Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Tony Stewart Racing with racing hero Tony Stewart, drag-racing start Leah Pruett and WorldofOutlaws legend Donny Schatz

BRUCE:

IndyCar fans, it's time to start your engines. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, a production of Evergreen Podcast. I'm your host, Bruce Martin, a journalist who regularly covers the NTT IndyCar Series. Our goal at Pit Pass Indy is to give racing fans and insiders view of the exciting world of the NTT IndyCar Series in a fast-paced podcast featuring interviews with the biggest names in the sport. I bring nearly 40 years of experience covering IndyCar and NASCAR, working for such media brands as NBCSports.com, SI.com, ESPN SportsTicker, Sports Illustrated, AutoWeek and SpeedSport. So let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy as we begin our fifth season of giving IndyCar fans an inside look at the most exciting form of racing on the planet, the NTT IndyCar Series. As teams in the NTT IndyCar Series continue preparations to start the season on the streets of St. Petersburg for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, February 28th to March 2nd, PitPass Indy is heading to the Sunshine State. But first, we're going to switch gears and head to the biggest NASCAR Cup Series race of the season and the biggest stock car race in the world, the 67th Daytona 500 on February 16th. The next day after the Daytona 500, it's off to Sebring, Florida for IndyCar's big two-day open test as all teams in IndyCar get a chance to prepare for the 2025 season at Sebring Raceway. This edition of Pit Pass Indy celebrates the 25th anniversary of Tony Stewart Racing. From his career as the first driver in USAC history to win all three major national championships in the same season when he won the Midget, Sprint, and Silver Crown titles in 1995, to his impressive transition to IndyCar in 1996 as the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in the 1997 Indy Racing League Championship, to his Hall of Fame career in NASCAR, Tony Stewart was the definition of a true racer. When Stewart parked his NASCAR Cup Series car for the final time in 2016, the Columbus, Indiana native had won three NASCAR Cup Series championships under three different formats, won 49 NASCAR Cup Series races, including the 2005 and 2007 Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and collected $122,231,607 in Cup Series winnings. He also won 11 races and 6 poles in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Beginning in 2009, Stewart became an owner-driver along with fellow owner Gene Haas at Stewart Haas Racing. It became one of the top teams in NASCAR Cup Series racing with 103 wins and two NASCAR Cup Series championships, including Stewart's third title in 2011 and Kevin Harvick's championship in 2014. Stewart remained a grassroots racer at heart and continued his career racing anything on four wheels at short tracks around the country for a team he started 25 years ago. Donnie Schatz was Stewart's first driver and he would become a folk hero in World of Outlaws racing. Eight different drivers have won a World of Outlaws feature while in a Tony Stewart Racing car, including Schatz, Steve Kinzer, Craig Kinzer, Danny Lasoski, Paul McMahon, Stewart, and Christopher Bell. Tony Stewart Racing has entered the 2025 season with 321 wins and counting. 12 different drivers have won a USAC national feature in a Tony Stewart racing car, including Bobby East, Brian Claussen, Corey Kruseman, Dave Steele, JJ Yaley, Jason Loeffler, Jay Drake, Josh Wise, Casey Kane, Levi Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Tracy Hines. Tony Stewart Racing accumulated 117 USAC National Feature wins entering 2025, 14 USAC Championships, 9 World of Outlaws Championships, 12 Knoxville National wins, and 5 wins in the King's Royal. It has won 27 championships in 25 years. Extremely impressive totals. But wait, there's more! Stewart began a relationship with drag racing star Leah Pruitt, and the two were married on November 21st, 2021. He would later form the two-car Tony Stewart Racing NHRA team in 2022, with Pruitt as the team's top fuel driver and Matt Hagen as the funny car driver. When his wife became pregnant, Stewart decided to become a drag racer himself, taking over Pruitt's ride during her pregnancy. On November 17, 2024, Dominic James Stewart was born and Stewart recalled it as, quote, an emotion that I've never had before, end quote. But the 2024 season would be Stewart's last as a NASCAR Cup Series team owner. He announced during the season that he was shutting down the team. Gene Haas kept one of the team's charters and formed Haas Factory Racing, a one-car team with Cole Custer as the driver in 2025. Another charter was sold to Front Row Motorsports, ending Stewart's active time in NASCAR. Stewart was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on January 31, 2020, and remains one of its greatest drivers in history. At 53, Stewart is not slowing down, and he continues his drag racing career and owning Tony Stewart Racing, as well as being a father. In 2025, Tony Stewart Racing celebrates its 25th anniversary, and today's show includes exclusive interviews with Stewart, his wife, Leah Pruitt, and longtime World of Outlaws star, Donny Schatz. Here is my exclusive interview with Tony Stewart for Pit Pass Indy. Joining us now on Pit Pass Indy is a man that if I started going over your list of career accomplishments, it would take up all the time for the interview, but it's the great Tony Stewart, a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, an IndyCar champion, an Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, and that's just starting it off. Today, we're celebrating 25 years of Tony Stewart racing here at your shop in Brownsburg, Indiana.

TONY:

How do you begin to describe the journey that you've been on? I think that's part of the fun part of this 25th anniversary coming up is that we never really stopped long enough to think about it. I think as a... I think business people are the same way, but I mean, especially for a race team, I mean, we're so focused on winning races that even when you win, you don't sit there and reflect on it very long. It normally is a 24-hour window and you're already thinking ahead to the next race and trying to figure out how do you do it again. So that's been the fun part about this is actually taking a moment to pause, stop, reflect back on the last 24 years and think about our 25th season coming up here and the fact that we're We've done so much in motorsports and looking at the great drivers and the great teams we've had over the last 24 years, getting ready for year 25. It's just been fun to look back and take a minute and go, wow, we've actually done some stuff and accomplished some really neat goals.

BRUCE:

And oh, by the way, you've now ventured into NHRA drag racing. You're married to Leah Pritchard. Most importantly, you're now a father.

TONY:

And what's it like to be a dad? Well, we've got help. I mean, we assembled a team just like we would with the race car. We've got a lady that's helping Leah and I out, obviously, with our first child. So to be able to have the opportunity to to see this little boy every day and realize, I always, one of the last things I tell Leah every night when we go to bed is, you realize we made him together. And it just blows my mind that, you know, people have been having kids for thousands of years. It's nothing new, but it's new to us, but it's extremely special. It's fun to see him every day.

BRUCE:

In 1996 and 97, you used to charge in the turn one at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 241 or so miles an hour. Now you're driving an NHRA drag racer at over 300 miles an hour. How do you compare the sensation of speed?

TONY:

It's hard to because it's so polar different. It's, you know, we're running over 330 miles an hour and a thousand feet from a from a standing start versus, you know, the IndyCar to get to that speed. It took a couple of laps to get wound up. So it's Just the acceleration is so much more intense in the drag car, but at the same time, when you get to the end of the racetrack and if you had to make that thing go left, it wouldn't turn very well. So, it's just drastically polar opposite ends of the spectrum in the form of motorsports.

BRUCE:

You're a long-time NASCAR Cup Series team owner. You've decided to get out of that realm of racing. Now you're focused more on Tony Stewart Racing and your family and your wife's career in NHRA. How do you describe the time you spend in NASCAR as a team owner? I know that it's still a really big sport, but the business model has really changed.

TONY:

Well, business is business, but I mean, my time in the sport, not only as a driver, but obviously as an owner, it was great. I mean, again, at this part of my life, I think more about the people, and it's the people that I met along the way, the people that I got the opportunity to work with, the crew chiefs, the crew guys, the people that worked on different teams at SHR that we had, and that family atmosphere that we had there. It's like anything else. I mean, being a car owner, I've learned is every bit as competitive as being a driver. For these team owners to go out and generate sponsorship in this era is a lot of time-consuming, hard work to make. make it to where you can pay the bills and operate a business. So, you know, for us, it was a lot of fun to do that, but at the same time, have to learn and remember how to drive the race car at the same time. But that's what I enjoyed. I enjoyed the driving part, but I really enjoyed learning the business side as well.

BRUCE:

That leads into my next question. A lot of successful team owners are former drivers. They didn't have any formal business school training. So how did you learn business on the fly?

TONY:

Well, you got to remember, I drove for Joe Gibbs, who I learned a ton from. And between Joe Gibbs and Johnny Morris and Mike Helton, those three men were the most influential people in my life. But I got hooked up with very good people. Cary Eggejanian was my first manager, and Cary got me met, introduced Brett Fruit and I together, and we've had a great partnership ever since. And Brett Fruit and Jared Fruit, his brother, are the ones that keep the business side of this going. And I've really learned the majority of the business stuff from those two guys. You know, Brett's the commissioner of the National Lacrosse League now, gets to deal with guys like Wayne Gretzky out in Vegas with his lacrosse team. When you're around good business people, if you stop talking long enough and spend more time listening than talking, you learn a lot. And those two have taught me a ton and it's helped make me a more well-rounded owner. How fondly do you look back at your IndyCar career? I miss it. I mean, I miss driving the cars. I mean, obviously we lost Larry Curry years ago and I miss my relationship with Larry. Larry and I had a friendship that expanded way beyond the racetrack, but I really enjoyed learning the IndyCar side from him and what we were able to accomplish in three short years together was pretty remarkable.

BRUCE:

And after seeing what Roger Penske's done with IndyCar, do you see it now as, if you'd started your career now, that could have been your destination series?

TONY:

Yeah, I mean, it's obviously anything that Roger touches I feel like turns to gold immediately. I mean, Roger is probably one of the most passionate persons of motorsports of anyone I've ever met in my life. But anything that he gets involved in in motorsports, he does it right. He does it 100%. He doesn't cut corners. And his stats show that. so he gets the results from it. But him being involved with IndyCar now on the leadership side and taking over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I think the sky's the limit for those two groups.

BRUCE:

Well, Tony Stewart, we've known each other for over 30 years. You've thrown some zingers at me. I've thrown some arrows at you, but we've had fun throughout the journey. You're a racing legend, not just an NASCAR legend or an IndyCar legend. You're a racing legend. That's got to be a great title to have, but good luck celebrating your 25th year at Tony Stewart Racing. Good luck being a dad. I'm going to need more luck with that, I have a feeling. And thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy. I appreciate it, bud. Thank you. We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indie after this short break. Welcome back to Pit Pass Indie. Tony Stewart and his wife Leah Pruitt are the fastest husband and wife on earth. Both drive drag racing cars over 300 miles an hour and are consumed by racing. Pruitt is a 12-time Top Fuel event winner with a career-best elapsed time of 3.631 seconds on November 10, 2018 in Q4 at Pomona, California. Her best speed is 334.15 miles an hour on February 24, 2018 in Q3 at Phoenix. The 2023 season marked her 27th consecutive year of NHRA competition, which began in the series junior drag racing league as an eight-year-old. She stepped aside from NHRA competition in 2024 to focus on starting a family with Stewart. In addition to their love of speed, they are also two of the most colorful characters in racing. Pruitt tells me what it's like to be married to Stewart while also sharing their unique partnership of the racing team in this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview. Joining us now is drag racer Leah Pruitt, a woman who can't get away from her boss because she's also married to him. It's Tony Stewart, racing legend. You both have big personalities, so I imagine the time you spend together is quite fun.

LEAH:

That is correct. Fun, yes, I'd say fun's at the top of it. Overall, we work together, live together, travel together, race together, all of the things. I don't go fish with him and I don't golf, so therefore he can go out and have that fun time. I would say, you know, for us, we've been together coming up on five years now, and I'm constantly learning new things about Tony, which is also fun. But the one true heart of all of that is everything orbits around, and you'll never believe this, winning. And yes, we talked today about family, atmosphere, environment, team. But at the end of it, every decision that's made has to do with how do we get back to winning? So the reason that Tony Stewart Racing has this atmosphere where everyone enjoys working together, everyone's intense when they need to be. And you can check at the door because you have security of when you're working together. But it's because we create that, because what does that do? That creates a better environment to make winning decisions. And that's because that's who Tony is. I don't care if it's, and he doesn't care if it's slot cars, if he's playing pool, whatever, racing his TQ midgets, it is always about winning. Why? Because he has the most fun when he wins. So somebody that lives with him and with him day in and day out, If we're not winning, the fun factor definitely comes down. So a lot of what we do just revolves around how do we make ourselves win more in life?

BRUCE:

You being a professional drag racer and him being a racer who basically has won every type of race car that he's ever gotten into, how surprised are you how quickly he adapted to driving a drag racer?

LEAH:

Well, there was quite a process that people aren't fully aware of when it came to him driving a drag car. At first, he went into super comp so he can understand the lights and the staging and all of that. And then he got in my top fuel car for two days. And he went over 300 miles an hour. And he went, Leah, I am not ready for this. And I thought that he was because he is Tony Stewart and he could drive darn near anything. And I consider him the world's best wheel man. He made that decision that he would not be comfortable enough to drive top fuel. So then he took a step back and that's when he entered top alcohol with the McPhillips team and. That is what impressed me the most, that he took that responsibility and accountability for his own talent, knew where he was at, because we can all have our own opinion about him. Put him on a pedestal, he can drive anything. But nobody really knows what it takes to be able to drive anything. The only person that knows that is Tony. So with him driving alcohol, winning a regional championship, getting close to a world championship in that. That just proved right there. Yes, he can do anything, but it takes all these subsets in order for us to see all these accolades that everyone always talks about. It's all the steps in between. For me. I know that he can drive anything because it's what he loves to do the most. Most people in life don't get to do what they absolutely love. They're probably doing something else, maybe close to it. Tony was his brain was built to drive race cars and he loves doing it. So that's why his entire being is about it.

BRUCE:

Who's more competitive?

LEAH:

Boy, it depends on what. If we're going to put us in a drag race atmosphere, it's going to be me. If it has anything to do with turning or off-roading and jumping and all that, I'm going to give up the goose there because I know he's got me beaten every way. But we actually play around in the morning. When we wake up, we're talking and everything, and we always say, I love you in the morning, but maybe it's not the first thing on your mind. We joke about who says it first, and we've done that for five years. Who was the first one to say I love you that day? It might even take till the night, and he'll say it or I'll say it, and I'm like, ah, gotcha, winning. And that's just to the root core of how competitive we are.

BRUCE:

There are some people who are known as great IndyCar drivers, some people who are known as NASCAR Cup Series champions, some people are great drag racers, some people are great Short track drivers. But with Tony Stewart, he's just a great racer. And the term racer is probably the greatest compliment that you can give somebody such as yourself and Tony. Do you think that perfectly describes Tony Stewart? He's a racer.

LEAH:

Absolutely, because when he got in the drag car, his talent shined for how he felt the tire, how he felt the shake in ways that I know many people would take half a decade to be able to be at the talent that Tony is from the way that he's able to pedal the car. to be able to finesse with the brake, give that type of feedback. He's done so much that I can see. I can't really, I can't talk about his IndyCar and NASCAR. I wasn't around during those times to know the true talent that he was as that racer. But the racer that I see in front of me, You wouldn't be able to do that unless you were literally one with a vehicle. I mean, I don't know, maybe he was inside of a car when he was born instead of a womb. I mean, he's just so in tune with what a race car feels like and an overall racer.

BRUCE:

Speaking of wombs, you have a newborn. Who do you see in him? Do you see more of you or more of him?

LEAH:

Undeniably, he is Tony to a T. He's got his hair. He's got his facial features. He's even got everything about it. He has my long torso, so nobody cares about that. But it's all him. Now we joke that when all babies are born, they actually look like their father. And that's, they call it the caveman syndrome because cavemen, when they had a baby, they're like, okay, yep, that was mine. And every day he actually even looks more and more like Tony. And it's amazing. Like it's, everybody sees it except for Tony. Isn't that odd?

BRUCE:

People have a tendency to forget that before he became a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he was an IndyCar champion. He started on the pole of the Indianapolis 500. He was the rookie of the year in the 96 Indianapolis 500. It's almost like people forget how good he was in an IndyCar. I don't know how far back you go in following his career, but when you see what he accomplished in such a different type of racing, what do you think?

LEAH:

To be honest, I have to go back. I have to go to YouTube. I have to go into some archives. I have to talk with members of the media that have been around him during that time. And I think that's fair, even for fans. I'm 36 years old. Tony is 52. I don't know, maybe 53. So we are kind of in different time eras. So, so are fans. So I wouldn't know all of that information because I wasn't actively watching it then and a fan of the sport at that time. I mean, when I met Tony, I met Tony Stewart, who was taking me on a date to Daytona Bike Week in Florida. And we coveted together. I had to educate myself, which I'm really glad that I was not fan. I was not fan girl of Tony Stewart. And I respected him from what I knew. But to know all of these accolades in the different disciplines. I had to educate myself. And as I do, I find myself getting even more and more impressed, which I can't do that. I live with them. I can't be having a big head.

BRUCE:

In 2025, it will be the 25th year of Tony Stewart Racing. And you think of all the victories, all the drivers. It's like Tony said in the program. The video would go on for 45 minutes if you talked about every driver that ever ran at Tony Stewart Racing. But when you think, I mean, in a lot of ways, this is a legitimate mom and pop race team because now mom and pop own the team. But when you think all the success at Tony Stewart Racing, it's pretty phenomenal.

LEAH:

I would definitely not coin that term mom and pop for us until when maybe Dominic is old enough to be in a race car. So then it would technically be mom and pop for us. The way Tony has been self-made is, I think gives that term for mom and pop for him now. But for us, I still prefer husband and wife race team for us. And we joke, Matt Hagen's our child. He's our big child. But man, Tony's self-made all the way. And hopefully our son will race someday.

BRUCE:

Well, they certainly have to be the world's fastest couple. But Tony Stewart, Leah Pruitt, congratulations on the 25th year of Tony Stewart Racing. Good luck with the little one and also good luck with the big one down there, too. And thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy.

LEAH:

Absolutely appreciate it.

BRUCE:

We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break. Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. We wrap up today's celebration of 25 years at Tony Stewart Racing with World of Outlaws legend Donnie Shotz, who has well over 300 feature wins in his career. He is a 10-time World of Outlaws champion, 11-time Knoxville Nationals champion, 6-time Kings Royal champion, who enters his 29th World of Outlaws season in 2025. The World of Outlaws season is well underway and shots will be competing at Volusia Speedway near Daytona Beach, Florida all week. The grassroots racing legend goes elbows up in this exclusive interview for Pit Pass Indy. Joining us now is racing legend Donnie Schatz, Tony Stewart Racing. We're here celebrating 25 years of Tony Stewart Racing. You were a part of it from the very beginning, so how much pride do you take in seeing the team make it to 25 years, and there's still bigger and better things to come?

DONNIE:

Absolutely, you know, I didn't, when I, heard about the 25 years, it just kind of slipped my mind that my age kind of got the best of me there a little bit. You know, I've been here 18 years. I wasn't here from the very beginning, but from the drop of the green of Tony Stewart Racing, it's been super successful. Tony's always been the kind of person, he hires the people he wants, he lets them do their jobs, and he doesn't tie their hands behind their back, and he's always had it, you know, Never ask questions. He puts his faith in the people. And so it's been quite a journey. And I don't think you make it 18 years without having a process like that. And so hopefully we can, I don't know that he'll be here for another 25, but you know, the next milestone, but to get this one for him is pretty incredible. And it's actually a bigger honor for me to be a part of it.

BRUCE:

In the last couple of years, Tony finally got married. He married Leah Pruitt, the famed drag racer. Have you seen a change in Tony, or is he still the same old Tony?

DONNIE:

Well, that's a loaded question. There's times when he's still the same old Tony, but I can tell you this is the first time I've seen him since having a son. And he looks like a really rejuvenated man. He looks very energetic. He was showing me photos. He's very proud. You know, something that he's always, his racing career has kind of put his personal life on the back burner, which is something that goes hand in hand with this game. So some of us manage it better than others. There's been guys that have done this while being successful in racing, but everybody's got a different path, and his was unique to him, and I guess I'm super proud and happy for him to finally be a dad and be a husband.

BRUCE:

You're a hero and legend of the grassroots level of racing, the Outlaws. You race all the time. How do you describe to a lot of our listeners who may be IndyCar fans, they have a 17 race schedule, how many races are on yours, about 100?

DONNIE:

Between 85 and 90 some races. It fluctuates year to year as to when some of the holidays fall and what they, sometimes there's a track that may want to take a year off from having a large event with the World of Outlaws. roughly that 85 to 90 races. It's a lot of races, but you do it one time, it's instilled in you. You know what I mean? You're always on the go. There's never enough time to slow down and grasp what you're actually doing until... until the banquets done at the end of the year and you go home and you Talk to yourself in the mirror how crazy you are for doing that and then a week later You can't wait to get right back and do the same thing all over again. And that's me 29 years ago. So I'm still here still doing the same thing running thought run thousands of races and and I still love it more than I did when I started, so it's something that gets in your blood, it's something that fuels you, it becomes who you are as a person, and sometimes it drives your life more than you want, but we all love different things.

BRUCE:

And a lot of the tracks that you've competed on, going all the way back to the beginning, You're not staying at the Hilton or the Marriott. You might be staying at the Super 8 or Days Inn. How many nights do you figure you've spent in a place like that?

DONNIE:

Oh, we've, you know, we don't, we try not to stay at places that are below, you know, below what we want to, but you always gotta, in today's environment, you gotta watch your costs. And, you know, the guys do a very good job of planning. When you've gone someplace once, you generally know where, you know, you can park the truck and stay. And one thing that I've, take great pride in is I got to have a real bed and I got to have a real shower. I can't do the RV thing, but a lot of guys do. There's a lot of young guys that they want to be in their RV, they want to have their dog with them, they want to have their wife or girlfriend with them. Everybody, like I said, everybody has a little bit different path on how they do it, but my guys here at TSR, we keep the guys pretty motivated and generated, and they get back to the shop a lot. That's one thing about being based in Indianapolis. They're here all the time, so that helps out. They can be home with their families as much as possible.

BRUCE:

Do you think one of the great things about Tony Stewart is early on in his career, he was a big name in IndyCar, big name in NASCAR, but you'd turn around at a local track somewhere and there he is getting ready to race you. We see a lot of that now with Kyle Larson. Do you think the respect level really goes up when you see guys like that that aren't afraid to go out there.

DONNIE:

Absolutely, it's their mentality. They just want to race and it doesn't matter if it's a local show here or this or that. Obviously, I think Tony is probably one of the original ones to do it in our, you know, genres of racing. So, I've always respected that and I think in his mind he still wants to do that but You have, you know, he's more involved with the day-to-day operations of the drag team and having a wife and a son now, I think that's kind of taking him away from some of that. But I know in his mind, when you see him, he still wanted to go to the races, whether it be as a spectator or as a competitor. And sometimes as a fierce competitor, you don't want to be a spectator.

BRUCE:

Because he was involved in different forms of racing, did you ever consider maybe taking a go in one of his cars?

DONNIE:

Now, you know, I dreamt of doing exactly what I'm doing right now when I was a kid. And I had an opportunity one time to try to do an ABC program, they called it back then, in NASCAR, and got right down to it. And I just said, you know, this is what I dreamt of, and I'm getting the opportunity to do it. you know, set my sights on becoming the best I can and becoming a champion. I never got in one of his cars. I think I get questioned more now that he has a drag team. Am I ever going to drive one of the drag cars? Them things scare the hell out of me. I'm not much interested in that. I kind of, you know, I found my calling, I found my niche, and that's where I plan to stay.

BRUCE:

They're not hand grenades when the engine blows up, they're neutron bombs because when they explode, it's huge. But when you think back to your career, have you even calculated how many feature wins you have in your career? Gotta be astronomical.

DONNIE:

There's somebody that has, but I think there's over 500 wins, so that's a pretty respectful amount. Believe me, I've been racing since 93, so there's a lot of years in there, too, when you divide it up. It maybe don't look so good on paper, but been very, very fortunate. What do you do with all the trophies? Oh, you try to keep as many as you can. Obviously, the bigger races and some of that stuff, but they're scattered all over. Believe me, I got some at home. We got some at, you know, scattered in different places in different towns, and they got a lot of them here at the shop, so just fortunate to get trophies. That's what we live for.

BRUCE:

And how big a celebration will next year be, the 25 years of Tony Stewart Racing?

DONNIE:

It'll be an ongoing celebration. It's a milestone for, you know, to have a coroner in the sport who's given back to this sport, given millions and millions and opportunities for many people. Yeah, it's going to be an ongoing celebration. I think it's going to make the nights we don't do so good. We can probably hold our head up higher knowing that we're part of a historic organization. and part of a milestone group and somebody that's done so much for grassroots racing and dirt track racing in general that it's going to be an honor to be a part of and hopefully we don't disappoint.

BRUCE:

Last question regarding Tony Stewart. There are some drivers who are great NASCAR drivers. Other drivers have been great IndyCar champions. Other drivers have been great World Outlaws drivers. But Tony Stewart has the title of just being a racer. And is that the ultimate compliment that a racer can get? Absolutely.

DONNIE:

There's no better. Someone that just has the mindset. That's what this whole game is all about, is the mindset. And I think he's proven that he has the mindset that you can take someone like Kyle, for instance, can look at that mindset and then he can maybe take it to the next level. But it took that mindset that Tony had that he could pick up from and then try to excel from. And that's how we all do better is getting pushed by someone else. So, yes, it's the ultimate compliment. And I think it goes into who he's looked up to as heroes is looking up to AJ Foyt, who is very similar.

BRUCE:

Well, you're a hero too, especially World of Outlaws, but Donnie Schatz, good luck in Tony Stewart Racing's 25th season. Good luck with your season. Thanks for sharing some tales today. And thank you for joining us on Pit Pass, Indy. All right, thank you. And that puts checkered flag on this edition of Pit Pass Indy. We want to thank our guests, racing legend and NASCAR Hall of Famer, Tony Stewart, his drag racing life, Leah Pruitt, and World of Outlaws hero, Donnie Schatz, for joining us on today's podcast in this special Pit Pass Indy as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Tony Stewart Racing. Along with loyal listeners like you, our guests help make Pit Pass Indy your path to victory lane in IndyCar. For more IndyCar coverage, follow me at X, previously known as Twitter, at BruceMartin, one word, uppercase B, uppercase M, underscore 500. This has been a production of Evergreen Podcast. A special thanks to our production team, executive producers are Bridget Coyne and Gerardo Orlando. Recordings and edits were done by me, Bruce Martin, and final mixing was done by Dave Douglas. Learn more at evergreenpodcast.com. Until next time, be sure to keep it out of the wall.