Racer - Spring 2016

TONY STEWART, RACER

self-confidence and willingness to venture into unfamiliar equipment or territory and give it a go, because a NASCAR champ has a target on his back rather than a number.

Between NASCAR, IndyCar and USAC, Stewart has amassed 104 wins and captured another 42 in winged sprints, late model stocks, midgets and IROC. He’s conquered high-banked pavement like Salem or Winchester, hard-slickies like Sante Fe Park, dirt bullrings like Macon, fast joints like IRP or PIR, and tacky classics like Williams Grove.

Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500
wins eluded him (second and most laps
led being his best result in the latter, back
in 2004). But two Brickyard 400 wins for
the Columbus, Ind., native and those
three Cup titles add the necessary
marquee moments to his prolific and
diverse roster of successes.

“I know I’m prejudiced and I’m not
gonna say he’s the greatest ever, but I
think he’s one of the greatest,” says senior
Stewart. “He can drive anything under
the sun on any kind of race track. I just
wish he could have run a Formula 1 race.”
The first man to win all three USAC
titles in the same season (1995) did get
to test Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren-
Mercedes at Watkins Glen and showed
plenty of savvy in NASCAR’s road races.

But he’s primarily a short-track guy whose commitment goes way past his driving ability. He purchased Eldora Speedway in 2004 and owns Paducah Raceway and Macon Speedway. He bought the Artic Cat All-Star Circuit of

SMOKE’S CUP HIT RATES

Tony Stewart’s NASCAR Cup stats are stout enough, but
the hit rates might have been higher had he not remained
winless on his return from a serious leg break in 2013.