Who will speak for Kevin Ward Jr. in biased Tony Stewart situation?

Will the racing world cover up the facts to protect Stewart?

Investigators could complete their inquiry into Kevin Ward Jr.’s death in the next week, although it could take longer.

It shouldn't surprise anyone if it takes longer. The investigation obviously is different than a normal car wreck that occurs in Ontario County (N.Y.), where investigators and prosecutors know how a car should react in certain situations.

This is an investigation involving a car they need to learn. They need to learn how the suspension works and how a sprint car reacts on a dirt track. They must consider the sightlines of a car that has a big wing above it, with dirt being kicked up in the turns and poor lighting at the track.

But in trying to understand these cars, investigators might have a hard time finding unbiased people to talk to.

Friends of Ward, who was killed when Tony Stewart's sprint car struck him, likely will have one view of the tragedy. And then there’s everybody else with knowledge of sprint cars. It’s likely there are few unbiased people.

If a driver has been wrecked by Stewart, by one of his other sprint-car drivers or is upset at a ruling at one of the tracks he owns, that driver could try to make a case against Stewart, whose car struck and killed Ward in an Aug. 9 race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park.

Other drivers likely would give Stewart the benefit of the doubt and explain things that could help him. They look up to Stewart and what he’s done for short-track and sprint-car racing. He has invested in it, owning teams and tracks. He has defended it when people have questioned the safety. He has worked to make it safer.

In other words, he's a racer. And racers tend to protect racers. Racers need to protect racers.

If Stewart faces criminal charges, it would be a cloud over the entire motorsports world. His businesses — four Sprint Cup teams included — could suffer. Fans could be lost. Sponsors would be lost. And that means jobs would be lost.

There seems to be an inherent bias that most in the motorsports community would lean toward trying to protect Stewart. That’s not Stewart’s fault, and it’s not to imply any coercion.

In racing, a driver is taught to leave the pits when the jack drops; that it’s a crewman’s responsibility to get out of the way. So if someone is in the way of a car, it’s an accident, not the driver’s fault.

Many in racing believe this was just a horrible accident made by a young driver who should not have climbed from his car and walked out onto the track. It’s a pretty well understood code in sprint-car racing that a driver doesn’t get out of his car and get close to moving vehicles.

So Stewart is getting the benefit of the doubt in the motorsports world, which also knows of his many impressive efforts of compassion.

With the beating he is taking in the media, he needs people on his side to explain the workings of a sprint car to investigators and the general public. He needs people to explain to investigators logical reasons why what could be perceived as a negligent act wasn’t negligent at all. Stewart, as a three-time Cup champion and with his investment in the sport, deserves to have as many people on his side as possible.

But so does Kevin Ward Jr., the subject of this investigation. Obviously he wouldn’t have gotten run over if he didn’t approach the cars on the track. What should he have expected Stewart to do? Why would he seem to violate the law of common sense?

Who will stand up for him beyond his friends and maybe those who have had a run-in with Stewart? Who would be forthcoming if they have information or an explanation that might not shine Stewart in the best light, especially if they could face scrutiny and possibly be shunned by the racing community that they consider their family?

Many influential people in the sprint-car world and NASCAR world are viewing this as an accident. They have knowledge and insight that backs up that belief, and they do a great service for their friend and fellow racer in doing so. They also do a great service to their sport — it’s racing. They accept death as part of the sport, now let’s race.

They very well could be correct in their backing of Stewart. But investigators need to get a 360-degree view, and Stewart himself needs an investigation that goes to great depths to exonerate him so there are few lingering questions about his role.

What I wonder is, would the racing world not give that full view to investigators in order to protect itself?

If there is something that needs to be said for the one who can’t speak, who, beyond Ward’s friends and those who want to scream into a microphone on a news show, will say it? Sporting News