Motorsports

Stewart puzzled, but not perturbed

By wire services
Published April 21, 2005

FORT WORTH, Texas - It has been a rough season for Tony Stewart. The Daytona 500 was his, but something happened in the closing laps and he left town angry and frustrated. Five races later, he finally got things back together at Martinsville, only to lose a wheel while dominating the race.

And now this - a fiery ending to Sunday's Samsung/Radio Shack 500, the result of a blown engine that spilled hot oil and burned him.

"I was honestly pretty surprised," he said. "I haven't practiced getting out of the car in a hurry, and that's the first time I've ever been on fire.

"I had to stop for a second and try not to panic because my natural instinct was to panic because I was getting burned. You want to move quick to stop the burning. I just slowed down and took the steering wheel off and got the belts undone. I got hung up just a little bit climbing out, but not any more than I would have if I hadn't had it (the HANS safety restraint) on. To be honest, I got out pretty easily. The good thing is that this will probably give me a little more confidence if I do get in that situation again."

What's wrong at Joe Gibbs Racing? Teammates Bobby Labonte and Jason Leffler are struggling too.

"I wish I did know what it was," Stewart said. "We're just having a period where we're struggling.

"If we knew what the common variable was, we'd know what to do to fix it. But it's just been a little bit of everything this year.

"We've been off on our aero program some. Obviously, we had a motor problem we haven't had in the past. We've had weird things happen we're not used to."

Conversely, what do Greg Biffle and the Jack Roush bunch have going for them that makes them so strong?

"I'm not sure," Stewart said. "Greg runs a lot of Busch races, and that helps him. But he's obviously with a team that has a proven history of being competitive."

As for the rest of the season, "We're not really on par like we've been in the past," Stewart said. "But I'm not feeling we'd better find this soon or we're going to be in big trouble. It's just a matter of doing what we've been doing and keeping the guys pumped up."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Labonte have both criticized NASCAR's new low-downforce rules. But Stewart said, "It doesn't really matter to me.

"To be honest, once a new rule is in place, I pretty much wash my hands of any emotion or feelings about it because it really doesn't matter what we think. It's done, and that's what we have to deal with. I haven't had any huge problems. Some guys like it and some guys don't. But I don't feel it's hurt anything. For me, it's just business as usual."

HALL OF FAME: Organizers hoping to build a NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., said lodging in the city and the rest of Mecklenburg County would cost more to generate close to half the money needed for the project.

While the state General Assembly must sign off on such a proposal, a hotel tax hike from 6 percent to 8 percent countywide has the backing of leaders in the hotel-motel industry.

"The last thing in the world that any of us in the business want is another 2 percent on the price of a room," said H.C. Bissell, whose company owns Ballantyne Resort. "(But) at the same time, this facility will put people into the hotels and motels in this community, and it's an opportunity that you cannot let pass."

State and local officials are trying to protect a $1.5-billion racing industry that employs about 10,000 people in North Carolina. As the sport increases in popularity, so does the competition from other states to lure it away.

Other bids are coming from Atlanta, Daytona Beach, Kansas City, Kan., Richmond, Va., and the state of Michigan. Organizers expect NASCAR to pick a site by the end of the year.

The new tax would pay for $63.5-million of the estimated $137.5-million cost of putting the Hall of Fame uptown, as well as a new convention center ballroom.

ROME EXTRAVAGANZA: Giancarlo Fisichella wowed a crowd of about 25,000 people who turned out last week for a live demonstration of the Renault Formula One car at the Circus Maximus in Rome. The last time the Circus Maximum, in the shadow of the ancient Coliseum, was used as a racetrack was 2,000 years ago when chariots raced there.

Fisichella, who is from Rome, had nearly 900 horsepower at his command as he drove 12 laps on a 1-mile track around three sides of the Circus Maximus.

It was one of a season-long series of city demonstrations to be held throughout Europe by the Renault team.

[Last modified April 21, 2005, 01:06:12]