Generation best? Tony Stewart is positioning himself to do something no other driver has done��win championships in Indy car and Winston Cup - NASCAR

Sometimes things don't come easily for Tony Stewart. Sometimes he says things he shouldn't. Sometimes he shows his frustration he acts ... well, like he needs a stern lecture--or a swift kick in the butt.

But driving always comes easily. It's what Stewart was born to do.

Advancing from go-karts, which he began driving at 7, Stewart conquered the world if USAC open-wheel racing: He excelled in midgets, sprint cars and Silver Crown cars on dirt and pavement. He started from the pole his first time in the Indianapolis 500. He set a NASCAR record by winning three races and finishing fourth in driver points standings in his Winston Cup rookie season and won 12 races in his first three seasons.

Stewart's versatility is not unique. Among his Cup peers, Robby Gordon first achieved success in off-road truck racing and in sports cars before becoming a winner in Indy cars and moving to Winston Cup. Ken Schrader competes frequently in open-wheel sprint cars, midgets and modifieds. Jeff Gordon, like Stewart, first achieved stardom in USAC.

But Stewart has enjoyed the most success in the greatest variety of racing series of any of the current Cup drivers, and he has the chance to compile the best overall record ever.

Stewart is a throwback to drivers of an earlier era such as A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti, who not only raced in various types of cars but achieved great success in them.

Stewart's half-dozen attempts to win the Indianapolis 500 have been thwarted, and a Daytona 500 victory is missing from his resume. But at 31, he's capable of achieving something neither Foyt nor Andretti did--winning championships in Indy cars and Winston Cup cars. The open-wheel title has been taken care of: Stewart won the Indy Racing League title in 1997. The Winston Cup title is a distinct possibility--Stewart finished second to Jeff Gordon in the standings last year, and he is climbing within the top 10 only 14 races into this season.

Stewart also tried his hand in a sports car, competing this year in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The car didn't finish, but Stewart was wicked-quick.

All of which raises the question: Is Tony Stewart the best driver of his generation? Maybe. Does he have a chance to be the best ever?

"I really think so" says Donnie Allison, who won 10 races in his Winston Cup career and finished fourth and sixth in two appearances in the Indianapolis 500 in 1970-71. "Tony probably has shown the best of any of them, from all avenues. I'm sure if Jeff Gordon got in an Indy car now, he'd run well because they are the same breed of driver."

Retired race team owner Bud Moore, whose cars won two NASCAR championships and one SCCA Trans-Am title, agrees with Allison's assessment. "I think Stewart has been the best one who ever came over," Moore says. "He has adopted to the stock cars very, very well. He came over and crawled right in these cars and was fast and won races. He's one of the best competitors on the race track now."

In an earlier time, Stewart probably would have followed the same career path to this point, one that took him to the short, dirt and paved ovals of the Midwest, then to other regions and larger tracks, then back home to Indiana to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500. Like Foyt and Andretti, surely Stewart would have been in demand to drive someone's stock car in the Daytona 500.

But today, it's a different story.

"It is so unusual in this era, with the importance of championships, the importance of points and the existence of contracts that are much more exclusive than they once were, to have somebody like Tony who not only wants to, but is allowed, to compete outside his major series" says Fred Nation, director of public relations for the IRL. "That says a lot about him."

Buz McCall, who has fielded championship teams in sports car racing and is a former NASCAR owner, notes today's trend toward specialization.

"I think it's so difficult to get everybody to buy into the fact that a guy can excel in one area as well as he can in another," McCall says.

Even within individual disciplines of racing, such as Winston Cup, "you're seeing guys who practically specialize in superspeedways and medium-speed tracks and short tracks," McCall adds. "To be a champion today in any of these sports is pretty amazing."

Stewart's contract with his car owner, Joe Gibbs, permits specific extracurricular activities--including the right for Stewart to participate in the Indianapolis 500, which he has done twice since becoming a full-time NASCAR driver in 1999. That has meant racing at Indy and, later the same day, in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte.

Although Stewart does not have permission to drive winged sprint cars, he owns the team of World of Outlaws champion Danny Lasoski.

Comparing sports figures from different eras is difficult. Comparing drivers who have specialized in different forms of auto racing also is problematic. But Stewart's similarities to drivers from earlier times invite comparisons--particularly to Stewart's hero, Foyt.

"Stewart has a lot of the demeanor that A.J. has," says Jay Signore, director of the International Race of Champions series. "It's kind of neat when you see Tony at the short track with Danny Lasoski, working on the car and changing gears. I remember seeing A.J. doing a lot of that same stuff through the years."

"They have a lot of the same traits," the IRL's Nation says. "Tony is not always the most patient man in the world with the press."

A hunger to win the Indy 500 is another shared trait. Stewart was 6 when Foyt won his fourth race at the Brickyard.

"You just always heard so much about A.J., growing up in Indiana, and him being the first to win the 500 four times," Stewart says. Stewart's interest peaked every May when practice and qualifying started. "Every day at 3 o'clock when school was over, I'd run home and turn on the TV and see who was running well and who'd had trouble. It's every driver's dream who grows up in Indiana to win the Indy 500."

Despite his success in the USAC circuits, Stewart did not attract offers from CART team owners, who seemed to be looking outside America for new talent. But when the IRL was formed, Stewart got his shot to race at Indianapolis for the first time in 1996 and qualified second. Stewart inherited the pole when his teammate, pole winner Scott Brayton, was killed in a crash during practice. Stewart led 44 laps before engine problems sidelined him.

Stewart was called the poster boy of the IRE, the perfect example of the talented U.S. grassroots open-wheel racers Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George hoped to provide opportunities for when he formed the league. The soaring popularity of NASCAR was sufficient to lure Stewart away from his first love, open-wheel cars. But he didn't leave until he won the IRL title, and he made sure to keep his options open for Indianapolis.

"Tony lives for racing, and he would race every day if he had the opportunity" Nation says.

Stewart's success in NASCAR was no coincidence, Allison says. "When he came into it, his mindset was right," Allison says. "He was concentrated on what he was doing. He knew he was going back to a lower grade in school. He might have been a senior in Indy cars, but when he came to NASCAR, he was a freshman again. He knew he had a learning curve ahead of him. If you go with that attitude, you have a chance to do well."

Moore compares Stewart not only to Foyt but to Stewart's contemporary, Jeff Gordon, and to the late Dale Earnhardt. "Stewart is more interested in winning a race than he is in winning a championship," Moore says with approval. "If the points come, that's fine."

It's beyond debate Stewart is one of the more talented drivers of his time. Contrary to his fiery image, he is ice cold in competition. His car control is as absolute as any driver's, as is his feel for the car and the track. In open-wheel cars, he has won on dirt tracks from tight bullrings to mile-long state fairgrounds ovals, and on paved tracks big and small. In Winston Cup, he has won races on every type of speedway (his two Bud Shootout victories at Daytona did not count as official victories).

"Tony has the ability to be one of the greatest drivers," says three-time champion CART team owner and Winston Cup team owner Chip Ganassi, who fielded a car for Stewart in the 2001 Indy 500. "After working with some of the greatest drivers around--Emerson Fittipaldi, Alex Zanardi, Juan Montoya--Tony would have to be considered in that class of driver."

As much as the cars have evolved since the days of Foyt and Andretti, is it still possible for a driver to master various forms of racing? Stewart would seem to prove that it is.

Signore, whose IROC series takes a dozen top drivers and matches them in four races in identically prepared NASCAR-type machines, is convinced drivers can be versatile and succeed "if they want to do it and you give them the opportunity to work at it" he says. "You just don't jump in a seat and drive away."

Schrader, another of NASCAR's most versatile drivers, places great value on the equipment at the driver's disposal. "The only thing that really matters is what car you're in on that day" says Schrader. "I don't think it says anything about talent. The only thing that makes any difference is what car you are in that day and how you drive that car."

Nation agrees with those points but emphasizes that not every driver who wants to be versatile can have the kind of success Stewart has had. He points out that many NASCAR drivers besides Stewart, Robby Gordon and John Andretti, all of whom have done the Indy-Charlotte double, might want to give the 500 a try.

"But the reality is, very few have the experience in open-wheel cars that would allow them to be really competitive in the 500" Nation says. "The same is true, of course, for open-wheel drivers who think about going and running a NASCAR race. This is a world of specialties now, and there are only a few guys out there who transcend those specialties."

Stewart says he skipped the Indianapolis 500 this season so he could concentrate on his effort to win a Winston Cup title. "We're in a good position right now in the season" he says. "We feel like this is our best opportunity to win a championship."

As for comparisons with the greatest drivers in history, Stewart takes a modest attitude when it comes to his hero.

"I'm not sure I can ever be as big as A.J. Foyt was," Stewart says. "It's funny to stand back and watch and think about how our lives are very similar and our personalities are similar, but two eras in time. We're friends, and we enjoy spending time with each other. We have a respect for each other, and it's created a great friendship."

What if Stewart wins a Winston Cup title, moving him into a territory where no driver has been? Would he set out to conquer another world--Formula One, perhaps? Would he come back to fulltime IRL duties? Would he take his winnings and dictate his own schedule, racing in the events he wanted (big and small) and avoiding the grind and the politics of full-time involvement in any series and the pursuit of more titles?

"It's hard to say," Stewart says. "You don't know how the sport is going to evolve, what series are still going to be in existence and what level they're going to be at. I'm enjoying what I'm doing. Do I wish I had time to do other things? Sure, I do, but I think everybody feels that way. I have a grueling schedule, but for the most part, I think that as a racecar driver, I have the flexibility. If I wanted to change and go to a different series, I could do that."

Most observers agree Stewart could do just that--if he put his mind to it.

Not much has deterred him so far.

Legendary numbers

Will Tony Stewart ever be considered one of the top drivers of all time? Comparing his accomplishments with those of other drivers who have raced in more than one format indicates he is building the credentials to be included in the mix.

Tony Stewart: One IRL title; runner-up once in Winston Cup points; four USAC titles, including unprecedented sweep of Silver Crown, sprint and midget titles in 1995.

A.J. Foyt: Won seven USAC championships (and 67 races) in Indy cars; won three USAC stock car titles (41 races); won 159 career USAC-sanctioned races; won one Daytona 500 and seven Winston Cup races; won one USAC dirt car title; first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500; co-driver of winning entry in 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car endurance race; co-driver of two winning entries in Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car endurance race.

Mario Andretti: Won four Indy car titles (52 races, record 67 pole positions); won one Formula One world driving title; won one Daytona 500; won one Indianapolis 500; co-driver of winning entry in Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car endurance race.

Emerson Fittipaldi: Wan two F-1 titles; won two Indianapolis 500s.

Dale Earnhardt: Seven-time Winston Cup champion and winner of 76 races, including one Daytona 500; co-driver of winning class entry in Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car endurance race.

Danny Ongais: Competed at top levels of NHRA drag racing; raced 11 times in the Indianapolis 500; raced in six F-1 races; co-driver of winning entry in Rolex 24 at Daytona; set numerous speed and endurance records at Bonneville Salt Flats.

Jim Clark: Two time F-1 champion and winner of 25 races in 72 starts: won 1965 Indianapolis 500; drove in one NASCAR race, in 1967 at Rockingham, N.C.

Jeff Gordon: Four-time Winston Cup champion and winner of 58 races; won USAC titles in Silver Crown and midget cars; never has raced in Indy cars.

Cale Yarborough: Only driver to win three straight Winston Cup championships (1976-78); competed in Indy car racing in 1971: competed in the Indianapolis 500 four times, finishing as high as 10th ('72).

Dan Gurney: Won first Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car endurance race (which was three hours long); codriver of winning entry in 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car endurance race; won races in NASCAR, Indy car and F-1; he the last U.S.-born driver to win an F-1 grand prix in an American-made car.

John Andretti: Now focuses on Winston Cup but enjoyed success in sports cars and Indy cars; co-driver of winning entry at Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car endurance race; reached tire final round in his first attempt to drive an NHRA Top Fuel dragster.

Steve Kinser: 15-time World of Outlaws sprint car champion and winner of more than 400 races: competed in Indianapolis 500 and Winston Cup races.

Buck Baker: Two-time Winston Cup champion and winner of 46 races; won title in short-lived NASCAR Speedway Division for Indy-type cars with stock-block engines.--D.G.

David Green is a senior writer for AMI Auto World Magazine based in Boca Raton, Fla.

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