Motor Racing is not exactly one of the safest sports around. High speeds, highly competitive drivers, high pressure situations… they all make for an explosive environment. This is partly why Sprint Car Racing has become so wildly popular, but it can be fatal.

Saturday night in Canandaigua, New York, during a race in the Empire Super Sprint series, as three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart fatally struck fellow driver Kevin Ward Jr.

According to reports and eyewitness accounts, Stewart’s and Ward’s cars collided on a turn along the rail, the result of an aggressive but wholly legal maneuver by Stewart that sent Ward’s vehicle spinning out of control.

The caution flag came out, but an irate Ward, instead of getting back in his car and getting it to safety, headed toward the center of the track, jabbing his finger and presumably looking to challenge Stewart. After nearly being hit by the two preceding vehicles, Ward was clipped by the back wheel of Stewart’s car and dragged and sent flying into the air. Forty-five minutes later, he was dead.

Please be warned, the video clip is not a chirpy start to a Monday morning. Sky News is remaining pretty objective – as are police – saying there are absolutely no criminal charges pending at this stage. The Daily Beast, however, has reported the sentiments of some of those close to Ward and there are some suggestions that the collision was intentional.

Either way, it is not a very good idea to run around on a dirt racetrack, no matter how pissed off you are at some ass who has just knocked you out of the race.

This is an absolutely tragic incident and the racing community is in a state of shock and grief. More details here and here.

Think this was an accident? Let us know.