Stewart’s unyielding passion on display
Tony Stewart understands that some people will never, ever forgive and forget the tragic circumstances of 2014.
The date etched in stone: Aug. 9, 2014, when Stewart accidentally struck and killed 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr. in upstate New York while competing in a sprint-car dirt race. The controversy and the volatility continues on the Internet to this day.
So instead of engaging, Stewart chases his own happiness and path to normalcy: He’s back racing again. Just don’t expect to see him on Daytona’s superspeedway. This is all about his first love: Short tracks.
Stewart raced in a sprint car last week or the first time since the tragedy, competing at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., and finishing 17th in the 26-car main event. He ended the night arguing with another driver and complaining with race officials. Stewart’s teammate, Donny Schatz, won the event.
Stewart declined to talk to reporters after the event in Ocala, telling the Associated Press he didn’t want to make it look like he is “rubbing it in the Wards’ faces.”
Although Stewart was cleared of any wrongdoing, the legal battle continues as a wrongful-death civil suit filed by Ward’s family is still pending.
The return to racing should not surprise anyone. Stewart told reporters last month that he planned to run 80 races this season, although none of them involved making a cameo return in a stock car in the Monster Energy Series.
But there also may be some revisionist thinking after last weekend, considering that Stewart withdrew from a race scheduled for Saturday night. He is not a single man in terms of his professional life, with daily responsibilities as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, featuring four teams on the Cup side.
“Tony Stewart has scratched for the evening and is reconsidering his schedule with the All Star Circuit of Champions due to his ownership of the series,” the team said in a statement released to the press. “Requirements of owning and managing the series supersede his own driving ambitions. We apologize for the change in tonight’s schedule and appreciate everyone’s understanding.”
That said, there is no question that Stewart would rather be in the seat of a race car instead of a corporate desk.
That was his job in the NASCAR Cup Series, and he was very good at it — winning three Cup championships before his final season in 2016. His passion remains mostly in sprint cars and late models.
“Every time somebody says, ‘Why?’ I say, ‘Why not?’ ” Stewart told me in 2013 during Speedweeks at Daytona Beach.
The visceral rush is simple: An unforgiving surface that changes on every lap, spitting debris on his face as he maneuvers a winged sprint car around a track just a fraction of the size of the asphalt ones he takes on for a living.
“Most people, when they make it to the big time, want the fine life,” said Kenny Wallace, another NASCAR guy who loves racing on dirt. “The fine life to Tony is out at Ocala Speedway on a Friday night.”
Expect to see him there now and then.
Tony Stewart is still chasing his passion, all the while trying to deal with the legal sticky crosshairs.