His retirement came just after the 2016 NASCAR Cup Series season closed and in the time since he exited that division from racing, this star driver has been looking for new and fun adventures!
Although he exited NASCAR’s top division of racing, veteran driver Tony Stewart is still participating in other racing ventures – namely, sprint car races. This three-time Cup Series champion has now set his sights on a Series that he’s been aching to race in for more than 20 years.
In the year since his retirement from NASCAR’s Cup Series, Stewart has continued to drive in various sprint car races, but now he’s able to fulfill a dream he’s had since 1995 – racing south of the equator at Western Springs Speedway in Auckland, New Zealand.
“The promoter at Western Springs was Willie Kay and he tried to get me to come over for the 1996-97 season but just timing-wise it didn’t work out,” the veteran racer explained to The New Zealand Herald. “After 1995 I got my first NASCAR ride and the same with an IndyCar drive so there was no way I was going to have the time to come back over.”
“It has been a long time coming to get over here but we are pretty excited about the chance to come out.”
This forthcoming race will be one of three Stewart is set to compete in while in New Zealand and will mark his first appearance on a sprint car track in the country.
“I have seen a lot of videos of Western Springs – videos from this season even just so you have an idea of how the race track changes through the course of the evening,” Stewart continued. “We are not coming here blind but until you get on each race track you really don’t know what to expect.”
While it’s the off-season in North America, below the equator things are (literally) heating up and just kicking off due to the swap of seasons! For Stewart, this is just another thrilling chapter in his post-retirement plans after getting engaged on Thanksgiving!