{"id":24134,"date":"2019-03-13T10:50:27","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T15:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=24134"},"modified":"2019-03-14T13:05:38","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T18:05:38","slug":"nascar-legend-tony-stewart-feted-during-motorsports-hall-of-fame-of-america-induction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/13\/nascar-legend-tony-stewart-feted-during-motorsports-hall-of-fame-of-america-induction\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR legend Tony Stewart feted during Motorsports Hall of Fame of America induction"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Tuesday evening, during the induction ceremony for the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in Daytona Beach, NASCAR<\/a> champion Tony Stewart<\/strong><\/a> charmed a room full of auto racing\u2019s biggest names and most ardent supporters, demonstrating that his massive talent behind the wheel is matched by an equally endearing personality.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Tony Stewart. (Photo by Rusty Jarrett\/Getty Images for NASCAR)<\/p><\/div>\n

Seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson flew in from the West Coast \u2013 where the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is racing at California\u2019s Auto Club Speedway this weekend \u2013 just to present Stewart for induction. Johnson had some fun with his friend, reminiscing about good times away from the race track like when he flew on Stewart\u2019s airplane and noticed the dogs on board ate filet mignon while Johnson and Stewart were served hamburgers.<\/p>\n

But Johnson put all kidding aside and pulled out a handwritten list of Stewart\u2019s many racing accomplishments to share with the rapt audience. The admiration and respect was evident with each milestone Johnson read aloud – from Stewart\u2019s early success in USAC to his Indy Racing League championship to the way Stewart earned three Cup championship trophies (2002, 2005 and 2011) before retiring after the 2016 season.<\/p>\n

As much as Stewart recognized the esteem in being honored, he seemed as genuinely pleased to be in the company of so many greats from such a diverse representation of his sport.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Tony Stewart (#20 The Home Depot Chevrolet) waves to the crowd during the pre-race parade laps of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 4, 2007 in Fort Worth, Texas. Photo credit: Jamie Squire\/Getty Images.<\/p><\/div>\n

Joining Stewart in the new Hall of Fame class is three-time Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti; motorcycle racing legend Kevin Schwantz, racing pioneer, the late Augie Duesenberg; longtime sports car innovator, the late Phil Remington; drag racing driver\/owner Don Schumacher; and one of the sport\u2019s favorite trackside personalities, Linda Vaughn.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing all the great inductees from the past, it\u2019s very humbling to be a part of that group now,\u2019\u2019 Stewart said. \u201cI guess because I\u2019m still racing, I never even thought about being a part of it \u2013 normally when you think about being in a Hall of Fame you\u2019re nearing the end of your career and I feel like this is the second part of my career starting, not the end of it. It was a big surprise and at the same time, very humbling.<\/p>\n

\u201cDario and I were talking and I joked, \u2018I don\u2019t even know what category I\u2019m getting inducted in with short track racing, IndyCar and NASCAR.\u2019 It\u2019s been fun and I\u2019m excited about the group here. .. all of motorsports. There\u2019s a lot of crossover between the drag racing guys, motorcyles and everything in between, and I have a lot of friends across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

One obvious Stewart friend is Johnson, who was adamant about being in Daytona Beach to help honor Stewart, despite having to travel cross country \u2013 and back \u2013 in a single day to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always been fierce competitors and fought hard for race wins and championships against one another, but through it all there\u2019s always been a great connection he and I have had, and a great deal of respect we\u2019ve had for another,\u2019\u2019 Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve always had this cool connection.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, talks with co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, Tony Stewart, before the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 13, 2017 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the reason the one time I\u2019ve ever been called to the NASCAR hauler,\u2019\u2019 Johnson said with a smile. \u201cSo I\u2019ve had some highs and lows with him, but many, many more highs. When he called, I said, \u2018Absolutely, I\u2019d love to.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n

Stewart was almost reverent in his appreciation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you pick a better man than Jimmie Johnson?\u2019\u2019 Stewart said. \u201cYou can\u2019t pick a better champion, a better human being and a better friend. He\u2019s been all of those to me. I can\u2019t think of anybody I\u2019d rather have than Jimmie.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was representative of the good vibes on Tuesday. More than 200 people happily crowded The Shores Resort & Spa in Daytona Beach for the event, including past honorees of the Motorsport Hall of Fame of America. It was a legitimate \u201cWho\u2019s Who\u201d of racing and difficult to tell who was enjoying the occasion more – the room of legendary racers getting to enjoy some rare time to interact or those in the audience taking it all in.<\/p>\n

Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles presented racing pioneer Augie Duesenberg for induction, sharing some fascinating background on the innovator. NHRA Funny Car champion Ron Capps was making his first ever trip to Daytona Beach for the event, which honored his team owner Schumacher. And his former team owner NHRA legend Don Prudhomme introduced Vaughn for her induction.<\/p>\n

There were sports car greats such as Hurley Haywood, Elliott Forbes-Robinson and Brian Redman laughing with motorcycle stars such as Jeff Ward and off-road legend Walker Evans. Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi was there, as was five-time and reigning IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, who introduced his good friend Franchitti for induction.<\/p>\n

And NASCAR was well represented, from NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison and his brother Donnie to team owner Chip Ganassi and series executives such as Mike Helton.<\/p>\n

The event is known as the \u201cHeroes of Horsepower,\u201d and by all accounts, this was a billing well earned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Tuesday evening, during the induction ceremony for the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in Daytona Beach, NASCAR champion Tony Stewart charmed a room full of auto racing\u2019s biggest names and most ardent supporters, demonstrating that his massive talent behind the wheel is matched by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":24135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,68],"class_list":["post-24134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-tony-stewart"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Stewart_Tony.jpg?fit=3000%2C2107&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-6hg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24134"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24139,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24134\/revisions\/24139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}