Tony Stewart leaves a legacy of talent, determination and controversy
Tony Stewart has three Sprint Cup championships and 49 wins in NASCAR’s premier series, including two Brickyard 400 victories at his beloved Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
He did what the pundits said was impossible by leaving Joe Gibbs’ team, where he took two of his Cup titles, for half-ownership of machine-tool builder Gene Haas’ winless organization. He made it into a Cup champion for himself in just three years.
Stewart is widely acknowledged to be his generation’s A.J. Foyt — he calls the comparison “the highlight of my career” — a no-nonsense and at times controversial competitor who can drive, and win, in any kind of car on any kind of track against any driver.
NASCAR success made him famous and wealthy. But many of the moments that have brought Stewart the most personal satisfaction have come on dusty outback short dirt ovals, free of sponsor and media obligations, in front of a few hundred fans, in rough-and-tumble sprint and midget car events.
Which helps explain why Stewart, 45, is “ready to go have fun. Driving a Cup car does not make me happy right now.”
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He plans to end his 18-year Cup career after two more checkered flags, including Sunday’s Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, then continue to race when and where he pleases away from the 38-week NASCAR marathon.
Stewart, who has one Cup win at PIR, qualified for the 16-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup but didn’t advance past the first round.
“The typical NASCAR fan doesn’t realize it’s much harder to win the Chili Bowl (a five-night January midget car spectacle) than to win a Cup race,” said the four-time USAC champion. “They have no clue.
“What you consider the big stage might be different for all of us. I remember winning the ‘Night Before the (Indy) 500’ one year and got into a wreck the second or third lap, went to the back, and took the lead at the halfway mark. I remember how big that was.
"There was winning Turkey Night (Grand Prix in California) in three different divisions. That was big but most people wouldn’t know it. Winning the Chili Bowl twice. That’s probably the ultimate, in all reality, for how competitive it is. To anybody that knows us, and knows anything about racing, knows how big it was to do what we did. But it’s not mainstream.”
That is the attitude, commitment and love of performing off-Broadway which long ago earned Stewart a high honor from his peers: In speedway speak, he is a true “racer.”
Unhappy times
Asked to assess her Stewart-Haas Racing boss and teammate, Danica Patrick observed: “I think it's been awhile since Tony's felt like super-happy.”
Certainly he hasn’t for much of the past four years.
In August 2013, a sprint car crash broke both bones in Stewart’s lower right leg, ending his streak of 521 consecutive Cup starts. NASCAR’s lower-horsepower 2015 rules package didn’t suit him and he finished a lowly 28th in points. Then, having already announced this would be his final season, Stewart suffered a burst fracture of the L1 vertebrae riding an all-terrain vehicle in California. That kept him out of the first eight races this year.
But the most devastating incident happened the night of Aug. 9, 2014.
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Kevin Ward Jr., 20, tangled with Stewart during a Saturday night Empire Super Sprint race at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park. Ward got out of his car once it stopped against the outer wall and appeared angry as he gestured toward Stewart and walked down the track into the path of oncoming traffic, slowed by a caution flag. Stewart’s car struck Ward, who was killed.
Stewart cooperated with the local authorities’ investigation and wasn’t indicted by a grand jury. The Ontario County (N.Y.) district attorney said Ward’s toxicology report showed he had enough marijuana in his system to influence his actions. Stewart’s only public comment: What happened was “100 percent an accident.”
Ward’s parents filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against Stewart, which is pending.
“Tony’s not a tough guy like people think he is. His heart’s not into it like it was," said Foyt, the first four-time Indianapolis 500 winner. "I say if Tony still wants to he can outrun everybody down there (NASCAR.)”
Stewart, who uses Foyt’s No. 14 on his Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, admits the physical and emotional pain has taken a toll on him.
“You’d be foolish to say it hasn’t, to a certain degree,” Stewart said. “At the same time, I think it’s made me a helluva lot tougher. I don’t care how strong a person you are. You could take the strongest person and put them in some of the scenarios we’ve been in, and it definitely would leave an impact.
“I guess I look at it from the standpoint I feel like we’ve been through a lot, we’ve overcome a lot, and for sure I’m a lot stronger person because of all of it. It makes me look at the future and say, ‘This is going to be pretty cool’ because if you can make it through this, the outlook we have on it (is) we’ll be just fine.”
‘Big-hearted’
Stewart eschewed the fanfare lavished on Jeff Gordon during his retirement season last year. But there’s no doubt he is one of the most respected people in the garage area. Gordon led a standing ovation for Stewart at the Brickyard 400 drivers’ meeting. His contemporaries see things the public doesn’t.
When USAC champion Bryan Clauson was killed in a racing accident this year, Stewart bid $32,000 for Clauson’s helmet at an auction to help the family. Stewart then gave the helmet to Clauson’s fiancée, Lauren Stewart (no relation.) And when a concussion prevented Dale Earnhardt Jr. from giving track rides to fans who had bought them in The Dale Jr. Foundation fundraiser, Stewart volunteered to do it.
“When he has challenges the whole garage is behind him because of his heart that we all know so well,” said NASCAR Vice Chairman Mike Helton. “He’s such a great personality and great individual. He’s a lot of fun to have around. He truly cares about the people in the garage area. They know that. They know Tony in a way other people don’t. He’s a very big-hearted man.”
Stewart says that embrace is a “big deal” to him.
“It’s not just that you’re a loose cannon spouting off all the time,” he said. “There’s other guys here that are pretty open who they don’t have all that much respect for. It makes you feel good that you’re doing the right things.
“I think they’ve got to respect you on the racetrack and equally, or more so, off the racetrack and what you stand for. That’s why it’s such a big thing to me. These guys work for organizations that are bitter rivals but, at the same time, they respect who I am as a driver and as a person.”
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Stormy history
Like Foyt, Stewart’s on-track controversies have been many and memorable.
In 1999, at Martinsville Speedway, Stewart threw his gloves at Kenny Irwin Jr.’s car when Irwin punted Stewart into the wall after the two had banged fenders throughout the race. In 2012, Matt Kenseth slid into Stewart as they battled for the lead at Bristol Motor Speedway, sending Stewart’s car into a wall. Stewart threw his helmet into Kenseth’s hood as he came by under the yellow flag. The next year, Stewart was furious with Joey Logano’s moves on the final restart at California’s Auto Club Speedway, and ran over to Logano’s car in the pits after the race to confront him.
As a result, Stewart has received numerous “invitations” to visit the NASCAR hauler. Smiling but not laughing, Stewart said he’s expected to “see my name embroidered on one of the nice leather seats in the lounge. I always sat in the same spot, which was the opposite side of where Helton sat, by design.
“When Helton yelled at you, you wanted to curl up in the fetal position and cry, mainly because it was like disappointing your father. When you made him mad enough to yell at you, you didn’t feel bad for what you’d done, you felt bad that you made him feel that bad that he had to yell at you. That’s what bothered me the most about it.”
Helton said he’d “like to think” those meetings helped influence Stewart’s demeanor.
“Drivers’ professionalism changes with success, particularly championships,” Helton said. “Tony is such a spectacular personality. But he has that edge to him that I think is an attraction to a lot of his fans. We’re going to miss him (but) I suspect some of our officials may not say that.”
Confidence counts
In 1995 Stewart, who got the nickname “Smoke” in sprint cars, became the first to win all three USAC national championships — sprints, midgets, Silver Crown — in one season. He was the 1997 Indy Racing League titlist. The Indiana native says over the years he turned down the opportunity to drive IndyCars for Foyt, in the CART series for Barry Green, and in NASCAR for Rick Hendrick.
Stewart owns the legendary Ohio half-mile Eldora Speedway dirt oval and eight-time World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz’ team. In 2009, after a decade and two Cup championships (2002, 2005) with Joe Gibbs Racing, he accepted Haas’ offer of a stake in his uncompetitive team and led it to a Sprint Cup title in 2011. In 2014, Kevin Harvick won Stewart-Haas Racing's second championship. Harvick and another SHR driver, Kurt Busch, remain in championship contention going into Phoenix.
All of which makes it difficult to imagine that Stewart lacks confidence. Yet that’s what Greg Zipadelli, Stewart’s crew chief at Gibbs and now SHR’s competition vice president, says is what happened until Stewart won in June on the road course in Sonoma, Calif., bumping Denny Hamlin in the last corner. It was his first Cup victory in three years.
“He's a unique individual when it comes to that,” Zipadelli said. “It's all about his confidence. When he loses it, or gets down a little bit, that's when he struggles. He can figure it out and flip it on like a light switch. Sonoma, that changed the year.”
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Proving them wrong
Stewart said he “was ready to be done at the end of last year” but wanted NASCAR fans to have a last chance to see him on-track. Reaching this point, he said, “was a long, drawn-out process because there’s so many factors that go into it. This is how I make a living. You quit this aspect of it, you’ve significantly changed how your form of income is.”
Two key decisions have given Stewart “peace of mind”: Clint Bowyer will replace him in the No. 14, and Bowyer, Harvick, Patrick and Busch will race Fords beginning next season.
Stewart has ruled out further attempts to win the Indy 500 (0-for-5) or Daytona 500 (0-for-17.) He’s interested in Daytona’s Rolex 24-hour sports car race and the Knoxville Nationals, sprint car racing’s most prestigious event.
“History will tell Tony’s influences in this industry and I hope it does that justice because Tony is a racer 24/7,” Helton said. “Being able to make the moves he’s made from IndyCar to NASCAR, from Gibbs to Stewart-Haas, from a driver to a car owner, all of those are indicative of Tony’s passion for this sport. I hope he gets a fair shake in all of that because it’s a huge asset to the racing world.”
Six-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson said, with obvious admiration, “What he’s been able to do in all forms of driving is absolutely unbelievable to me. I think a year or two removed he’ll finally be filled up with the love and appreciation he deserves.”
Stewart’s answer to the legacy question, not surprisingly, combines fact and attitude born of his sometimes contentious relationship with reporters.
“It’s been one, long, gigantic story that’s been the same from day one to the end,” he said. “It’s all been consistent, performance-wise, from the time I got in go-karts until we got here. The moral of the story along every journey has been the same. It was, 'They said I couldn’t do it. They said it couldn’t be done by anybody.'
“And we did it.”
Knight writes for the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network.
