In the 1990s, Tony Stewart was a promising young racer climbing the ladders of professional racing. He was making a statement in the USAC series and collecting open-wheel racing trophies as if it were a hobby. One of the few people who made life difficult for him during this dominant period was Kenny Irwin Jr., a driver that the world of NASCAR lost too early.
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Stewart was on Cars on Culture with Jason Stein last month when he was asked who his favorite driver to race against was. The answer came without hesitation, “I think my all-time favorite still is Kenny Irwin Jr. Like I said, Kenny and I started racing midgets against each other at the speed room in 1991 and both worked our way into all three national USAC series together.”
Being born in Indiana left both Stewart and Irwin with little choice but to excel in open-wheel racing before moving elsewhere. Stewart won the 1991 USAC Rookie of the Year award, the USAC National Midget Series Championship in 1994 and 1995, and the USAC Triple Crown Championship in 1995.
Today we remember Kenny Irwin Jr, who passed away on this date in 2000. pic.twitter.com/4xocqAnZsg
— NASCAR Memories (@NASCARMemories) July 7, 2017
Irwin also boasted a similar set of achievements. He won the USAC Rookie of the Year award in 1993, the USAC National Midget Series Championship in 1996, and the USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year in 1994.
When the duo entered NASCAR, this statistical match converted into a rivalry. More than a quarter of a century later, Stewart is only pleased it did.
Irwin’s rivalry with Stewart in NASCAR and his untimely death
NASCAR team owners were in a frenzy to search for the sport’s next Jeff Gordon in the nineties, and that is when Irwin and his extraordinary skill set caught their eyes.
MB Motorsports and Liberty Racing offered him seats in the Craftsman Truck Series in 1996. The same year, Stewart made a part-time appearance in the Xfinity Series driving for Ranier-Walsh Racing.
While Irwin went on to race full-time in Trucks in 1997 and moved to the Cup Series in 1998, it was only in 1999 that Stewart ran his first full-time season.
They raced against each other in the highest echelon of stock car racing for nearly one and a half seasons. Stewart reminisces this time fondly, saying, “Kenny made me a better race car driver. There were times when we were bitter enemies.”
Short tracks, short tempers. Tony Stewart directs his heat shields at Kenny Irwin’s Texaco Havoline Ford during the 1999 Napa Autocare 500. (Photo credit: Getty Images) pic.twitter.com/hz0sj0LexL
— I Want to Believe Nascar (@IWTBNASCAR) March 22, 2019
“There were times when we were friends and hung out after races together. But the thing with Kenny and I is I feel like we both pushed each other. If he saw me at the race track and most definitely when I saw him at the track, I knew that it was not going to be an easy night,” he continued to note the challenge Irwin Jr. presented.
“I would say, hands down, he was the competitor I respected the most,” Stewart concluded. Irwin was a driver for Team SABCO in 2000. On July 7, he was practicing for the Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when he crashed his #42 Chevrolet.
The impact killed him (aged 30) and left motorsports reeling in pain. Stewart won that weekend’s race and dedicated the win to his friend.
