Your hometown of Columbus was ravaged by flooding earlier this week. How is the town coping?
“I went down on Monday and visited the guys at the city garage who have been working long hours trying to get the streets and everything cleaned up. I just went there and told all those guys, ‘Thanks’. Most of those guys have been working 24-hour shifts getting everything cleaned up. We went by the junior high I used to go to, and that’s where the Red Cross has their shelter put up, and I went in there to try to lift everybody’s spirits up and just visit with everybody. Everybody is doing a really good job. They had 500 people in that shelter on Saturday night, and they were down to 35 people by Monday afternoon. It’s just hard. A lot of these people have lost everything, and I just wanted to let them know we were thinking about them. Just spending a couple of minutes with them made them smile, and it seemed like it made them feel better.”
How is your home in Columbus?
“My old house by the high school is good. The farm is just wet, absolutely saturated. You can’t get on it. You can’t do anything. And we’re getting baby deer now. We have four little ones, and we’ve got them on the deck in a small pen because you can’t get on the ground to put them anywhere. They’re so young, you don’t want them to get stuck.”
After your recent racing disappointments at Darlington, Charlotte, Dover and Pocono, does what happened in Columbus put your bad days at the race track in perspective, because you have neighbors who are experiencing some truly bad days?
“Absolutely. We drove through some neighborhoods Monday night after we did our SIRIUS Satellite Radio show and saw places that still didn’t have power and places where the water was still five or six feet high in their house, and that’s not counting their basement. So, it kind of gave me the same feeling that I get when I visit Victory Junction Gang Camp. You realize that even on your worst day, you still have it pretty darn good. But unlike Victory Junction, there’s no happiness at the end of the day. There are people who are sad because they’ve lost their homes. That’s the hard part. You want to do something, but it’s so widespread, you don’t know what to do. I’m going to donate my portion of the race winnings from Michigan to the American Red Cross. I figure that’s at least a start.” Credit: www.joegibbsracings.com
Whatever Stewart’s portion of the race winnings are in the LifeLock 400, he’ll donate them to the American Red Cross in Columbus, with the money specified for flood assistance. Those wishing to join Stewart in helping those affected by the floods throughout Indiana can call 812-379-9551 or send checks payable to The American Red Cross, 931 Repp Drive, Columbus, IN 47201. If writing a check, write “Indiana Flood & Tornado Relief” on the memo line. Credit: True Speed Communication/JGR PR
Stewart's Thoughts On Father's Day:
The Michigan race will run on Father’s Day, which is appropriate considering how many fathers were instrumental in their son’s racing careers. How influential was your dad, Nelson, in getting you where you are today? And what were some of the life lessons he taught you as a kid that you’ve taken with you today?
“He never let me settle for second. He didn’t like it when we ran second, and he knew that I didn’t like it when we ran second. If he saw that I wasn’t giving 100 percent, then he was on me pretty hard about it. He pushed me to be better.
“He never pressured me to be the best race car driver in the world, but he did want me to be the best race car driver that I could be. He never compared me to anybody else. He expected that what I could do was what I could do. He never said that because this guy over here could do something, that I should be able to do it, too. He pushed me hard, but he was fair about it. That’s probably why you see so much fire in me today, because he always wanted me to be the best that I could be.
Tony and Nelson Stewart
“He’s my dad, so obviously he’s seen and done a lot of things that I haven’t. He’s given me some good advice over the years, but probably the best advice he ever gave me was to just remember the people who have helped me, because somewhere along the ladder that you’re climbing up, you’re eventually going to climb back down, and you’re going to meet those people again sometime.
“I’ve watched the folks that he’s dealt with in his career and in mine, and we’re still friends with all the people that we’ve raced with in the past. We never felt like we were better than anybody else. We always kept those relationships, and we always treated those people the way they treated us.” Credit: www.joegibbsracing.com
Good stuff from Tony. I was worried about my folks in WI, becasue they live about a mile away from the Wisconsin River. But they are too far north to be affected. Whew.
But it is a sad thing for those affected. Also reminds us of all that were affected by Hurricane Katrina and how they are still struggling to get back to "normal".
Hope Jon posts before I go out of town this afternoon *shrug*
Moseby ~ it has to be heartbreaking to see so much devastation around you in your hometown, your people, and feel helpless. At least he does have his 'name' to get some support.
Glad your folks are O.K.
I remember Katrina very well. I live in Alabama, and have family along the coast. One of my co-workers has a sister that lives in Slidell, LA (sp?) and their home was totally destroyed. My co-worker went down there and took some video footage of the damage of the region, and let us watch. It was horrible.
Last edited by HotfootLori on June 13th at 8:53 AM.
I used to work for a company that had a contract with the City of New Orleans to provide electronic command and control emergency services coordination after Katrina. Just listening to the stories of the project manager were pretty heartbreaking. Can't even imagine how difficult it is for those in the rural areas that are receiving very little if any help from federal and state agencies. Plus, for the many who couldn't afford insurance, it must be like watching your entire life's work wiped away.
It is just horrible to watch these people who've lost so much. It's a good reminder to be thankful for what we have as it can all be gone in a split second.
Another great post Lori the soft side of Smoke. I too have a love for the little furry animals as I have 5 cats and 2 dogs and within the last month, took in 6 little feral kittens and found them all good homes. In times like this, and I have been keeping my eye on the midwest as I was raised up there, and now into a hot and dry almost drought like in central Texas, my heart goes out to all the folks and my prayers are with them in their recovery and will definitely be calling the Red Cross hotline.
elad64,
I've never been a Tony fan and probably never will be but he is an awesome talent and he does tons of charity stuff like this quietly and with little or no fanfare.
Personally, I hope he leaves JGR to form his own team because I think that is more likely to prevent him from winning another championship than if he stays where he is but I don't and never have hated him or any other driver. He's a great guy 97-98% of the time and I guess that's far better than average - far better than me for sure.
Great post Lori.Sorry im late. busy morning. A lot of people judge Tony as a hothead for having a short fuse, but he's one of the nicest drivers in the sport.
NASCAR keeps saying they want to get back ot the "Family" roots. maybe Mr France should stop by and rad your blog once in a while. :P
Lori - Thanks for showing us the kinder side of Tony. Sometimes race fans get caught up in the all the emotional stuff at the track each week. Good to see him bring a bit of cheer to those folks in his home town.
This flood sucks. The pecitonica river here in freeport, my town is bursting at the seams and said to be coming up more. I am glad we have people like Tony. We have the common people here in town doing the same and lending a hand.
Tony is a great man. He was on his golfcart tues the 4th in Eldora drining around warning campers of the fierce weather moving in. And again wens after the Prelude thanking us fans for hanging out. Then on saturday at the Dream he was back and again praising us the fans. Yea Tony is the real deal....Great post Lori.
www.jayski.com has a section on charity auctions including stuff involving Denny Hamlin, Jr., Kyle Busch, Kyle Petty and many others plus another section speicifically on charities for anyone who is interested.
