JOLIET, Ill. -- He is a throwback in more ways than one, from his racing background to his politically incorrect candor to his general scruffiness and less-than-athletic physique. Even in an age of made-for-television spokesmodel drivers, it's very easy to picture Tony Stewart, almost exactly as he is today, banging fenders with the likes of Curtis Turner and Tiny Lund on some dusty short track decades ago. Settling things with their racecars, and then later by other means if necessary.

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The driver of the No. 20 car at Joe Gibbs Racing -- for the remainder of this season, at least -- is a successful competitor and businessman, but his dark eyes are the window to an old soul. So perhaps it's appropriate that Stewart is trading in his orange and white firesuit for a 50 percent share of what will soon be called Stewart-Haas Racing. He's harkening back to an era before the arrival of equity firms and investments banks, a time when most of the owners in the garage were former competitors. He's making what once seemed a natural progression, taking the money he's made in racing and graduating from team member to team owner.

Richard Childress did it. So did Lee Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Ray Evernham, Bud Moore, Robert Yates and other crew chiefs, drivers and engine builders, with varying degrees of success. Before operating costs ballooned into the stratosphere and taking on some kind of financial partner was viewed as an absolute necessity, the practice was more common and less risky. But today, in a garage dominated by outside interests, Stewart will be in the minority. The roll call of teams owned primarily by people who started as regular competitors on NASCAR's premier series is a short one -- Richard Childress Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing, Yates Racing, Robby Gordon Motorsports, Wood Brothers and Petty Enterprises.

Combined, those entities field just 11 of the 43 cars that will start Saturday night's Sprint Cup event at sold-out Chicagoland Speedway. In a period defined by escalating fuel costs and disappearing sponsors, Stewart is bucking the trend. He's taking on an ownership role at a time when many teams are selling pieces of their companies to firms that specialize not in racing, but in making money.

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"You're talking about a different time and age, when guys came in and owned cars and could go and drive the cars and compete and have fun," said Jeff Gordon, who owns a piece of teammate Jimmie Johnson's car at Hendrick Motorsports. "You look at other forms of motorsports, not necessarily IRL, but maybe the GrandAm Series, and you have some owner/drivers who just like to go out there and have fun. Well, this sport is far beyond that. It's a big business."

And that, perhaps more than anything else, is why Stewart's ownership gambit feels so refreshing. This is the way it's supposed to be, drivers buying into ownership to extend their careers beyond their driving days, giving fans of the future a chance to see stars of the past serving in a different capacity. Childress, one of the most successful team owners in the sport, would be remembered only as a winless driver had he not gone out on his own and won six championships. Richard Petty might not be the iconic figure he remains today if he were not still a presence in the garage area week after week, signing autographs, posing for pictures, and trying to shepherd his team back to greatness.

And now comes Stewart, taking the biggest step yet in an age when many of his peers have acquired teams in other series or shares of Sprint Cup vehicles, but few -- and certainly none with his reputation and resume -- have taken the full plunge.

"I don't see where it's negative," he said. "Having a driver that's won races and won championships in the series at the end of his driving career staying a part of this series as a car owner, I'm not sure where I see the negative in that. ... I feel like it's positive. I really don't see where there's a negative in that part of it. Obviously, there's a lot of changes on the business side of it in the last couple years. But I don't see where having somebody that's had a 10-year past in NASCAR changing roles necessarily in the sport is bad, versus having people that have never been part of it coming in the and buying equity in teams that don't know anything about the sport. I don't see where this part of the equation is bad."

Others in the garage area feel the same way. "Him as a driver will help him, because he'll know what he's looking for as opposed to a lot of these guys who are coming in without experience in the sport," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who owns a Nationwide Series car. "He'll know what he's looking for in talent, not only behind the wheel. I really admire him for taking on the responsibility. It's such a huge, monumental task to put himself in that position. I think it takes a lot of guts."

While Stewart does have a history of success in smaller motorsports ventures and something of a financial cushion in the Haas Automation company that owns the other half of his organization, nothing is guaranteed. There's a lot riding on the outcome; a successful Stewart franchise could cultivate a new legion of fans, his popularity rubbing off on his drivers the way Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s founding did for Waltrip and Steve Park. And if the new organization does indeed challenge for the championships and Daytona 500 victories the way its principals hope it will, then perhaps history will repeat itself, and ownership will no longer be the province of economists and investors that it seems today.

"It's good for our sport to have a way for a driver to transition into ownership or an owner to transition into some other involvement in this sport, because that experience and understanding the history of our sport will help move it forward." said Childress driver Jeff Burton. "I hope we never get to the point where you have to have a $500 million business to be involved in this sport. I hope we never get to that point, but that would certainly preclude people like me from being involved, and I think it's important for our sport for people that have that understanding of the history to be involved."

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.