threw the punk on the ground and let him know that if he really wanted a fight, he had one... I wasn't really that diplomatic. he got up and backed away as fast as he could (correct decision on his part). Now how many times has this happened? You see it all the time. Racing is like any other sport, tempers flare and unlike in football you can't just tackle somebody if they tick you off. If you push an official, yeah you get ejected, suspended fined etc, but you sure as hell don't get arrested. That's just my .02.

BTW some punk did what Tony did to me I'd probably be the one getting arrested.

Give a racer a stupid answer and he may give a stupid response. The official was hell determined to put his headset back on and ignore Tony's argument. It is my understanding that this was all because the officials would not wait for a push truck! He apologized and paid retribution. He helped USAC and now they are happy. What more would you have him do? It was between USAC and Tony, case closed.

If you owned the point leader car what would you do? I hope not wimp out? These days one gets in trouble for standing their ground. That is pretty sad!

Yeah Dennis you are right. It don't mean I wouldn't swing back though.

What would Charlie Swartz, Jack Boggs, any member of the Alabama gang, Smokey Yunick or Junior Johnson have done? I mean Tony could have told his truck driver to pull the rig on the track and block it so everybody had to get push started. I definitely would have been mad if I was in his spot and he paid the penalty. done deal.