So, Tony Stewart has purchased the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series. Surprised? You shouldn't be. It's just the latest investment in the Tony Stewart Retirement Plan. There's a method to Stewart's dirt-track madness, and grassroots racing is better for it. And it probably won't end with the All Stars.
Consider this: Although the 2015 Chili Bowl midget racing finale didn't take place until Saturday, January 17, Tony Stewart showed up the Monday before. By Tuesday he was making suggestions about preparation of the little indoor dirt track, by Wednesday he was on the radio giving directions to the track crew, and by Friday he was driving the tractor that was turning over the surface with a disc harrow.
"Tony is gonna own this place," said one push-truck driver, and those around him quietly agreed. After all, the two founders of the Chili Bowl, Emmett Hahn and Lanny Edwards, have been at it since 1987, and both long ago passed the AARP eligibility age.
Stewart already owns Eldora Speedway, bought from legendary founder Earl Baltes, famous for his baleful pet quote, typically issued when looking upon the crowd of his often sold-out track: "If I coulda sold one more hot dog, I might have broke even." Stewart, along with fellow NASCAR personalities Kenny Wallace and Ken Schrader, own little Macon Speedway in Illinois. In 2006, he bought into Paducah International Raceway in Kentucky, a beautiful dirt track that was struggling until Stewart and co-owners Schrader and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. stepped in. He owns Custom Works, a company that makes R/C-controlled sprint cars.
And under Tony Stewart Racing, one of his 12 companies, he owns one entry in the USAC Sprint Car division, one entry in the USAC Silver Crown Series, and two entries in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. In WoO, TSR fields the No. 15 car for six-time and current champion Donny Schatz and the No. 11 sprint car for 20-time series champion Steve Kinser.
Two years ago, we asked Stewart why he bought Kinser's team, knowing The King was preparing to retire from full-time racing in 2014. "Because he's the greatest champion we've ever had in sprint-car racing, and he deserves to go out on his own terms, without worrying about sponsorship and paying the bills." Which is exactly what happened, as Kinser will run only a partial schedule in 2015.
Yes, Tony Stewart races in NASCAR. But he just can't bring himself to abandon his roots in Indiana dirt-track racing.
Which brings us to Stewart's purchase of the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series. The series is billed as "one of the oldest traveling sprint-car organizations," and it is, but it remains a distant second to the World of Outlaws, which was founded in 1978 by the late Ted Johnson to try and organize all the traveling sprint-car drivers and teams who migrated, like gypsies, from one unsanctioned event to another.
The WoO, under Johnson's iron hand, promptly became the dominant sprint-car series. The All Stars have continuously battled regional sprint-car series, such as the Renegade series, which Stewart has already eliminated by bringing the Renegades in under the All Star banner.
The WoO has fought off threats before, most notably the USA Sprint Car Series and the National Sprint Tour. But with Tony Stewart behind the All Stars, though, we suspect there is much nervousness at the WoO world headquarters in Concord, North Carolina, also home of the World of Outlaws late-model series.
So what will Tony Stewart do with the All Stars? Will he pull his driver Donny Schatz from the WoO and send him out on the All Stars circuit? Will Steve Kinser reserve his rare appearances for All Stars events?
We will know soon. The All Stars season starts at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Florida, with three shows on February 5–7. Then the series moves a little east to Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Florida, to race February 11 and 12.
Or will they? The Bubba Raceway Park date is solid since Stewart and track owner and radio talk-show host Bubba "The Love Sponge" Clem are best friends, and Stewart sponsors Bubba's sprint-car-racing son, Tyler. But as for Volusia Speedway Park—it's owned by the World Racing Group, which also owns the World of Outlaws. Do they really want to promote a series that suddenly may become a major rival?
Stewart said at the ongoing NASCAR Media Tour that it will be a while before he returns to the seat of a sprint car, as he's still recovering from the severely broken leg suffered in a sprint-car crash in 2013, as well as from the death of young sprint-car driver Kevin Ward, Jr., killed when he was hit by Stewart's sprint car in 2014.
- Tony Stewart on Kevin Ward, Jr. Tragedy: "This Was 100 Percent an Accident"
- Dirt Don't Hurt: Behind the Scenes of NASCAR's Return to Dirt-Track Racing
- Jeff Gordon Announces Retirement from NASCAR Following 2015 Season
That Stewart wants to increase his dirt-track racing portfolio surprises no one, although if he was going to buy a series, many of us suspected it might be the American Sprint Car Series, which has pointedly positioned itself one rung down the ladder from the World of Outlaws and has backing from Lucas Oil. ASCS just happens to have been founded by Emmett Hahn of Chili Bowl fame. But let's face it: There's a good chance Tony Stewart isn't through building his dirt castle.
Back to the scene at the Chili Bowl: Stewart had another leg operation a few weeks before the race, and he walks with a limp. Except, some of us noticed, when something happened on the track at the Chili Bowl that required Stewart's immediate attention, and he'd stride off, no limp evident. That's how Stewart feels about dirt-track racing, and why the All Star Circuit of Champions might be in for a big season.
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27
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