Preseason Thunder Transcript: Tony Stewart at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
January 10
2006 ALLSTATE 400 AT THE BRICKYARD
Media Conference with Tony Stewart
Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006,
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
RON GREEN: If I could have
your attention. We are ready here in Indianapolis. We'll get
started here in just a few moments.
Welcome everyone, my name is
Ron Green. I'm the director of public relations here at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
TONY STEWART: Which means he
only works about two months out of the year.
GREEN: For the Indianapolis
media, especially, we want to thank you for your attendance. We
know this is a busy week with the Colts heading into their first
playoff game, and we do appreciate your attendance today. We have
media covering this event in Daytona at the media center there. We
appreciate your participation, as well.
As a courtesy to Tony and the
other working media, let's please turn off any cell phones or
digital devices that may go off during the press conference. Thank
you.
2005 was a great, great year
for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Dan and Danica duel in
the month of May capped off one of the most competitive
Indianapolis 500s ever. We did have a third event, as you know the
event in June, was memorable for other reasons. We’ll skip past
that one and head to August.
STEWART: Oh, yeah, great.
Let’s cover the June, I like that one.
GREEN: Let’s jump to
August. The race here in August, many IMS historians and
old-timers have said that day possibly was one of the greatest
days in the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Why was
that? That was the reaction of the fans and the fans the closing
laps and what they did after the event, and a large part of that
reason was the winner of the race, and that’s Tony Stewart, who
joins us here today.
Tony, those are big words,
one of the most memorable days here at the Speedway. We’re going
to get your comments on that in just a few minutes. What we’re
doing today is a video conference, this is being pumped live in
Daytona. We want to make sure we’re getting the sound and video
right now.
Herb, can you see and hear
us?
HERB BRANHAM: Yes, I can.
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Page 2 … Tony Stewart-Allstate
400 at the Brickyard media conference transcript (Jan. 10)
GREEN: Thank you. After we do
the Q and A here in the media center in Indianapolis, we're going
to move outside, weather permitting, and do a photo op with the
2006-2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup championship trophy.
STEWART: Go ahead and stay
with 2006. I like the sounds of it already.
GREEN: 2006, as well? We can
have those changed real fast. And the 2005 Allstate 400 at
Brickyard trophy. We have made accommodations for weather. We'll
still do it outside but under the front of the Pagoda still on the
Yard of Bricks.
Turning to you, Tony, have
you been back on the grounds here at Indianapolis since your win
in August?
STEWART: I think this is the
first time since we won here.
GREEN: Any emotions coming
through the tunnel for the first time since you won that race?
STEWART: It actually started
on 16th Street before we got to the tunnel. It's like reliving it
all over again. You know, we've had a couple other interviews
before, we got started right now, and just look around. I mean,
it's like you relive it like it was yesterday all over again.
GREEN: I thank the media for
attending, we should also thank Tony. This is really his last day
off before really beginning his '06 racing season.
STEWART: I'm not sure we can
consider this a day off anymore.
GREEN: This is work for you,
true. But he begins his '06 racing this weekend in Tulsa,
Oklahoma, racing in the Chili Bowl race. And I believe you raced
up to the last day of '05, and this is a short offseason for Tony
and we appreciate you spending time here at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway.
First, throw it open for
questions here in Indianapolis and check in with Daytona to see if
there are any questions at the Daytona International Speedway.
First for questions here with
Tony and Indianapolis.
Q: Tony, we talked right
after the race here, did you get the car? That was one of the
questions we asked and you were pretty emphatic about keeping the
car that you won with here.
STEWART: I don't have it yet,
but it's still in circulation. It's actually the same car that we
won the championship with at Homestead. So it's still in rotation
right now. But don't worry, it's being set aside, once it's
retired I'll have that car. But it's still too good a car right
now to take out of circulation. It's a car I'm obviously fond of.
I really like the way it drives. It's, I think it's going to be a
car that's going to be good this year, too. We're definitely going
to get as much mileage out of it as we can. But it's not ready for
retirement yet.
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Page 3 … Tony Stewart-Allstate
400 at the Brickyard media conference transcript (Jan. 10)
Q: Were you happy to be
living back in Columbus when this happened? Because it's almost
been like the state has been celebrating this with you for the
last five months.
STEWART: Yeah, I mean it just
seems like so many things have fell into place, you know, when I
moved home at the end of the '04 season. So it just made it that
much more special, the fact that I've been home and I've been
closer to the Speedway all year.
GREEN: We should also remind
the journalists here in Indianapolis and in Daytona, we are
transcribing this video conference, this press conference. So
we're asking you to please state your name and your affiliation
before asking your question to Tony.
STEWART: There's an awful lot
of rules with this today. Whatever happened to just ask some
questions and we answer them?
GREEN: Trying to keep it
organized for you, Tony.
STEWART: You're very
detail-oriented; that's why you're in this position.
Q: Steve Ballard,
Indianapolis Star. Tony, the 24 hours has become kind of an
all-star race the last few years, guys drawn from a few different
series. First of all, what attracted you to this and why do you
think so many guys have followed your lead on that? The third part
of that, what's been the reaction of the guys that ran that on a
regular basis? Do they like to get to compete against you guys or
do any of them resent all the attention you guys seem to get above
the guys who do that for a living?
STEWART: I think they all
look at it as a positive. Obviously the year Dale Jr. and I were
teammates there, it brought extra attention, it brought the NASCAR
media to the road course and it brought more attention to the
Grand Am series, and I don't think there's been any resentment
from any of the drivers. I think they've all enjoyed the fact we
thought enough of that series to go down there. Like you said, it
is a great series, it is an all-star race and that's a testimony
to Jim France and what he's been able to accomplish with his
visions of how to help road racing become more popular.
So I do it just because it's
another race I can go run. If anybody wants to go out and have a
foot race after we're done with the media session, we'll go
outside. I've got new shoes on, they're soft on the bottom, and I
think I'll have a traction advantage over you Docker fans. I'll
race anything. It doesn't matter to me. I've always enjoyed trying
different things and driving different cars I've never ran before.
Being able to go run a 24-hour race, it was the idea of running a
24-hour endurance race is something I've never done before. Ever
since I did the first one, it's something I look forward to doing
every year now. Did I cover all three of them?
Q: Incredibly enough, I know
testing is going on at Daytona --
STEWART: Please state your
name and affiliation please. (Laughter)
Q: Dave Furst from WRTV --
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Page 4 … Tony Stewart-Allstate
400 at the Brickyard media conference transcript (Jan. 10)
STEWART: We know you're a
superstar here in your own mind, just for the Daytona media to
know who you are.
Q: It's only in my own mind,
unfortunately. Incredibly enough, testing is going on down at
Daytona, you're not a part of that. How much of a luxury is that
for you to have somebody hop in the car and turn some laps for
you?
STEWART: It's a great luxury
for me. Graciously enough, Mike McLaughlin has done that for me
the last two years to allow me to go to the Chili Bowl. It's
always been important to me to be able to go back and not forget
where I came from. I mean, to go over and race midgets and sprint
cars when I have time is something that's all been very important
to me. I think the fact that I think it's always made those guys
even respect us more when we get to the Chili Bowl, the fact that
we didn't go to Daytona and test and we thought enough about that
race to come participate in it and it would be easy to be the
champion of NASCAR this year and say, ‘Oh, I'm not going to go
do it this year, I'm going to enjoy that.’ When I go to the
Chili Bowl, I'm no different than anybody else there, and I really
enjoy that event. So I think it makes them respect the fact that
we care enough about that series to go back and do that every
year.
GREEN: We have three
questions waiting here and we'll jump down to Daytona. Herb, if
you could be ready for a question down there.
Q: Maggie Nixon with the
Pilot News in Plymouth. You've raced Fort Wayne two years in a row
now with USAC. Can you talk about how much fun that is?
STEWART: It's a blast. I
can't think of anything I would rather do between Christmas and
New Year's than go race anywhere but let alone be able to race
somewhere in Indiana and see guys I grew up racing with and grew
up watching race. To be able to go hang out with those guys for a
couple days and have a night in between where we can all hang out
together and bench race in the evening and talk about who did what
that night is a lot of fun for me. So it's just, like I say,
anytime I can get in a race car and go drive, I love to do it. The
car that I bought and the car that I run up there, the Munchkin,
it's an oddly named car but it's just one of those cars. I mean
the reason I bought it is every time I've driven that car is it's
just so much fun that even if I ran that race and ran dead last, I
think I would have a good time because it's just a fun car to go
run. So it just makes for a fun couple days when there's really
nothing to do.
Q: Nicole Manske, WISH TV.
You won the championship twice; you won the Brickyard, which we
all know was important to you. But there are some that believe you
don't stake your claim as a NASCAR legend until you win the
(Daytona) 500. Do you think that's a fair assessment? And how
badly do you want to win the 500 now?
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Page 5 … Tony Stewart-Allstate
400 at the Brickyard media conference transcript (Jan. 10)
STEWART: I don't care about
their assessment. I'm really happy with what I've done. I mean,
there's a lot of guys that haven't won the Daytona 500, but I
think they've had great careers. You look at Rusty Wallace and
Mark Martin, they haven't won the Daytona 500, but I don't think
anybody is going to say they haven't had a great career and
successful career in NASCAR. Michael Waltrip has won the Daytona
500 twice and never won a championship, and he's won, I think,
only three races in his career. I don't think anybody is going to
say he's had a great career just because he's won the Daytona 500.
It's a great accomplishment and for him to win the Daytona 500
twice is an awesome accomplishment, but I don't think you can base
your whole career off of one race. I think there's other
determining factors on whether you've had a successful career in
the series other than just one race.
Q: Tony, Steve Stremme,
Midwest Sports. My question to you is now you have had some time
to reflect on winning the Brickyard, second time you've won a
NASCAR championship, what are some goals still out there for you?
You seem like you're still intent on racing, seem like you're
having fun doing it. What are some other goals that you have out
there that you haven't attained yet?
STEWART: Kind of like Nicole
mentioned, our number one goal this year is to go win the Daytona
500. We've led enough laps the last two years combined to win the
race outright. Obviously our run in July there was something that
was pretty special to us. And obviously with it being the biggest
race on the schedule for the year, that's our number one goal. But
once we get through Daytona, whether we win, lose, whatever
happens there, you never stop wanting to win races. Obviously I'm
going to want to come to Indianapolis and try to win the Brickyard
back to back. I love being the guy that does things first. I would
love to be the first guy to win the Brickyard back to back, and we
want to win another championship. Those goals never go away once
you accomplish them, they never stop. Even though we had a great
year last year, you always want to win more races, win more poles,
set new records and continue hot streaks. So that stuff will
continue.
GREEN: We're going to check
in in Daytona. Herb, any questions down there?
BRANHAM: We have three,
hopefully we can get those in.
Q: Bob Margolis, Yahoo
Sports. Tony, it's 75 degrees and sun down here.
STEWART: Thanks for
mentioning that. Appreciate that.
Q: Tony, historically there's
always been a leader in the garage, and I think the perception
right now is there's really not that leader in the garage. Is that
something that you see as well, do you perceive it to be that way?
Do you think there needs to be a leader in the garage? If so, do
you make a conscious attempt not to be that leader or would you
mind being that leader?
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Page 5 … Tony Stewart-Allstate
400 at the Brickyard media conference transcript (Jan. 10)
STEWART: I don't really know
what we need a leader for down there necessarily. And what
everybody really leads that to what category do we need a leader,
I guess. But I would say the closest person to a leader that we
have is probably Jeff Gordon, in all reality. He's probably the
best representative we have for our sport as far as how to deal
with the media, how to deal with the race fans, the sanctioning
body. And I think he learned a lot of that from Dale Earnhardt,
who was the leader pretty much of the group. So I think we got
pretty good leadership with the sanctioning body itself, but I
know that NASCAR respects Jeff and his views and his opinions. You
know, they respect a lot of drivers' views and opinions, but I
would say as far as the one person that's probably more or most
well-rounded as far as how he deals with all the aspects of the
sport is probably Jeff right now. So I don't know if we need
somebody in the garage area as a leader, but that would be my
pick. I would prefer not to be that person. I mean, it's hard
enough just to do the jobs that we have to do, let alone have that
responsibility of having to feel like you're responsible for
everybody there.
Q: Tony, it's Liz Clarke from
the Washington Post. I hope you don't mind if I ask you to comment
on another driver. But since you've raced alongside and with Dale
Jr., I'm wondering if you could just comment on what you see as
his abilities as a driver and whether NASCAR fans have seen him
reach his potential yet.
STEWART: It's a good thing I
watched ‘SportsCenter’ this morning so I could hear his quotes
on that, I guess. You know, he's a great driver. I mean, you don't
get to the level of NEXTEL Cup by not being a good driver. You
know, I think he's proven himself already. I was listening to his
quotes this morning about he's the only one who knows his true
potential. You know, from outside we know that he's got a lot of
talent, but in this day and age it's not – a driver is not going
to carry a race team. It's so technical nowadays that you could be
a 10 times better driver than anybody else on the circuit, but if
you don't have the right crew, equipment, cars, you're not going
to be successful. So you know, I really don't know what to tell
you on that other than just I have the utmost confidence in him. I
think he's one of the best restrictor-plate drivers that's ever
lived and his knowledge of restrictor-plate racing, and I think
he's a great race car driver in all the other disciplines. He's
won it, all disciplines. So I think his record speaks for itself
so far.
BRANHAM: Ron, we have one
from our teleconference audience. Go.
Q: Debbie Arrington,
Sacramento Bee. Hi, Tony, thanks a lot for coming on today and
congratulations for 2005. How do you re-energize your batteries
during this short offseason and get out for another season?
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Page 7 … Tony Stewart-Allstate
400 at the Brickyard media conference transcript (Jan. 10)
STEWART: Well, you can't see
it, but a lot of caffeine from Coca-Cola Classic, so that's the
easiest way to stay up. I'll be honest, we haven't had much time
off. The little bit of time we had off was the week of Christmas,
and I got sick, which I didn't know how to look at that, but in
hindsight it was actually pretty good. So I spent Christmas Eve
and Christmas Day by myself with my dog and actually thought that
was pretty cool to not have the phone ringing off the hook. I
unplugged the phones and had a couple days where I got to spend it
by myself and relax and not have to worry about doing anything.
The good thing is, I got
looking at the schedule, I've never been so excited to have the
season start in my life, because after the Vegas race I think we
actually get a week-and-a-half vacation. So I'm excited to get
started just to get to my vacation finally. So I don't know, it's
really not, I guess after a while, I mean we've been doing this so
long now that you kind of forget that you have an offseason. You
just treat it like any other job, and we've still been having fun.
Even though we've not been racing a lot in the offseason, all the
stuff we've been doing, even the stuff we've done so far today has
been fun. I guess when you're having fun doing it, it's not hard
to recharge your batteries that way.
BRANHAM: Ron, you're in
control up there, we have three more down here.
STEWART: We like being in
control now. (Laughter)
GREEN: Let's check back here
in Indianapolis. Over there on the side with Mike King.
Q: Mike King, Indianapolis
Motor Speedway Radio Network and Performance Racing Network. Tony,
will there ever be a moment in your career that will come close to
equaling those final couple of laps when you talked about seeing
your dad hanging over the rail in Turn 2 and that rush of emotion
there in the closing four or five miles here?
STEWART: I'll be honest, I
don't know -- the only two things I can think of, I haven't been
married yet and haven't had children, and those are the only
things that I can think would be a possible greater experience
than what I had here. I started to get nervous because my dad kept
hanging over the railing further and further, and I thought he
would be eventually over the railing. But to have your family
involved and not only have them involved but when you can be on
the racetrack and actually physically see them once every lap,
that just adds to that experience and adds to that excitement. So
I honestly, like I said, other than those two variables of having
a family, I don't know what could possibly be a greater moment in
my life than what happened there.
Q: Is it hard to drive with
tears in your eyes?
STEWART: You get used to it.
It's not a bad feeling to have. As long as it's not painful tears,
it's a pretty good feeling to have.
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Page 8 … Tony Stewart-Allstate
400 at the Brickyard media conference transcript (Jan. 10)
Q: You've always been a guy
that stacks your plate really full, I think back to your triple
crown years and getting to all the races, do you ever worry and
your handlers ever worry that you have spread yourself at times
too thin, is it going to wear you down to the point it could have
an effect?
STEWART: I think we've
surpassed that already, I think we've accomplished that goal of
spreading ourselves too thin. We desperately pray that cloning
thing starts working out. We think we'll be able to do twice as
much, and I'll quit all the testing and let the clone do the
testing and I'll just do the racing and they can do the media
sessions and all that. I'll be honest, we've just kind of grown
accustomed to it all now. The weird thing, even when we had the
days off, right before Christmas, the day that I wasn't sick, I
didn't do anything the whole day and I felt so guilty for not
doing something productive during that day or for not having
something that I had to do that it's almost like we've adopted
that lifestyle of feeling we have to do something every day now.
But the things that we're doing are fun. We own Eldora Speedway,
we have our USAC teams, we have our World of Outlaws team, RC car
companies, our office in Indianapolis. Everything that we have is
something that we enjoy doing. So it's hard to sit there and look
at it and say, ‘Yeah, we are too busy, but what do we take
away?’ It's impossible to take one thing away from the equation
right now because we're having too much fun with it. So I guess,
you know, if it becomes a situation where it starts hurting our
performance in the race car, then obviously we'll have to make a
change at that point. But as long as it's not hurting our
performance and we're all having fun doing what we're doing, I
guess we can tolerate it.
GREEN: Herb, we have two more
questions up here and we'll go back to you in Daytona.
STEWART: Seem to be working
in sets of three here. (Laughter)
Q: Tony, a lot of you guys
have been able to go from midgets and so forth into stock cars and
drive very well over there. But we haven't had a stock car driver
come to Indy for a long time. Can you explain why the midget
drivers are able to, you know, that come up through the midgets
are able to do so well, yet stock car drivers aren't able to vary
their careers?
STEWART: I think the thing
that I always took away from when I ran in USAC and in particular
not only midgets but sprint cars and Silver Crown, you learned how
to be versatile was the first thing. You might run Friday,
Saturday and Sunday and you might run all three different types of
cars, you might run on dirt one night and you may run on pavement
the next night, and you might be on a quarter-mile track and you
might be on a mile track the next day. But to do it in such a
short amount of time and in different types of cars and different
surfaces, those were changes that you had to adapt to right away.
You didn't have three days like a Cup weekend or three days like
an IRL weekend to adapt and get ready. (More Stewart on next page)
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Page 9 … Tony Stewart-Allstate
400 at the Brickyard media conference transcript (Jan. 10)
STEWART (cont.): I think the
thing about in particular the sprint cars and midgets, you dealt
with such a lightweight car that you learned as a driver that if
it wasn't set up exactly the way you wanted it to, you could learn
how to manipulate it and you were able to teach yourself how to
find ways of making the car doing what it didn't want to do.
Whereas with stock cars being 3,400 pounds, it seems like I've
learned the heavier the car gets, the harder to make it do
something it doesn't want to do. I think the guys that came up
driving lighter weight cars have learned how to help themselves
out when they get to stock cars and IndyCars. As far as guys
crossing over between the two, I don't know why guys have been
able to go from IndyCars to stock cars but not vice versa. It
seems like once guys have got into stock car racing in this era,
they haven't tried to come the other direction.
Probably you're a better stat
man than I am, probably the Allisons were the last guys to go from
stock cars to IndyCars, and I don't even know what their
performance was in them. But it's just two totally different
driving styles. I think Bill Elliott actually tested a car at
Michigan and went out and in five laps was running 220s or 230s in
turbocharged cars. So I think if guys actually decided they wanted
to make that crossover, I don't think they would have a real hard
time doing it. You just never have seen anybody make that step and
make that decision to try to do that.
Q: Vince Welch, 6-1, 190,
Ball State University. (Laughter)
STEWART: Are you a forward,
power forward or laundry boy? (Laughter)
Q: Laundry.
STEWART: Very good.
Q: What appeals to you that
makes you drive in events like Fort Wayne or the Chili Bowl or
Turkey Night, what is it about that that appeals to you personally
and as a challenge to you as a driver about events of that nature?
STEWART: I just keep
reminding myself that I am too lazy to work a real job. If I can
make money driving a race car, that's one more day I don't have to
sit in a cubicle. I'm fearful of small spaces. (More Stewart on
next page)
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Page 9 … Tony Stewart-Allstate
400 at the Brickyard media conference transcript (Jan. 10)
STEWART (cont.): I enjoy it,
it's not a matter of speed; it's strictly the competition. When we
were running Fort Wayne, I don't even know the size of the track,
it's probably a tenth-mile and we're running, I think I broke the
track record the second day and ran a 7.32-second lap, but it's
just fun to compete more than anything. It doesn't matter how fast
it is, just trying to be better than the next guy and to go back
to cars that you don't run full time anymore and race against guys
that do run them full time, that's your challenge. Your challenge
is to get caught back up and as technology changes and midgets and
sprint cars like it does in IndyCars and stock car racing, when
you're not around it every week you get a little further and
further behind. But when you can show up and go out there and in
two nights when you haven't ran a car all year and go out there
and beat the guys that do it every week, that's a sense of pride
that you leave there with as well as just another two nights that
you get to go out and do what you love doing more than anything
else in life.
GREEN: Herb, let's go back
down to Daytona.
BRANHAM: We have three from
down here.
Q: Dwight Drum of
Zupster.com. Tony, you own the sprint car team, do you feel you
delegate as well as you drive?
STEWART: I'm pretty good at
letting them do their own thing. They pretty much treat me like we
do Joe Gibbs. They don't let me touch the race cars very much;
they pretty much tell me how much money they need to pay the
bills. So I don't know, I think when I started getting into the
ownership side was after I actually started with Joe. I think what
I have learned from Joe is if you hire the right people to do the
right jobs, you really have done your job at that point. The best
thing to do at that point is just pretty much let them do what
they do best. So, you know, I've tried to adopt a lot of the
attitudes that Joe has with the race teams and that's something
that I feel like I really owe Joe a lot for is just teaching me
how to be a car owner. So I enjoy that side of it, I enjoy being
able to give back to the series that have helped me get where I
am. It allows me to stay involved in those series and as time goes
on, there's -- when the time comes that I step away from the
steering wheel side of it, I've already set myself up to already
stay involved in the sport that way.
Q: David Poole, Charlotte
Observer. Tony, the comparison is being made between you and other
drivers because you started to win championships. Do you ever
think that anybody will ever come close to the role that Earnhardt
had when he was around and in your situation, you've got sort of
the same, down the same lines where there are fans who are on your
side and there are fans which pull for anybody but Tony Stewart,
which is what Earnhardt had his whole life. Do you see any
comparisons there?
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400 at the Brickyard media conference transcript (Jan. 10)
STEWART: Yeah, but we're not
the only guy. Fifty percent of the fans pull for Jeff Gordon, and
50 percent pull for anybody but him. When you get to that level, I
think it's an honor to have 50 percent of the fans pulling for you
and the other 50 percent wanting one of the other 42 drivers,
you've got a pretty good percentage going there. Who knows what
the future is going to be like. It's kind of funny, I mean we've
kind of been down the same path that Darrell Waltrip went down, we
went down the same path that Earnhardt has went down. We've been
to the part where everybody hated us and to the part where 50
percent like us and 50 percent hate us. So I kind of feel like
we're in a really good spot right now. If you get to where
everybody likes you, it takes some of that, I don't know,
anticipation or something away from it to where it's just not as
exciting as if you've got half of them that don't like you and
half of them that love you.
Q: My question is how close
are you following what's going on here at Daytona, how are you
able to pull away from it or find yourself following it? Finally,
we're here in the deadline media room watching you on TV, have you
started your workout program yet? (Laughter)
STEWART: You notice I'm
slouching over the table so you can't see too much. I've started,
and I have to say enjoy doing it, obviously the time I got and the
time I was in Fort Wayne and I've been at Louisville, Kentucky, at
a major pool tournament the last couple days, and we've not been
home to work out. But it's something I'm actually enjoying. We had
one of the trainers from Joe Gibbs Racing come to Columbus there
and see my equipment and get me set up on a program. So I enjoy
doing it. I'm excited about it. I don't feel like I'm going to be
Mr. Olympia by February or something, but we're at least making
steps in the right direction. So weight is going down instead of
up. I hate to tell David Poole that because he's going it fire me
-- we have our eating team down there, I'm afraid I'm going to get
fired from that role. But it's part of life, I guess. As you get
older, your body changes and no more being able to do what I want
and lay on the couch and sleep in until noon anymore, I have to
get up like everybody else and work at it right now.
GREEN: Herb, we have two more
questions up here, any more questions from down there and we'll
wrap up from Daytona?
BRANHAM: Right now we have
two, two only.
GREEN: Let's go ahead take
the two more questions from Daytona and then we'll wrap up here in
Indianapolis.
Q: Tony, Mark Totus from
Florida Today. You talked a lot about racing at Fort Wayne and the
Chili Bowl and the different places and racing against a whole lot
of guys that are really, really good racers and can hold their own
in those series. What separates you from them? Is it one break
that you got that they didn't? Can you talk a little bit about
that? Thank you.
(More)
Page 12 … Tony Stewart-Allstate
400 at the Brickyard media conference transcript (Jan. 10)
STEWART: I think there's
probably thousands of drivers that can be in the same situation
I'm in; and I think what happened with me is I've been very, very
fortunate my whole career to be surrounded by great people. You
know, Mark Dismore was a great, great friend of mine, still is a
great friend of mine that helped me get my first midget ride. That
was the first big break that I needed to move up the ladder. So,
you know, that carried me on to where we are today obviously. But,
you know, there's guys that just -- everything that happened in my
career seemed to be I was in the right place at the right time.
You know, after Jeff Gordon did so well on ‘Thursday Night
Thunder’ with the midget series on ESPN, a couple years after he
went to stock car racing, we were coming into that. So it just
seemed like I've always been able to be in the right place at the
right time, had the right opportunities. But trust me, I don't
feel like we're in an elite group of people. I think there's
thousands of drivers across the country that have the talent, they
just -- there's always only going to be 43 guys that make the race
on Sunday and there's, you know, increasing numbers of race car
drivers that get into auto racing each year, but there's only
going to be so many opportunities available. So it's getting
harder and harder each year to get those opportunities.
You look at scenarios like
what we have with Joe Gibbs Racing, we have a kid under contract,
Joey Ligano that isn't even old enough to drive and doesn't even
have a driver's license; his mom has to drive him to the race
shop, and the kid's got great talent. Trust me, I would rather
drive with Joey on the street than with people who have driver's
licenses. You look at how tough it is and how car owners are like
any other professional sport, they're looking at kids before they
graduate high school now to drive the race cars.
So it's getting increasingly
harder and harder. And guys that are established and are 25, 30,
35 years old, probably aren't even going to get opportunities
because they're now too old to be considered for new rides. So
this day and age it's just getting harder and harder to get those
opportunities. But there's definitely talented drivers out there.
When I go to Fort Wayne, when I go to dirt late-model races, I
race with these guys every week and they're some of the toughest
in the country, and they're guys definitely capable of being where
we are. They just aren't where we are at the right place at the
right time.
GREEN: Herb, anything else
from Daytona?
BRANAHM: Yes, a couple more.
Q: Dustin Long, Landmark. One
was ask for somebody else if you've been paying attention to
testing down here. What I wanted to ask you, you mentioned earlier
that a driver can't carry a race team because it's so technical,
the cars are so technical now. How challenging is it for a driver
to accept that? And what were you able to do early last season
when you guys weren't as dominant and still searching for the
right connection?
(More)
Page 13 … Tony Stewart-Allstate
400 at the Brickyard media conference transcript (Jan. 10)
STEWART: I won't forget the
Daytona question this time. You know, I guess from a driver
standpoint, it's disheartening a little bit to know you can't make
the difference, but it definitely teaches you a team atmosphere.
It teaches you what football teams and basketball and baseball
teams know, that you're one of many components that make a team.
So from that aspect, I guess that's what made it easier this year
of making it through the tough times of knowing we weren't where
we were; but knowing that if you keep the entire race team pumped
up, it was easier to get through those tough times to where when
things started getting better, the team wasn't beat down so much
they couldn't rebound from it. So you kind of learn to put
yourself in a different role, and I think that's what makes great
leaders in our sport from the driver's side. Not saying that I'm
one of those by any means, but, you know, you look at guys like
Dale Earnhardt, who even if his car wasn't right, he could keep
his race team pumped up and motivated and he could get everything
out of it. But even when they would get in slumps, they were never
really totally out of things. So I guess from that side of it, you
just learn the team atmosphere and you learn to accept that and
learn to not try to totally rely on yourself to make the
difference, you rely on those people that work closely around you.
On the Daytona side, like I
said, I was down in Louisville, Kentucky, at the Derby City
Classic pool tournament, and we carried a laptop around and
plugged in every now and then to see where everybody is at. So we
are paying attention. Just because we're not down there doesn't
mean we don't care about what's going on down there. We care very
much what's going on and don't want to lose touch with what's
happening. So we're definitely going to be watching all day today;
and even while we're in Tulsa tomorrow, we'll have the whole day
to be able to watch and see what's going on down there. So I'm
hoping that we can stay in the top 10 down there and have good
runs and a good test.
GREEN: We're going to finish
with two more questions up here, and then we will move outside for
the photo op.
Q: Erik Waxler, WTHR. Tony,
is your dream Super Bowl the Colts/Redskins and where would your
allegiance lie?
STEWART: There's somebody
that's always got to put me between a rock and a hard place, but I
have no problem answering this question. I told Joe if it's Colts
and Redskins, sorry, Joe, I'm wearing blue and white, so you'll
have to get over it. I'm a pretty diehard Indiana guy, and
everybody knows that and Joe knows that. I hope it gets to that. I
hope Joe has a good enough season to get to the Super Bowl. As
long as it's one of those two teams that wins it, I'll be fine. If
it comes down to those two particular teams, I'm going to have to
stand on the Indiana side, for sure.
GREEN: Just to close out, to
finish off the comment I made at the very beginning, a lot of the
historians were saying that your win again in August may have been
one of the most, if not the most memorable day here in history at
the Speedway. When you drove out the gates that night, do you
allow yourself to think about something like that, that you
probably have written a special chapter in history here at the
Speedway?
(More)
Page 14 … Tony Stewart-Allstate
400 at the Brickyard media conference transcript (Jan. 10)
STEWART: I didn't think about
it that day, it wasn't until a couple days after that I had heard
some of the historians who after living around here for so long,
I've got to know some of those guys and to hear that comment was
something that meant, you know, you couldn't put a price on that.
To think that that's one of the most special moments in the long
history of this facility, that just makes what was a great day
even greater. So I don't know how we could make that one day in my
life any more special than it was than all those variables
combined.
GREEN: Thank you, Tony, very
much. A couple of notes, media notes and we'll go outside for the
photo op. Especially for our media in Daytona, we will have a
transcript up on the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Web site very
soon. Also, if you're tuning in, one of the affiliates tuning in
on satellite, you may see bars for a short bit before the photo op
comes back up. So hang tight. We will have the photo op up on the
satellite fairly quickly. Again from Daytona, thank you very much
and again your attendance here in Indianapolis, we appreciate it.
Greg Engle, the Editor of the Cup Scene Daily is seeking employment within the motorsports journalism industry. If you are interested, please contact him at:
greg@cupscene.com
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