Racer - Spring 2016

2016 NASCAR SPRINT CUP

Tony Stewart never wanted to drive stock cars for a living. All he fancied growing up, and then excelling in USAC racing, was to win the Indianapolis 500.

But after 23 Indy Racing League starts in three years, his career veered south because Joe Gibbs paid attention and nobody in the IRL was smart enough to invest in the future.

So Smoke became a three-time NASCAR champion and two-time Brickyard 400 winner, but open-wheel fans will always wonder what might have been if the USAC star had stayed in IndyCar.

“I think that Tony would have
won a lot of races,” offers four-time
Indianapolis 500-winner A.J. Foyt.

As it was, Stewart only won three times in the IRL, despite leading 1,472 laps for John Menard’s team, and got shut out at Indy, with a best finish of fifth in 1997.

But even though the IRL’s depth of competition paled in comparison to CART’s, it was obvious that this kid from Indiana packed plenty of talent. He led all those laps and won the 1997 IRL title running on Goodyears when it was obvious Firestones were clearly superior.

And you have to think that once Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi crossed the picket line, one of them would have snapped up Stewart (he ran Indy for Chip in 2001).

All his IndyCar starts were on ovals, so it would have been interesting to see him on street circuits and road courses in a combined series. But you can bet he’d have been a favorite on any oval and, like friend and mentor Foyt, his face would be on the Borg-Warner Trophy more than once.

(ABOVE) Tony Stewart returned to the Indy 500 for a fifth and final time in 2001, taking sixth for Chip Ganassi Racing.

INDY’S LOST TALENT

BRICKYARD HYPOTHETICAL
(ABOVE LEFT) A
sprint car crash
prematurely ended
Stewart’s 2013 with
a badly broken right
leg. (LEFT) Sprints,
midgets, WoO and
more were always
part of his racing life.

NELSON STEWART
“As great as Tony’s been
as a driver, I’m most proud
of what he’s given back to
the sport”

Champions last year and Tony Stewart Racing took another WoO crown with Donny Schatz in 2015.

For the past couple winters, Tony has gone to Tulsa to help Hahn and Lanny Edwards in preparing and caring for the Chili Bowl’s racy surface. He runs the grader and water truck in addition to jumping on a three-wheeler to push start a disabled car or get a flipped car back on its wheels.

“When he first called and said he
wanted to come help with track
maintenance, I laughed and thought to
myself, ‘Sure, typical NASCAR star, he’ll
show up, showboat and pose for pictures,’”
says Hahn. “But he’s really passionate
about helping and learning and he’s got a
notebook that he fills up every year and he
stays ’til 2 A.M. if we need him.”
Adds papa Stewart: “Earl Baltes turned
down bigger offers for Eldora than Tony’s,
but he wanted him to have it because he
knew he’d take care of it.”
Whether it’s fielding teams, saving a
series, improving a track, or giving a
dying old racer a free place to live,
Stewart and racing are a 24/7
partnership. He’s made millions, but he’s
spread his wealth among his family.

“A couple years ago I gave him an
award that said he’d done more for
open-wheel racing in the past 20 years
than anyone else,” declares Hahn. “Tony
is one of the few people in racing who
keeps making it better.”
Nelson is proud of his son’s
accomplishments, but says: “As great as
Tony’s been as a driver, I’m most proud
of what he’s given back to the sport.”
But just because he’s a full-time
owner/promoter/track super, it doesn’t
mean he’s putting away his helmet come
Nov. 20. He’ll be 45 years old but, by
A.J. and Mario standards, embarking
on the last 10 years of his career.

“I want to run The Little 500 and the Belleville Nationals for sure,” he said last January at the Chili Bowl. “Just because I’m no longer in NASCAR doesn’t mean I’m quitting. I’ve still got some racing to do.”

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2 013 Fox Bro ad c a stin g

Tony Stewart, along with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon, was a go-to pitchman at the height of NASCAR’s TV ratings boom. His wry delivery gave anything from Burger King to Old Spice some edge. He also appeared as his cartoon self in “The Cleveland Show” (ABOVE). TONY ON THE TV