Tony Stewart grew up in Columbus, Indiana, just 50 miles from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He raced home from school as a boy and watched coverage of Indianapolis 500 track activity or jumped into a truck with his family and headed to the Speedway to watch.
Stewart was a phenom in race car, winning the USAC Triple Crown in 1995, the IndyCar Series championship in 1996-97 and many races after starting his full-time Cup Series career in 1999 with Joe Gibbs Racing.
But something was missing – a win at Indianapolis, his Field of Dreams. He wanted to take the checkered flag there more than anyone else.
“Smoke” had plenty of close calls. He led in four of his five Indianapolis 500 starts for a total of 122 laps. But his best “500” finish was fifth in 1997.
Entering the Brickyard in 2005, Stewart had finished no better than fifth in his six previous NASCAR starts at IMS. His patience was wearing thin with questions from media and fans about when he would finally win at his beloved track.
Those questions ended with one of the most joyous, memorable victories in IMS history. Stewart led a race-high 44 laps, but he needed to hold off fellow USAC graduate Kasey Kahne over the final 11 laps, winning by .794 of a second as the huge crowd roared and pumped their arms in celebration
Few who saw the race on television could forget Stewart’s father, Nelson Stewart, hanging over the railing in the Turn 2 Suites and pointing his index finger at his temple, encouraging his mercurial son to keep a cool head in the final charge to the Yard of Bricks.
And no one forgot the post-race scene, when Stewart stopped his No. 20 Home Depot Pontiac in front of the Turn 2 suites, took a swig from a can of Coca-Cola from a fan and saluted his friends and family. Then Stewart drove back to the Yard of Bricks and climbed the front stretch fence in celebration with his Joe Gibbs Racing crew, like Helio Castroneves had done three and four years earlier after his consecutive Indy 500 wins.
“I wish I could put it into words,” Stewart said as he laid on the outside wall on the front stretch after climbing the catch fence. “Today’s been my entire life.”
“Smoke” won the Brickyard again two years later in another popular victory with the Hoosier faithful gathered at IMS. But perhaps no victory since Jeff Gordon’s triumph in the inaugural Brickyard in 1994 created such rapture in the massive IMS grandstands as Stewart’s magic carpet ride to a breakthrough win in 2005.
