Tony Stewart is considered to be one of the greatest race car drivers but there are several other motorsports athletes he looks up to. In a recent interview with Mobil1, Smoke was asked about six drivers he would keep in his fantasy league to race against each other. The names are a who’s who of global motorsport genres and it included four Formula 1 drivers. Clearly, the three-time Cup Series champion has a lot of love and admiration for the ‘pinnacle of motorsports’.
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In typical fashion, Smoke as he is often referred to as, also had himself in his dream league. “If it’s my fantasy league, you bet your a** my a** is going to be in the league,” he said. The other five racers he mentioned were AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton, and Michael Schumacher.
Happy Birthday to Super Tex AJ Foyt pic.twitter.com/8wRkoMiO91
— Matt Archuleta (@indy44) January 16, 2022
AJ Foyt is a household name in IndyCar circles, best known for being the first driver to win the famed Indy 500 four times. Following Foyt, Mario Andretti is also a name synonymous with global motorsports owing to his 1978 F1 title as well as his four IndyCar championships. Andretti is also the only driver in history to win the F1 title, the Indy 500, and the Daytona 500 during his career.
Hamilton and Schumacher are both seven-time F1 world champions and Senna is considered by many to be the greatest F1 driver of all time. The Brazilian racer won three championships and would gone on to win more had it not been for his untimely death.
Smoke might have never been a part of Formula One but he knows what it’s like to drive open-wheeled machines. Back in 2011, he and Hamilton got together to swap cars at Watkins Glen. It was an incredible moment in global motorsports as the two legends interacted with each other and drove around The Glen in each other’s cars. Stewart’s IndyCar experience shone through as he drove the McLaren around the famed track.
Lewis Hamilton climbs into the NASCAR Cup car of Tony Stewart for his seat fitting during the Mobil 1 Car Swap at Watkins Glen International on June 14, 2011.@LewisHamilton @TonyStewart @NASCAR @F1 @WGI pic.twitter.com/3DkDuy9Ujq
— George Silbermann (@ACCUSmayor) November 29, 2023
At 53 years old, the three-time Cup Series champion is still racing. He currently competes in the NHRA filling in for his wife and drag racing legend Leah Pruett. His time in NASCAR, however, has come to an end.
Smoke opens up about Stewart-Haas Racing
It was announced earlier this year that 2024 would be the last season of Stewart-Haas Racing in NASCAR. Owing to the team’s dwindling results and questions arising around management, the announcement was not the most surprising amongst the fraternity. The team gave Smoke his third and Kevin Harvick his first Cup Series titles.
“I think I’m going to be a lot more emotional about it than I think I’ll be. I took a lot of pride with what we’ve built at SHR. It is going to be sad. But like anything else, there’s changes that happen in life. I’ve been with NASCAR for 28 years now. It’s going to be a very big change to not be a part of it from a driver or owner side of it at the end of the season,” he told Forbes.
Stewart’s current focus seems to be on the NHRA as of now. Incredibly, he is still racing but it will certainly take some getting used to tuning into NASCAR competitions and not seeing the Stewart name anywhere, especially after SHR becoming a powerhouse of a team with three charters in the sport.
