Stewart Joins Midget Field for a Night

Fresh from the most successful rookie season in NASCAR Winston Cup racing history, Tony Stewart will return to his roots tonight and drive in the 59th annual Turkey Night Midget Grand Prix at Irwindale Speedway.

It was in open-wheel cars that the Indiana driver earned his spurs, winning U.S. Auto Club championships in midgets, sprint cars and Silver Crown cars in 1995 and the Indy Racing League in 1997 before joining Joe Gibbs’ stock car racing team.

Stewart became the first rookie to win three Winston Cup races in one season and also the first to finish fourth in the series, which will be good for a $220,000 check at the NASCAR awards banquet Dec. 5 in New York.

“This was the most unbelievable rookie season in Winston Cup a driver could ask for,” Stewart said. “The credit for this really goes to my entire team at Joe Gibbs Racing, my crew chief Greg Zipadelli and the associates and management at Home Depot, who have been behind us so strong this entire season.”

Home Depot is the title sponsor of USAC’s classic midget car race, one that started in 1934 at Gilmore Stadium.

“It’s been less than a week since the Winston Cup season ended [last Sunday], but I feel like I’m coming out of ‘retirement’ to drive one of Steve Lewis’ midgets,” Stewart said.

Lewis was Stewart’s car owner when he won the USAC midget title in 1995.

“I’ve only seen Irwindale on TV so I’m not sure how to prepare for the track, but Bob East, who will be my crew chief, has been very successful there, so I’ll just show up and drive.”

East, a former California Racing Assn. driver, had a streak of six USAC wins in seven races in midseason with Jason Leffler and Dave Darland doing the driving. Leffler and Darland also will be in Lewis-owned cars tonight.

Leffler this year became the first driver to win three consecutive USAC midget titles since Jimmy Davies did it in 1960-62. Darland is the reigning USAC sprint car champion.

Although he has been away from midgets for a year, Stewart has something of a streak going himself. He has won his last six starts on pavement, starting in 1996 at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Stewart isn’t the only Winston Cup driver in tonight’s race. Kenny Irwin Jr., like Stewart a stock car rookie of the year and former USAC midget champion, is entered in a car owned by his father.

Stewart and Irwin were not on the best of terms during the Winston Cup season after they tangled during the NAPA AutoCare 300 at Charlotte, N.C.

“We’ve had a love-hate relationship from way back,” Stewart said. “We were teammates at one time, but we always hated to see each other show up at a racetrack because we knew that’s who we had to beat.”

Irwin, who finished third, second and third in Turkey Night races in 1994-96 at Bakersfield and Perris, said he expected the transition from stock cars to midgets to be difficult. “Irwindale has a high groove and a low groove, and I don’t know what to expect,” he said. “I do know that it is one of the great events for midgets, thanks to all those years [30] it ran at Ascot Park.”

PJ Jones, who is planning on switching from CART champ cars to Winston Cup next season, has a special reason for entering.

“My dad won this thing [in 1966] and I want to win one so we’ll be the first father-son winners,” Parnelli’s son said.

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Another Turkey Night Classic is scheduled for Bakersfield Speedway in Oildale, where the Northern Auto Racing Club will present a winged 410-sprint car main event tonight.