Whether in a Car or Plane, Stewart Spends Plenty of Time Buckled Up

No one has even attempted it, much less accomplished it, but Tony Stewart is shooting for a rare midget car racing double this year by driving for the championship in the U.S. Auto Club’s national series in the Midwest and the USAC Western States regional series on the Pacific Coast.

And to make sure he doesn’t miss anything, the 23-year-old from Rushville, Ind., also drives in Silver Crown championship dirt cars and sprint cars, when he has a night off from the midgets.

Going into the Western States race Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway in Oildale, Stewart is fourth in West Coast standings and leads the national series by 18 points over Andy Michner of Somerset, Mich.

“I had my last conflict last week, so now I can race in both series without having to miss a race,” Stewart said. “I know it’s a longshot, but I got off to such a good start early in the year with the TV races in Ventura that I decided to give it a shot.”

Stewart finished first or second in five of the first six races and had a 45-point lead when the national season started and he began missing races.

Ten events remain on the regional schedule, and Stewart is 130 points behind John Cofer of Sonoma and also trails Billy Boat of Phoenix and Jay Drake of Via Verde. Last Saturday night, while Stewart was racing in Gainesville, Ga., Drake took over the white Larry Brown-owned No. 36 midget Stewart usually drives and won the main event at Ventura.

There may be no direct conflicts, but Stewart still is on a tight schedule.

On Aug. 20 he has a Silver Crown race in Springfield, Ill., and a midget race that night in Ventura.

“Right after the Springfield race, four of us will jet to Oxnard and take a helicopter to Ventura in time for qualifying, we hope,” he said. “One night, after a race in Ventura, I caught the red-eye to Indianapolis and drove to Winchester (Ind.) in time for a 10 a.m. drivers meeting.”

Brown, a Bakersfield auto parts manufacturer, sponsors Stewart in West Coast races and flies him back and forth from his home in Indianapolis, where he lives in an enclave of race car drivers that includes USAC midget champion Mike Bliss, Page Jones and Clint Mears.

Last Sunday, at Terre Haute, Ind., Stewart flipped his Silver Crown car and narrowly escaped serious injuries when the car caught fire with Stewart hanging upside down in his harness.

“I was OK until the fire broke out and the safety crew sprayed me with some chemical,” he said. “I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t unbuckle myself. It was panic time. I think most of my bruises came when I was thrashing around trying to get out.”

Nevertheless, the next night found Stewart at a kart race--with his helmet.

“One of the guys asked me if I wanted to get back in a kart--that’s how I got started in racing--so I did and won my class.”

Tonight he will be in a national midget race at Indianapolis Raceway Park and Friday night at Rushville to drive a three-quarter midget at his hometown’s county fair before jetting to Bakersfield.

Next week, he will drive a midget Wednesday night in Kokomo, Ind., a sprint car Thursday at Indianapolis, another sprint car Friday at La Salle, Ill., and back to the national midget series Saturday night at Portsmouth, Ohio.

“Racing every night sure beats what I was doing,” Stewart said. “I was just out of high school, working in a machine shop for $5 an hour. In the winter, it was so cold in there that if you didn’t keep your feet moving, your toes would get numb.

“One day I got invited to drive in the Copper Classic in Phoenix, and when I finished second I got $3,500. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I’d have to work 3 1/2 months to make as much money as I’d made in one race, so I quit my job to go racing full time.”

Stewart and other West Coast drivers will not have seven-time western regional champion Sleepy Tripp to contend with Saturday night. Tripp and long-time car owner Gary Zarounian parted company before last week’s race, leaving the former national champion without a ride. Zarounian hired Richard Griffin of Silver City, N.M., to drive his car.

Motor racing notes

STOCK CARS--Winston Racing Series sportsman, pro stocks, mini stocks and pro four modifieds will be featured Saturday night at Saugus Speedway. . . . Cajon Speedway will close its sportsman and Grand American modified program Saturday night with a destruction derby. . . . Kern County Raceway will have V8 modifieds, street stocks and legend cars Saturday.

SPRINT CARS--After a week off, the Sprint Car Racing Assn. picks up its schedule with a main event Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway. Ron Shuman, winner of two Santa Maria races this year, will try to overtake SCRA points leader Rip Williams, who leads by six points.

MOTORCYCLES--Mikuni American will host its third annual Calendar Bike Show on Sunday at the Museum of Flying at the Santa Monica Airport. Major manufacturers and racing teams will have displays, including Yamaha International, U.S. Suzuki, Vance & Hines, Pro Italia, Two Brothers Racing and Team Yoshimura. Doors open at 10 a.m.

SPORTS CARS--The Exxon World Sports Cars series will be held for the first time this weekend at Laguna Seca Raceway as part of the Monterey Grand Prix. The new series replaces the Camel GT cars, which were dominated by Dan Gurney’s Toyotas driven by Juan Fangio II and P.J. Jones in recent years, on the International Motor Sports Assn. schedule. Irv Hoerr, with three consecutive victories in an Olds, and Joe Pezza, with three victories in his last four races in a Mustang, will be favored in the GTS and GTO events, respectively.