>From NASCAR Public Relations and Pontiac Racing

Charlotte Motor Speedway
May I7, 1996

>From an interview with Tony Stewart, driver of the 
Ranier-Walsh Racing Enterprises Pontiac. Steward will 
attempt to become the first NASCAR Busch Series driver to 
run both the Red Dog 300 at Charlotte Speedway and the 
Indianapolis 500 the following day. Stewart, 24, qualified 
second for the Indy 500 in time trials last weekend. A 
rookie on the NASCAR Busch Series circuit, Stewart has three 
starts this season with a high of 16th in the Goody's 250 at 
Bristol.

Tonny Steward said, "My season started with just the Busch 
Grand National schedule and then I acquired the Menard ride 
for the IRL, this season. We've had to do quite a bit of 
jockeying with our schedules to do both up to this point. We 
had already decided we wanted to run the Charlotte race when 
the IRL ride came about. With the month of May coming up, we 
kind of had to juggle the schedules around. It's been a 
little bit of a tap dance trying to make sure where I need 
to be on time. The nice thing about it is that we don't 
start anything at Charlotte until what they call 
'Carburetion Day' at Indianapolis the Thursday before the 
race (Indy 500) I'll be up here for the first half-hour of 
Carburetion Day,' and then I'll fly down to Concord to 
practice and qualify in the first round with the Busch ear. 
Then I'll be down in Charlotte for the remainder of the 
weekend until Saturday night."

HOW DID YOU GET THE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEWDAY TO WAIVE THE 
24 HOUR RULE?
"They do have what they call a '24-hour rule' that 
says you can not compete in any motor racing event 24 hours 
prior to the start of the Indianapolis %00. Tony George had 
to make special provisions for me to be able to go down and 
run the Busch race at Charlotte."

THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 IS THE LAST RACE OF THE IRL SEASON.  
YOUR STOCK CAR SCHEDULE PICKS UP AFTER THAT.  ARE YOU 
LOOKING FORWARD TO IT?

"I'm very much looking forward to it. Our schedule 
gets a little more aggressive after the month of May. I'm 
excited to be with Harry Ranier and having Gary Snipes as a 
crew chief I'm really looking forward to getting back in a 
stock car and running in that car a lot more than I have 
been the last couple of months. I'm hoping we'll be good. It 
seems like every race I ran we were getting better and 
better. I'm looking forward to the second half of the 
season."

WHEN TO YOU THINK YOU WILL GO TO WINSTON CUP?  WILL YOU 
STICK WITH ONE SERIES?

"As far as a timetable, we really haven't set a 
timetable. You really can't set it based on the comfort 
factor. You just don't mover right up to Winston Cup racing. 
NASCAR is so competitive, and the Busch Series is so 
competitive. You really have to take your time and make sure 
you're ready before you make your move. It's a situation 
where Harry understands that I've got a learning curve to go 
through If we have a really good last half of the season, 
and I'm getting used to the cars and adapt well, then 
there's a possibility we'll go Winston Cup racing next year 
The nice thing is, if I don't feel comfortable by the end of 
the season, he's not going to push me and say, 'Well, we're 
goring to go ahead and go next year.' We'll go back and run 
the Busch schedule again. As far as which racing series I 
prefer right now, I've kind of been like Dieon Sanders. I 
can do both right now. I ran 106 races last year, and the 
more races I can run, the better 1'11 feel right now. We'll 
run around 15 Busch Series races this year."

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO DO BOTH RACES?
"In our eyes there was no doubt we were going to try 
and do both. Until Tony George allowed US to do both it was 
really in his hands. But we felt pretty confident he would 
help us run both "

HOW LONG HAS THE 24 HOUR RULE BEEN IN EFFECT?
"I don't know exactly how long that rule has been in 
effect, but I'm going to guess at least 20 years. The reason 
why they have that rule is when guys like A J Foyt and Mario 
Andretti would try to run three races the night before the 
500. That's why that rule came into effect. The way Tony 
George explained it to us, that rule was put forth for that 
reason, but now we're in the 90's, and there's a set of 
different circumstances."

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE IT BETWEEN THE TWO PLACES?
"We're still working on the transportation end of 
it. We're going to have to get a Lear jet, and both Tony 
George and John Menard have Lear jets. We'll get one of 
those to help us out in getting down to Charlotte. But once 
I get down to Charlotte Thursday, I'll be able to stay down 
there until after the Saturday race. As far as the 
scheduling goes, it's really not too bad. The only time I 
really get into a bind is on Thursday."

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE THE FIRST DRIVER TO WIN A BUSCH  SERIES 
CHAMPIONSHIP OR WINSTON CUP CHAMPIONSHIP, AND AN INDY 500?
"I've always set the goal in that whatever division I 
was running at that time I wanted to be the best I could be. 
As far as comparing me to Jeff Gordon, I haven't won a 
Winston Cup championship yet. The weird thing about Jeff's 
career and my career is that we've run almost identical 
stuff. Jeff started out in quarter-midgets, and then moved 
to sprint cars at 14. I started out running go-karts. 
Basically his steps happened earlier in age. We're two 
months apart in age, and it seemed like in each racing 
category about the time he was moving out, I was moving into 
that division. We were just kind of a step apart from each 
other. I look toward to racing him someday.:

WAS THERE ANY DOUBT THAT USAC WOULD NOT ALLOW YOU TO RUN 
BOTH RACES?
"I as very concerned, actually. Rules are rules, and 
I didn't know how it would all pan out. I was pretty 
confident they would let me do it, but I didn't know how it 
would happen. It was a big concern for the Ranier-Walsh 
Racing team, and especially with us on the Indy-Car team 
because they realized I had an obligation to run the stock 
cars. We were all pretty concerned about it, but confident 
we could get it done."

IT IS BETTER TO HAVE THE BUSCH RACE BEFORE THE 500?
"Actually the day of the Busch Grand National race 
I'll miss a lot of activities at the speedway. They have the 
500 Festival Parade and all the drivers sit in convertibles 
and ride in the parade. There are a lot of activities I'm 
going to miss. I feel like I'm better off driving the race on 
Saturday. I feel like the last two seasons, especially last 
year when I drove 106 races, I felt the more I raced the 
better I was. Even though the race is the day before. I 
don't think it's going to hurt me any. I'll be able to f 
night the race at Charlotte and fly back home, and get back 
home at a very reasonable hour to get in a good night sleep, 
and be able to run the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday."



Jack Durbin                                   indy500@freenet.tlh.fl.us
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