One can take Tony Stewart out of racing but not the racing out of Stewart. Such is the idolization of the Hall of Famer. It’s been almost a decade now since Stewart has hung up his helmet and bid his farewell from the Cup Series, however, the racing bugs are yet to satiate themselves. Owing to this, Stewart has dabbled in the world of drag racing only to find immense success.
Furthermore, the success of his NHRA is not only a result of an individual effort but also a collective effort of his team Tony Stewart Racing. However, given the close-knit and limited number of resources in the world of drag racing, Stewart faces the burden of losing his prized employees. As a result, the team owner unraveled the secret that prevents his employees from being poached by his competitors, during his recent interview with Brian Lohnes & David Freiburger.
Tony Stewart spills the beans on how his team members are fended from the competitors
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Tony Stewart’s NHRA team is still in its nascent stage and is yet to comprehend the nuances of the sport. However, that does not undermine the team’s road to success, as it is led by a concoction of various factors including his drivers and the personnel that form the skeletal system of the team.
However, Stewart has to employ various strategies to prevent them from leaving his unit to shake hands with his rivals, which he disclosed during his appearance on the Hot Rod podcast. Speaking on the team’s favorable season, Stewart revealed, “Literally after being two years in the sport, we have had one turnover in employees, and NHRA as I have learned since I have been around the sport for the last three years, at the end of the year it is like the shell game. This guy packs his toolbox, goes two blocks down the street to this guy’s shop.”
“This guy got fired he’s going over to this shop. It’s not like you are firing people and they are going out and new people are coming in. It is this guy goes from here to here and you are like-‘Wait a minute, wasn’t he just there two years ago and got let go from there, they are hiring him back.’ But for us to sit there and go through two years in the sport and have only one turnover with an employee, I am really proud of that. We did something that Don Schumacher told me, I was absolutely nuts when I did this. I put my crew chiefs, car chiefs, I put them all under contract the first year.”
“This year we put all of the employees under contract. The benefit to that is, that this time Paul Lee’s got three guys on his team, and Cruz Petron has three guys on his team right now. There are teams that aren’t full right now, so everybody’s trying to hire people, well they are coming after your people as well. So you lock your people down and by locking them down you show that you value them, so you raise and boost the morale of your organization up right there. So two years into this, we have got a championship and runners-up with Hagan, Leah has her best career finish third. It’s a proof that this system works.”
Thursday Night Thunder’s spinoff SRX Racing faces an uncertain future
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While Tony Stewart has tasted success in the world of drag racing, the team owner recently faced a setback with his other racing venture, SRX Racing. The racing series which has been a spinoff of the Thursday Night Thunder, was ready to host its third season with a roster of celebrated drivers but unexpectedly pulled the plug on it.
Watch this Story: Tony Stewart’s unyielding spirit: A NASCAR legend’s rebuttal
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Tony Stewart’s SRX Racing had also announced the tracks where the races would be hosted. However, with the sudden announcement of the comeback of Rob Evernham’s IROC series along with Rob Kauffman, SRX’s future has been deemed uncertain. Moreover, it was speculated that the series was ready to expand in the Middle East, and Saudi Arabia and Qatar were considered to play the role of the hosts. Now all the deliberations have come to a standstill.
The CEO of the SRX Series Don Hawk issued a public statement on Twitter to announce the discontinuation of the series.
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With that being said, it will be interesting to see what awaits Tony Stewart and his racing teams, both in NASCAR as well as drag racing. Will the team be able to pull up from its slump or will they have to wait another year to earn a championship? Follow along to find out!