Sports are about winning and losing, but auto racing pushes the boundaries further, becoming a sport of life and death. Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a history of deaths that precedes the first Indy 500 race. Since 2015, there has been no death recorded at the iconic racing venue, but the historical deaths have led many to believe the place is haunted.

Like most of the racing enthusiasts, Tony Stewart wasn’t sold on the stories about the track being haunted. But all of that changed in 1999 when he stayed at the racetrack overnight to complete his double.

Tony Stewart recalls his sinister experience staying overnight at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

After bidding farewell to his open-wheel racing career, Stewart entered Cup racing with Joe Gibbs Racing in 1999. But he wanted to follow in the footsteps of John Andretti and be able to pull off “The Double.” Running the 600 miles at the Coca-Cola 600 Cup race followed by the Indy 500. At the time nobody was allowed to stay inside the racetrack, but Stewart had special access, and this is when he experienced a super-natural phenomenon.

Recalling this incident, Tony Stewart said, “I got back about 1:00 in the morning from running in at Charlotte, and I’m not joking, it was alive; the whole place was alive. I’ve told this story to people, and they look at you like, Come on, man, and the amount of noise that was inside that place and the activity you could hear was like a movie filled with dreams.”

Stewart needed to rest well before the big race, but the creepy noise and sound just didn’t help. “I’m telling you that night there was so much stuff going on and I was going looking around like you’re gonna see somebody at some point or groups of people; it was that loud. And it was like there’s nothing moving; you physically cannot see anything, but you close your eyes and you can hear everything,” he added.

Not sure if it was a curse or something else, but Tony Stewart wasn’t able to complete 200. Driving the #22 Tri-Star Motorsports car, he only managed to run 196 laps and came just shy of 4 laps to complete the historic double. However, he would return back in 2001, settling his unfinished business. However, he didn’t have such a storied end to his stint as a NASCAR team owner as he decided to call quits on Stewart Haas Racing at the end of 2024.

SHR’s exit from NASCAR was bitter for Stewart

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NASCAR racing isn’t the same as it was in the early 2000s. There’s no technology, new players, and more competition. Unfortunately, the Stewart Haas Racing team wasn’t able to transition into the new era. They were a dominant force in the last decade, from 2011 to 2020. But a lack of results and performance on the track and burdening finance forced the owner’s hands into making a tough call.

The NASCAR fans were very critical of Stewart in how his decision affected the livelihood of people working at SHR. But he’s now cleared the air about announcing the closure of the team so that people would be able to find new opportunities. “We did what we did to take care of our people, and we created great severance packages for them to take care of their families. The announcement was to give all these guys an opportunity throughout the season to secure new jobs for next year, and it was really successful, I would say. 80% of the employees that are at SHR have found homes for next year, and that was the goal.” He said this in an interview with Bob Pockrass.

Although his ownership stint came to a stop at the NASCAR level, he is focused on carrying on the winning mentality driving in his rookie season in the NHRA Top Fuel division.