ON OFF-ROADING : For Stewart, Stadium Runs Fun, but Desert Racing’s Downright Delightful

Ivan (Ironman) Stewart finds short-course off-road stadium racing exciting, but for sheer enjoyment, he says it pales by comparison to desert racing, which is dirty, dusty and downright wild and wonderful.

“I enjoy the challenge of short course racing,” said Stewart, 41, of Lakeside, “but desert racing is my first love. . . . Riding through the wild roads of Baja is much more attractive than racing in front of people (in a stadium).”

Stewart, who said he has recovered from a pinched nerve in his back that sidelined him in Anaheim last week, will compete Saturday night in the grand national sport truck category at Mickey Thompson’s off-road Gran Prix in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

A list of Stewart’s off-road credentials is as long as some of the winding roads he travels in the Baja 1000.

Since starting with dune buggies in the deserts, he has won five Baja 500s, Baja 1000, Mint 400, Parker 400, Frontier 500 and two SCORE off-road World Championships.

In the past four years, since he started driving full time, Stewart has won numerous stadium competitions, two drivers’ points championships and two second-place finishes in four years in the Mickey Thompson series. He has also been a member of Team Toyota’s championship team the past four years.

From the rocky roads in Parker, Ariz., and Ensenada to multipurpose stadiums in Anaheim and San Diego, Stewart and his expensive trucks (some cost as much as $120,000) travel the off-road circuit.

“It’s a little difficult to make the transition from desert to stadium,” Stewart said. “In the desert, you have to be very precise, very methodical and very patient. I wait for the speed to come to me. You get into a groove in the desert race. It really feels good.

“And then the next week, I go to a stadium and you throw all that out the window. In a stadium race, you never get that feeling. You don’t have time to be smooth and methodical. You have to be quick and violent. You have to abuse the equipment.

“You’re flying across jumps harder than you would in desert runs. And you’re using 100% of your ability and 100% of the truck’s ability. You’re always on the edge. You have to do that to be anywhere close to contention. Any form of racing other than off-road racing stadium-style is gentle.”

Ah, the gentle atmosphere of the desert. Dune buggies and warm water. Marathon 500- and 1,000-mile races. Long hours. Dirty uniforms.

Just the right kind of activity for a man his age?

“You would be in your prime at a younger age for short-course racing,” Stewart said, “but having 15 years experience means a lot.”

Many of his competitors at stadium events are in their late 20s and early 30s.

“But at 41,” Stewart said, “you’re pretty much in your prime for desert racing. It takes a lot of experience.”

And patience.

“I get behind the wheel and nothing else matters--not the dust, the rocks, other vehicles--nothing,” said Stewart, who got his nickname after winning the Baja 500 twice and Baja 1000 once while driving solo. “Whether it takes 6, 12 or 24 hours, I am out there to finish and to win.”

In 1976, on a wet course filled with muddy roads, Stewart won the Baja 1000 in 15 hours.

“And that was the winning time,” Stewart said. “There were were a lot of people out there 30 to 40 hours.”

Stewart’s wife, Linda, knows all about those long hours. And she is only a spectator, albeit a very interested one.

“One of these days, my heart will burst open and I’ll die in the stands,” Linda said. “You don’t want to watch, but you have to.”

Linda doesn’t make four- to eight-foot jumps at 60 to 65 miles per hour like her husband does, but she watches most of Stewart’s races and has had her share of adventures.

There was the time she took a plane to La Paz to wait for her husband at the finish line of the Baja 1000. She waited for two days without seeing or hearing from him.

“It turned out that Ivan broke down shortly after the race started in Ensenada, and he couldn’t call La Paz from Ensenada,” Linda said. When the winner showed up in La Paz and explained what happened to Stewart, Linda took all his and the crew’s luggage and flew to Tijuana.

Seeing her husband in a dusty uniform is normal for Linda, who said it was “wonderful” when he left his job as a construction foreman four years ago to become a full-time driver.

“Our lives are so much more fun,” Linda said. “The kids were older and we did lots of things together. At times, it’s very high tension, but, all in all, it’s wonderful.”

The Stewarts’ older sons, Brian, 22, and Gary, 20, compete in off-road races, but Craig, 18, has yet to catch the bug . . . and Linda says she never wants to.

“I have no desire at all to race,” Linda said. “I wouldn’t do it just for fun. I’m too competitive, and I couldn’t compete with them.”

On the road, that is. Linda, a pilot, feels more comfortable in the air.

“I don’t like to fly with her,” Stewart said, “but I go.”

Is Ivan Stewart afraid of flying? Not really, but he feels more comfortable jumping through the air in a truck.

“There’s always excitement,” Stewart said.

And fear?

“There aren’t many injuries (in off-road racing),” Stewart said. “There’s fear, but not the kind of fear you would think. For me, there is the fear of not doing a good job for the sponsors.”

Stewart wasn’t happy with his performance in last year’s off-road competition in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. Transmission troubles kept him from finishing among the leaders.

“It was nothing memorable,” he said. “It was kind of irritating because it was in my home town. . . . If I had to choose just one main event to win in this year’s series, it would be here at Jack Murphy Stadium in front of a hometown crowd. We haven’t had that many opportunities to compete in our own backyard, so this race will be special.”