{"id":87876,"date":"2022-10-25T15:33:10","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T22:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=87876"},"modified":"2022-10-25T15:57:41","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T22:57:41","slug":"drag-racing-is-its-own-island-stewart-will-line-em-up-on-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/drag-racing-is-its-own-island-stewart-will-line-em-up-on-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"“Drag Racing is its Own Island,” Stewart Will Line ‘Em Up on Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tony Stewart will make his side-by-side competition debut on Friday. Tony Stewart – courtesy NHRA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NHRA drag racing is unlike anything Tony Stewart has ever done. After meeting NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Fuel 10-race winner Leah Pruett and, eventually, dating and marrying the driver last year, Tony Stewart has found himself fully immersed in straight-line racing. When they first began dating, he\u2019d come to races with her but, as he so aptly noted, \u201cI don\u2019t have a history of being a very good spectator. I wanted to know what it feels like in the driver\u2019s seat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The only cure for that kind of thinking is to actually get into the driver\u2019s seat and find out. This weekend during thew penultimate Camping World race of the 2022 season, Stewart will, for the first time in his racing life, attempt to qualify during a National event on the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series tour, hoping to be one of the 16 Top Alcohol Dragster (TAD) drivers to make it to Saturday afternoon eliminations after three rounds of time trials on the quarter-mile drag strip at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll be wheeling the McPhillips Family Top Alcohol Dragster against a very stacked field that includes standouts in the class like Shawn Cowie, Jasmine Salinas, Julie Nataas, Jackie Fricke, Joey Severance and a host of other top-notch TAD competitors. They have told Stewart to be easy on them, but this weekend\u2019s race will be a first for the 51-year-old NASCAR, INDYCAR, SRX and USAC champion. For the first time in about 30 years, he\u2019ll be a rookie. \u201cI\u2019m too old for INDYCAR, retired from NASCAR and wheeling a sprint car is getting more difficult,\u201d Stewart noted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, in drag racing you don\u2019t get a lot of days to test or even practice as he did in the other motor sports where Stewart has successfully raced. On the Monday night before Las Vegas, Stewart was out testing Hoosier tires for his sprint car teams. \u201cI did about 120 laps,\u201d where in drag racing, he\u2019s been down the quarter-mine a total of six times. He did four runs at Brainerd the Monday after NHRA raced on the Minnesota drag strip; he got two passes after competition on Monday, driving down Reading\u2019s strip before it started raining. The McPhillips family has told him he\u2019s been consistent in his work, so that\u2019s given the driver some confidence.<\/p>\n

Still, he doesn\u2019t feel totally prepared for his debut at Las Vegas. \u201cI\u2019ve tried to be a student of the sport these last couple of years, listening to the drivers, the teams, watching what they do. I have a really good idea,\u201d one that comes from owning a pair of nitro-powered cars – for Pruett in Top Fuel and three-time Funny Car champion Matt Hagan – this year, \u201cwhat to expect, but nothing prepares you better than getting out there. This opportunity is something super-exciting,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n

Since meeting and falling for Pruett, Tony Stewart has come to \u201cgenuinely love this sport. In the pit area,\u201d he reminded, \u201cthe atmosphere is unbelievable. People can watch teams disassemble and reassemble these cars in an hour. It\u2019s unbelievable. Seeing the atmosphere at each track and seeing others having a good time has brought me to have fun in motorsports again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony Stewart knows that every driver in every class is very competitive and that there are no laggards anywhere in the NHRA pits. While he has, as Tony Stewart Racing\u2019s nitro team owner, become familiar with nitro teams, this is his first time – aside from testing – racing in Lucas Oil competition. And no, he still hasn\u2019t faced another driver in the other lane. Friday morning\u2019s initial qualifying session will mark his first opportunity to race side-by-side against another car.<\/p>\n

After his Reading test, the older McPhillips told Stewart he thought he was ready to race and, at that time, there wasn\u2019t an opportunity. He finally got the call that the seat was available for Las Vegas. \u201cI jumped in – after confirming with my wife. She\u2019s watched every lap I\u2019ve run and said she thought it would be okay. She gave me the go-ahead,\u201d he confirmed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When he went to Frank Hawley\u2019s drag racing school Pruett was by his side. \u201cLeah spent time staging with me with her feet, to get the lights on. I had to learn the procedure but she was trying to throw me off. Staging,\u201d Stewart admitted, is a new procedure for him. He\u2019s practiced staging with Pruett, but can\u2019t as he waits for the weekend to begin as she\u2019s got the family practice tree with her in Nevada and he\u2019s still in Indiana, taking care of his myriad businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had some decent, consistent lights and Leah\u2019s told me she wouldn\u2019t do anything different. She keeps telling me not to get out of rhythm or sync, but to do what you\u2019re used to doing. If we have good lights\u201d this weekend,\u201d we\u2019ll stick with it.\u201d A successful weekend for Tony Stewart would be to qualify consistently and, perhaps, move from the two Saturday eliminations to Sunday\u2019s semifinals. \u201cThis is a good weekend to find out whether – and with what – I want to compete in. There are positives to doing this at a National event and negatives as well,\u201d since the TAD championship is on the line for his competition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I get three qualifying rounds [in] and get into the field, and if I get the full spirit of what it\u2019s like from the driver\u2019s standpoint, I think I\u2019ll get through Saturday and to Sunday\u2019s semi\u2019s. I\u2019ll just do the best I can, but I won\u2019t be disappointed if I go out in the first round.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis sport is so different from anything I\u2019ve done and the fact that we\u2019re doing it\u2026 I\u2019ve gotten texts from my sprint car competitors, from Cup guys, from crew, from NHRA guys. Everybody knows this is a learning experience and that I need to have realistic expectations. Every time we run it\u2019s a bonus and an opportunity, with three qualifying runs and four elimination rounds. I\u2019ll do the best I can and give 100 percent. I\u2019ll be told what I need to change or do differently. I\u2019ll just jump in the water and figure out how to swim.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always a first time, always a learning curve. Some things about this sport are similar, but NHRA is drastically different from what I\u2019ve ever done, which makes it a disadvantage to every other first-time [event] for me. The McPhillips family is helping me keep calm by telling me I\u2019m doing okay; they are a team that goes out and wins races, so I don\u2019t want to disappoint or let them down,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n

Tony Stewart isn\u2019t sure he wants to do a second, third or more Top Alcohol Dragster races, or if he wants to go into Top Fuel nitro competition. This weekend on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, these NHRA Nevada Nationals should help him decide if he wants to tackle even more straight-line racing. As he watches a racer like John Force, who\u2019s almost a quarter-century older than he be successful in a very difficult-to-drive Funny Car, Stewart realizes he might have 10-15 years available to compete. Those of us who love to see an \u201cold dog\u201d perform new tricks, are waiting and hoping to see even more.<\/p>\n

By Anne Proffit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NHRA drag racing is unlike anything Tony Stewart has ever done. After meeting NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Fuel 10-race winner Leah Pruett and, eventually, dating and marrying the driver last year, Tony Stewart has found himself fully immersed in straight-line racing. <\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":87875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,3470,5029,3399,1],"tags":[38,9348,712,75,8458,128,9347,127,8055,4049,9341,1192,1883,9340,73,3828],"class_list":["post-87876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-racing","category-nhra","category-uncategorized","tag-funny-car","tag-hoosier-tires","tag-indycar","tag-john-force","tag-leah-pruett","tag-matt-hagan","tag-mcphillips-racing","tag-nascar","tag-nhra-camping-world-drag-racing-series","tag-nhra-lucas-oil-drag-racing-series","tag-the-strip-at-las-vegas-motor-speedway","tag-tony-stewart","tag-tony-stewart-racing","tag-top-alcohol-dragster","tag-top-fuel","tag-usac"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Tony-Stewart-courtesy-NHRA-e1666729094528.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-mRm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87876"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87879,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87876\/revisions\/87879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}