Stewart trying his best to handle pandemic

The racer in three-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Tony Stewart wants to get back on track, but the businessman in Stewart has been hard at work since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Stewart, who owns the All-Star Circuit of Champions sprint car tour and Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, in addition to serving as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing in NASCAR, had had to balance all three businesses and work to keep them functioning since sports came to a halt amid the pandemic.

While it has not been a simple task, Stewart said that making sure his companies survive the current shutdown and subsequent economic ripples has been the top priority.

“Our main goal through this whole thing has been trying to make sure that we take care of the business first because if we don’t take care of the business first, then we’re not going to have the ability to take care of our employees,” Stewart said. “In saying that, the front of my mind has been filled with how we take care of all of our employees through this because they’re all a part of my family now. I have more than 400 people that I employ between all the entities that I have. So, with that in mind, it’s been think about those people first.

“If I don’t do the right things with the business, nothing will ultimately matter,” he continued. “I can’t help my employees if I don’t have a business that can sustain it, so that’s been our primary focus.”

In that process, Stewart has been quick to make sure he has altered the day-to-day flow and the livelihood of his workers as little as possible, to try and ensure normalcy for each of them.

“Everything that we’re doing, we’ve tried to make sure that we disrupt everything from the employee side as little as possible, knowing financially that they have bills to pay and families to feed,” Stewart said. “It has been a balancing act making sure that we are doing the right things, business-wise, to ensure that it is going to stay solid enough to make sure that we can take care of our employees. I think once we get to the end of this, the NASCAR side, I don’t think I have as much fear of what’s happening there because it’s just a matter of handling the logistics of doing everything that we need to do to accommodate a revised schedule to name one thing. I feel like we have all the right people in the right places to be able to do that.

“On the All-Star side, it’s a little more worrisome from not from handling our employees as much, but we still have to take care of them as much as we pay attention to what happens in the rest of the industry.”

In an environment where the people surrounding a team are vital to success, Stewart pointed to two of his brightest business minds who are keeping his teams and series afloat through the uncertainty of the pandemic.

“The one thing that is comforting to me through the whole thing is that I have really good people that work for us on the financial side. Brett and Jared Frood really are my main guys on the business side. Brett single-handily takes care of the Stewart-Haas Racing side and controls the majority of the Tony Stewart Racing side, as well, and his brother Jared is 100 percent the guy on the All-Star side that keeps that deal going strong. They have been huge throughout this whole situation and how it has evolved since March.

“I think honestly, they’ve been focused on handling what we have to do to keep the businesses open right now and making sure we’re still going to be able to have teams when we weather the storm here,” Stewart added. “Having two business guys like that on staff that now how to make the right decisions make it a lot easier for me to sleep at night not having to worry about things because I know they have things under control as best they can.”

This week in racing history

From 50 years ago this weekend in 1970 at Brownstown, Paul Crockett won the late model feature over Don Hobbs, Pete Willoughby, Jim Curry and Paul Hobbs.

Also from 1970 at Paragon Speedway, Orval Yeadon won the sprint car feature over Mike Bowlen, Larry Miller, Bob Kinser and Frank Hollingsworth.

From 40 years ago in 1980 at Brownstown, Paul Crockett won the late model feature race over Terrence Johnson, Doug Ault, Dick Phillips and Lump Colwell. Cooley Singer won the hobby stock feature over Daryl Herbert, Roger Hehman, Jack Taylor and Tony Moore.

Also from 1980 at Haubstadt, Lee Osborne won the sprint car feature race winning over Sammy Swindell, Danny Smith, Don Mack and Rick Ferkel.

From 30 years ago in 1990 at Haubstadt, Shane Carson won the sprint car feature over Larry Bland and Kevin Briscoe.

Also from 1990 at Twin Cities, Scott McKeand won the street stock feature over Joe Johnson, Steve Hostetler, Earl Plessinger and Denny Campbell. Brad Blevins won the limited late model feature.

From 20 years ago in 2000, Jim Curry won the late model feature at Brownstown over Randy Petro, Steven Godsey, Brett Davis and Cale Kern. John DeMoss won the open wheel modified feature over Randy Petro, Darren Davis, Matt Boknecht and Lee Hobbs. Sam Chastain won the bomber feature over Robert Walters, Matt Cummings, Ray Godsey Jr. and Bubba Woods.

From 10 years ago in 2010 at Brownstown, Jeremy Hines won the Indiana late model series feature over Zak Blackwood, Mark Barber, Kevin Hardin and Steven Godsey. Clint DeMoss won the open wheel modified feature over Ryan Thomas, Matt Boknecht, Richie Lex and Jacoby Hines. Tim Roberts won the pure stock feature event over Curt Bennett, Jeremy Owens, Mickey Hines and Cody Vanosdol. Bubba Woods captured the bomber feature over Josh Turner, Jim Pfeiffer, Keaton Streeval and Aaron Fields.

James Essex writes a motorsports notebook for The Republic. Send comments to [email protected].