Tony Stewart’s legacy as a race car driver is not yet over though it has been years since he retired from NASCAR. It is not always you find a driver so in love with their craft that they choose to get behind the wheel in every possible racing series for as long as age will allow them. The Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner is one of the rare kinds. As he prepares to race in the NHRA Top Fuel class after running riot in the Alcohol class in 2023, he recently talked to a panel during Race Industry Week.

The one chief desire that Stewart voiced during his interview was that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his 85-year-old father and race for as long as he could.

Tony Stewart hopes he has inherited the right genes

Even when he was driving full-time in the Cup Series, Tony Stewart never limited himself to NASCAR. His racing outfit Tony Stewart Racing helped him do that. After he hung up his Cup Series suit in 2016, his goal was to focus on managing Stewart-Haas Racing and racing in other disciplines. As he continued to do that over the years, he took part in the NHRA Alcohol class in 2023 and ended up being voted the Person of the Year by fans.

He furthered his interest in the series by announcing a few days back that he would also be stepping in for his wife Leah Pruett in the Top Fuel class as she wanted to focus on starting a family with him. Preparing for his new challenge in the offseason, Stewart has now expressed his love for racing by saying that he wants to race for as long as his father, Nelson, does. One of the panelists, Judy Kean, brought Nelson Stewart up, saying, “I talk to your father all the time, Nelson. He’s still racing and that’s so … it’s in your blood.”

Responding to her compliment, Stewart said, “It is. My father is 85 years old and still races 3/4 midgets. Hopefully, I got the right side of the family tree there and got the genetics that’ll allow me to race that long.” Continuing the discussion, he also heaped praise on the drag racing legend John Force and his drivers, Austin Prock and Robert Hight.

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Stewart reminisces about his close ties to the NHRA and his close-knit family there

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When Tony Stewart’s association with NHRA brought about some criticism considering the recent downfall of the Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cup Series arm, he responded by choosing to participate more in it. The reasons for the same are clearer now. Talking about how much the racing series has had an impact on him, he spoke of the 16-time NHRA Champion John Force. He said, “John Force is an absolute legend. It is so fun to listen to him and be around him.”

The same panel that interviewed Tony Stewart had spoken to John Force, Austin Prock, and Robert Hight earlier. With that discussion oozing its way into the Tony Stewart conversation, the 3x Cup Series champion said, “It is so much fun to listen to John, Robert and Austin. Austin Prock used to run his midget program out of our shop at TSR, there in Brownsburg. So we know Austin really well. His brother Thomas was one of our engineers at Stewart-Haas racing in Charlotte with the NASCAR side. So, it’s a really close-knit family that NHRA is and I am proud to be a part of it.”

Over in NASCAR, Stewart is fresh out of the announcement of Noah Gragson replacing Aric Almirola in the #10 team. With Josh Berry already having been picked to replace Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing goes into 2024 with a young lineup. Let’s hope Stewart finds success both as team owner and driver in the upcoming season.

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