NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart is usually very accommodating to fans, be it to sign an autograph, pose for a photo or just have some friendly verbal banter. But Stewart doesn’t like to be second-guessed about his motives from so-called “fans”.
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This is especially true when it’s from those who can be verbally brutal because they think they know better than someone who is a former IndyCar champion, a three-time NASCAR Cup champion and a guy who is starting to look like he may earn his first NHRA championship this year.
In a post-race media session after his NHRA Top Fuel win Sunday at Route 66 Raceway, Stewart was overjoyed at his accomplishment, but NASCAR and online critics drew his ire.
Ever since he retired from racing in NASCAR following the 2016 season, Stewart tried to keep himself both busy and happy in his administrative duties as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing.
But this is Tony Stewart we’re talking about here. Making corporate team decisions just doesn’t have the excitement of driving at a hundred or more miles an hour.
So Stewart went looking for a new hobby, if you will. One that would take him faster than he’d ever been — more than 100 mph faster than a NASCAR stock car or an IndyCar open-wheeler.
At the same time, Stewart began dating and eventually married NHRA drag racer Leah Pruett. It was a match made in motorsports heaven, and while Pruett would carry and then give birth to the couple’s first child six months ago, she also was one of the primary teachers and coaches to help her husband learn all the nuances of driving a Top Fuel dragster at 330-plus mph.
But that’s where some of the joy for Stewart stopped. He started getting criticized by keyboard warriors who said he was wrong in doing what he felt was right for him. They felt their opinion mattered more than Stewart’s own instincts.
After Sunday’s drag race win, Stewart unloaded on so-called “fans” of his — or even non-fans — for oftentimes vile, insidious, untruthful and just plain hurtful online posts.
“I make a big mistake at reading social media,” Stewart said. “I think we all make very vital critical mistakes by reading the keyboard warriors that are dumb asses that sit in their mother’s basements and don’t do a damn thing and haven’t accomplished anything in their life and tell you how bad you are or what you do — but they can’t tell you to your face.”
Oh, Smoke was steamed and just getting warmed up. He went on to add, “I’ve never stood at the ropes and have anybody come up to me and said ‘You really are bad at this and you should put your wife in the car.’
“But I read it on the Internet: ‘Why is he driving the car? His wife is way better. She almost won a world championship.'” Interestingly, Pruett did that in her last season as a racer in 2023 before she and Stewart began working on starting a family.
To those cyber critics who call out Stewart (and sometimes Pruett), usually anonymously or hiding behind an online nom-de-plume that can’t be tracked, Stewart has a message for them — which not coincidentally, is the same thing he says about NASCAR officials.
“They can kiss my ass, they literally can kiss my ass and I’ll sit there and stick it out for them, too, because they don’t do a damn thing. They’ve never accomplished anything in their life,” Stewart said, drawing a round of laughter from the media in attendance at his post-race presser.
“They don’t know how to work hard to be successful in anything,” he continued. “That’s why they say the s**t they say on the internet. And to sit there and have to fight and prove these people wrong, that’s the pride I take now.
“That’s the pride I’m leaving here with tonight. I’m going to celebrate this because this is for all those people that say that I suck, I’m no good, I’m terrible, I’ve never been anything. This is for all those people.
“They don’t have anything to show for it. I’ve got two silver Wallys [trophies NHRA awards to national event winners] this year to show for it. We’ve proven these guys wrong.
“So they can say what they want to say now; they just look stupid when they say it. That’s the pride I’m taking, what we’ve done today and what we’re accomplishing.”
But wait, there’s more from Tony
Being one of the most outspoken and transparent racers in any form of motorsport, Stewart drew another round of laughter from reporters when he quipped, “I have trouble opening up and being honest and letting my emotions go.”
He then once again returned to being serious, this time standing up for his better half.
“I took a lot of crap when Leah decided to make the change to get out of the car,” he said. “I had shoulder surgery at the same time so I couldn’t do anything for literally six weeks. I sat there and spent way too much time reading stupid people’s comments.
“I let it get the best of me for a while, but at the same time it was my motivation. These idiots don’t realize the more they talk s**t about me the more they motivate me to be better. That’s my best motivation.”
So if you don’t think Stewart can continue winning drag races or potentially become the first racer in history to win championships in IndyCar, NASCAR and NHRA, just keep at it, online trolls.
“So I encourage them to keep doing it, keep coming, keep coming at me,” Stewart said. “The more you come at me, the more I’m going to prove you wrong, the more you’re going to make me work harder to prove you wrong.”
But there may be one other thing Stewart can do to further prove those naysayers wrong: Stop reading social media, Tony.
