Bob Pockrass
FOX NASCAR Insider
Tony Stewart has spent the final two years coaching to drive a automobile that goes from 0 to 330 mph in a matter of seconds.
He’ll admit that it took him some time for his mind to course of the knowledge as rapidly because it requires in a dragster. Does that imply he can course of the whole lot rapidly now?
He’s unsure. Ask the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion course of diaper adjustments and he laughs as he thinks about what his subsequent problem might be within the subsequent few days.
“I’m looking for each means I can to keep away from having to alter diapers,” Stewart mentioned in an interview just a few weeks in the past. “But my spouse is a really strong-willed girl and she or he has assured me that certainly not will I shirk these duties as a father and mother or father.
“And I do not blame her. It’s a part of the sport.”
Stewart’s spouse, Leah, is due within the subsequent two weeks, and the upcoming delivery is probably the most thrilling factor within the NASCAR Hall of Fame driver’s life. When they determined they needed to start out a household, Leah determined to get out of her automobile with one of the best gas and Stewart, nonetheless comparatively new to the world of drag racing, stepped in.
It wasn’t straightforward. Like any competitor, Stewart desires to always battle for victory. But he embraced this new racing life. During his NASCAR racing days within the rearview mirror, Stewart discovered pleasure within the problem of competing in a completely new self-discipline wherein the automobile goes from 0 to 100 mph in 60 toes as much as a prime pace of 334 mph.
“The automobile goes down the monitor and your mind is behind it saying, ‘Wait a minute, what is going on on? And how do I keep concerned?'” Stewart mentioned. “But like the rest, if you wish to elevate weights, you must prepare. Your mind has the flexibility to do precisely the identical factor. Now it is caught within the automobile.
“I do know what the automobile is doing. If it strikes, I do know the place it’s. I do know what to do to reply, however it took my mind some time to get used to processing data as rapidly because it happens in a dragster.”
Heading into this weekend’s National Hot Rod Association season finale on the Pomona, Calif. Dragstrip, Stewart sits tenth within the standings, having didn’t advance from the primary spherical in 10 of 19 occasions this yr . He reached the ultimate as soon as, along with his finest end a second place in Sonoma. He is a candidate for the Rookie of the Year title, however the season did not go as he would have favored.
“I want to say he is doing nice,” Stewart mentioned. “But it has been a battle this yr. ….It’s been a giant studying curve for me as a driver, for the workforce and the crew to tune the automobile to sit down there and work out make the automobile work higher and obtain higher efficiency.” in the best way they should carry out.”
Stewart spent a yr racing a top-level dragster and moved as much as the very best gas class this yr. He has three wins within the prime alcohol division.
“At the start of the season I believed that I, undoubtedly, was going to be the weak hyperlink on the workforce,” Stewart mentioned. “I felt the workforce can be higher suited to profitable rounds and making an attempt to win races than I’d have been able to on the time.
“Fortunately, I’ve an ideal spouse who’s an ideal trainer, and I received in control fairly rapidly on what I must do as a driver to drive the automobile. We simply struggled.”
For Stewart, it is mentality that is the most important distinction between his former racing life and his present one. He was used to three.5 hour races. Now he runs 3.5 seconds.
“I’d say so far as the dash automobile and NASCAR aspect. The driver often finally ends up being 70 % of the success equation,” Stewart mentioned. “This is because of what they do with their arms and toes within the automobile, the place they elevate and the way they drive the race automobile.
“They can manipulate the race automobile to a sure level and compensate for what it would not try this they want. The NHRA aspect is against that. They’re 70% tuners and 30% drivers, there isn’t any I can do nothing as a driver to make it go quicker, however there are about 20 methods I can screw it up and gradual it down or trigger one thing catastrophic to the engine.”
Among the challenges was a change in chassis specification that nobody knew how would have an effect on efficiency. And then there was one thing else.
“Obviously, you realize, not having Leah within the automobile and including slightly bit heavier driver within the race automobile, we knew that may be an element to some extent, however we weren’t certain how massive it will be,” Stewart mentioned.
Stewart would not know if he’ll race in his spouse’s place initially of subsequent season. The NHRA has adopted guidelines for the way factors might be awarded if a driver makes use of a substitute driver for a part of the season because of the driver’s being pregnant or fertility remedy. These guidelines would permit, in sure conditions, the factors earned by the alternative driver to be added to the principle driver’s season complete.
“Obviously I’m not a lady and I do not know what childbirth means and what it takes to recuperate from it,” Stewart mentioned. “I’m studying extra and studying extra concerning the matter, and it is not a straightforward journey again to the discussion board earlier than I get pregnant.
“We’re nonetheless making an attempt to determine it out, however in the end the choice might be Leah’s. The cause I’m driving the automobile this yr is as a result of I’m simply the alternative driver. I’ve instructed everybody that I’ll drive the automobile till it is prepared for come again. Ultimately it will likely be her race automobile and her race workforce, and when she desires to get again in that automobile, it will likely be there for her.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He spent many years masking motorsports, together with greater than 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene journal and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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