Stewart makes impression in sports cars
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
January 6, 2002
11:56 AM EST (1656 GMT)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Virtually to a man, some 10 NASCAR drivers who tested sports cars for the better part of the last three days at Daytona International Speedway enjoyed the experience.
Preparing for the season opening Grand American Road Racing Association Rolex 24 at Daytona, the kickoff event for Speedweeks 2002, offered an opportunity for them to have fun in the garage area. That's a commodity that is usually in short supply in the pressure-packed world of NASCAR Winston Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck Series competition.
"It's just something fun to do," said Tony Stewart, last season's Winston Cup runner-up. "Everybody knows that if I get an off weekend and can go race somewhere, I'll go race. It's a lot of fun to be able to come down here a little bit early and get in a race car again."
Stewart's last two outings at the "World Center of Racing" were hardly a thrill. In the Daytona 500 he was involved in a spectacular backstretch crash that sent him to the hospital with an injured shoulder.
At the midsummer Pepsi 400, he was black-flagged late in the race for a rule infraction, penalized when he failed to heed the call to the pit area and had his active probation extended for his behavior after the race.
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Tony Stewart
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Stewart, 30, a diverse competitor who raced a variety of open wheel vehicles before he moved to stock cars, made his sports car debut testing a Judd-powered Crawford Sports Racing Prototype for the Feb. 2-3 event.
Although Stewart's been back to Daytona often in his three-year Winston Cup career, the test was his first opportunity to run the 3.56-mile road course since he was 15, racing a World Karting Association machine in that sanctioning body's Christmas holiday event.
"We didn't run the chicane on the back straight, but it was pretty much the same course we run now," Stewart said of his memories. "It's been a long time -- gosh, 15 years ago. A lot has happened in those 15 years. But it's neat to come back to run the same track that I ran in go-karts."
The exercise was almost akin to taking his current Home Depot Pontiac back to a half-mile dirt track in Indiana, where he raced Sprints or Midgets, and hot-lapping; but Stewart said the experience was a big plus.
"It's good to do something different," Stewart said. "I've always driven so many different race cars in my career, it's nice to add this to the list.
"From the time I was a little kid, when you watch this stuff on TV, I'd say, 'Hey, I want to do that someday' -- (the) same thing I did with Indy cars and Winston Cup cars."
Stewart has the dubious honor, along with fellow Winston Cup driver Robby Gordon, who is a four-time Rolex 24 class winner, of driving a car in the race's top class of five divisions. The status of his competition isn't lost on him, and he said it's only added to his enjoyment of the experience.
"The guys in the prototypes -- look at the drivers in these cars," Stewart said. "You've got James Weaver just down the way, and Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Dorsey Schroeder. You look at the guys driving the prototypes and they're world-class drivers.
"Being in cars comparable to them is a good honor, and you know you're with some guys who know what they're doing. And those are the guys who have been coming down trying to help."
Stewart said he definitely appreciated that, after his first time in the car that he'll share with former Formula One driver and Rolex 24 and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Jan Lammers.
"I need to get faster -- about 13 seconds faster," he said with a laugh. "I've got a lot of work to do, but I'm having fun."
That was the bottom line at the test for Stewart and fellow NASCAR drivers Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Rick Carelli, Wally Dallenbach, Kyle Petty, Davy Liniger and John Metcalf.
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