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Sprint Cup
CUP: Stewart Still Going Strong
Tony Stewart will turn 40 on Friday...
Tony Stewart is a two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
After a bad day not too long ago, one of Tony Stewart's team members witnessed an outburst he figured ranked right up there with one of Stewart's infamous temper tantrums.
'We finally saw the old Tony!' he boasted to Greg Zipadelli, the crew chief who spent 10 patience-testing years with Stewart.
"I asked him why he thought that, and he said Tony had come into the trailer hollering at everybody," Zipadelli recalled. "I asked him 'Is the TV still on the wall? Was a (thrown) radio jammed in the cabinet? Did the remote control still work? Did he call you every name in the book?'
"When the answer was no to all of that, I said 'Well, he did that was all in one day. So trust me, buddy, you haven't seen anything yet.' "
The eruptions are rare these days, and the bad behavior that stained Stewart's early years seems so silly and avoidable now. There's a calmness about Stewart for the first time in his NASCAR career, and he insists it has nothing to do with him turning 40 on Friday.
The two-time NASCAR champion, who built a reputation as one of the greatest bad boys of the sport's recent era, believes living and learning from his many missteps was only a matter of time.
"It was inevitable that one day I would eventually grow up. (I'm) not all the way there yet, obviously, but have made strides in that direction," Stewart said. "That's just life. You get in a position where things start making sense, and you find where you belong and you get on with it. But it takes learning from your mistakes, and understanding action and reaction, and figuring out which fights are worth fighting.
"I'm at the point where even if I'm right, sometimes it's better to let things go and not worry about them. It's just not worth arguing about things you can't change."
If only Stewart had been wise to that earlier, so much of his NASCAR career would have been so much easier on himself and everyone around him. Although he's got 39 victories -- including his two coveted Brickyard 400 wins -- two Cup championships and over $90 million in winnings, the road was often clogged with self-inflicted speed bumps.
When his passion and his temper intersected, the results were usually regrettable behavior. Punching a photographer in 2002 drew a $50,000 fine and almost caused his Joe Gibbs Racing crew to quit on him. Using his radio show to criticize NASCAR and liken it to professional wrestling deeply wounded industry leaders Stewart cared about. Looking back, all those arguments with fellow drivers, the nasty exchanges with media, the public outbursts and the shortness with fans, none of it seems worth the trouble now.
And all of it's a contrast to a man whom industry leaders speak glowingly of for his kindness, generosity, sharp wit, and, most important, the very passion that's often at the root of most of Stewart's setbacks.
'We finally saw the old Tony!' he boasted to Greg Zipadelli, the crew chief who spent 10 patience-testing years with Stewart.
"I asked him why he thought that, and he said Tony had come into the trailer hollering at everybody," Zipadelli recalled. "I asked him 'Is the TV still on the wall? Was a (thrown) radio jammed in the cabinet? Did the remote control still work? Did he call you every name in the book?'
"When the answer was no to all of that, I said 'Well, he did that was all in one day. So trust me, buddy, you haven't seen anything yet.' "
The eruptions are rare these days, and the bad behavior that stained Stewart's early years seems so silly and avoidable now. There's a calmness about Stewart for the first time in his NASCAR career, and he insists it has nothing to do with him turning 40 on Friday.
The two-time NASCAR champion, who built a reputation as one of the greatest bad boys of the sport's recent era, believes living and learning from his many missteps was only a matter of time.
"It was inevitable that one day I would eventually grow up. (I'm) not all the way there yet, obviously, but have made strides in that direction," Stewart said. "That's just life. You get in a position where things start making sense, and you find where you belong and you get on with it. But it takes learning from your mistakes, and understanding action and reaction, and figuring out which fights are worth fighting.
"I'm at the point where even if I'm right, sometimes it's better to let things go and not worry about them. It's just not worth arguing about things you can't change."
If only Stewart had been wise to that earlier, so much of his NASCAR career would have been so much easier on himself and everyone around him. Although he's got 39 victories -- including his two coveted Brickyard 400 wins -- two Cup championships and over $90 million in winnings, the road was often clogged with self-inflicted speed bumps.
When his passion and his temper intersected, the results were usually regrettable behavior. Punching a photographer in 2002 drew a $50,000 fine and almost caused his Joe Gibbs Racing crew to quit on him. Using his radio show to criticize NASCAR and liken it to professional wrestling deeply wounded industry leaders Stewart cared about. Looking back, all those arguments with fellow drivers, the nasty exchanges with media, the public outbursts and the shortness with fans, none of it seems worth the trouble now.
And all of it's a contrast to a man whom industry leaders speak glowingly of for his kindness, generosity, sharp wit, and, most important, the very passion that's often at the root of most of Stewart's setbacks.
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