Coming clean – no pun intended.
Three time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart is finally telling the story of one of the most infamous – and messy – wins during his 18 year career.
Back in 2004, Tony Stewart took the checkered flag at Watkins Glen, but instead of heading to victory lane he immediately rushed to his motorhome after pooping himself during the race.
The blowout occurred early in the race, with the broadcast reporting on lap 23 (of 90) that Tony was experiencing “stomach cramps” and wanting to get out of the car while running 2nd in the #20 Home Depot Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing. The team began searching for a driver at the track who would be able to get into the car, and on lap 30 the team gave him something during a pit stop to try to “settle his stomach.”
Boris Said, who had crashed out earlier in the race, was brought to the #20 pit box and was ready to hop in the car, with Tony telling his team that they needed to make the change even if it was only for a “short period of time.” (Long enough to hit the portajohn?)
Well Stewart took the lead of the race with 48 laps to go after charging all the way from 15th, and with 33 to go the team came to pit road – but Tony reported that he was feeling better and would be able to make it through the race after all. And at the end of the day, he managed to score a win by 1.5 seconds over road course ringer Ron Fellows after leading 48 of the 90 laps at the Glen.
After pulling into victory lane, Stewart skipped the traditional post race interview and was quickly rushed back to his motorhome to shower off, with the broadcast reporting that his team was bringing Tony a fresh firesuit before he returned to speak to the media.
Obviously everybody was quickly able to put two and two together and realized that Tony had pooped himself during the race, though Stewart has (understandably) never really gotten into it too much. But yesterday during an appearance on the Door Bumper Clear podcast, a caller asked him what happened to the firesuit that he was wearing during the race, and Tony opened up on the sticky situation:
“It got pressure washed on a fence.”
Tony says that a poor team member had to “peel” the firesuit off of him in a shower before putting it in a trash bag (two, actually – gotta double bag it) and another team member who he says “can’t smell anyway” then pressure washed it off.
(As it turns out, the guy who was tasked with pressure washing the suit still works for Tony).
Tony says that the team was frantically trying to get Said ready to get in the car and even put him in the backup car to make sure he would fit:
“I just need a lap under caution and I’ll be right.”
But after…the incident, Tony says he finally was able to start making his way forward on the track:
“And then I was like, ‘Scrap that, we’re good.’ I never passed a car until that happened. I was so uncomfortable in the car. … After that I was like, ‘Well I got nothing else to focus on now.'”
Recalling the incident, Tony recalls the embarrassment that came with pooping himself in the car:
“It was one of the most uncomfortable and humiliating moments of my racing career, but then I sat there when I got to victory lane and I’m like, ‘There’s all these guys that got beat by a guy that just s**t himself.’ … You think I feel bad? How do you think those guys feel, knowing that that happened?”
So how did Tony find himself in that predicament in the first place? Well he blames it on a fruit tray that he ate in his motorhome the night before:
“I’m sitting there like, ‘Well fruit’s got water in it.’ And I’m dehydrated … and I’m like, ‘Well shoot, I’ll just get the water from the fruit.’ I ate this entire fruit platter, not even thinking. I had no idea what it was going to do to me.”
Ultimately though, it was the fruit that got the best of him:
“I had no choice.”
Hey, sometimes you just gotta go.
