Stewart, Foyt share much more than a car number

INDIANAPOLIS -- The big man has always seemed as comfortable working the land as he has on the racetrack, and in both cases the machinery risks turning into a twisted heap. A.J. Foyt has survived more auto racing crashes than anyone can remember, including one in 1990 that crushed both of his legs. Less than a year later, he qualified second for the Indianapolis 500. But he was almost done in last August when a bulldozer he was operating slipped off a banking and into a lake.

Tony Stewart was reminded of this recently, not long after he told a friend that he had recently spent seven hours on a tractor trolling about his Indiana farm. "You know," the friend said, "you sound just like the old man." The old man in this instance being a 73-year-old, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner who's generally regarded as the greatest American ever to put foot to accelerator.

At first, Stewart didn't understand. Then his buddy reminded him of Foyt's near-death bulldozer experience, and the light bulb went off. "I'm like, oh my God, I am starting to become more and more like him as this goes on," the two-time NASCAR champion said. "It's not planned that way, that's just what happens. We just enjoy the same things. It's like we're twin brothers who were born 30 years or 20 years apart. But I'm proud of that. If you can be a lot like your childhood hero and not try to live that life, if that's the way it works out, I'm proud of that."

14 is for Foyt

Tony Stewart made official his car plans for the Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet for 2009, and his number will honor his hero.

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On Friday Stewart unveiled the car he will drive next season for soon-to-be rechristened Stewart-Haas Racing, a No. 14 Chevrolet backed by Old Spice and Office ($10 fine if you say Home) Depot. To Stewart, there was no question about which numeral would appear on his car. Foyt drove the No. 14 to victory at Indianapolis in 1967 and '77, and made it famous in open-wheel circles by winning three circuit titles. In 1991, both the U.S. Auto Club and the now-defunct CART series declared that the 14 was reserved exclusively for Foyt as long as he stayed active as a driver or owner, and would retire with him. Foyt uses the number today on his IndyCar Series team.

Its NASCAR results have been decidedly more mediocre, the number having been used by a series of struggling teams -- including one owned by Foyt itself -- since its heyday in the 1950s and '60s with drivers like Jim Paschal and Fonty Flock. Stewart promises to change all that, speaking of winning races and championships with the same number of his childhood hero, a man he took to immediately when he saw him banging on his car with a hammer during the Indianapolis 500. Of course, Foyt eventually dropped the hammer, jumped back in the car and returned to the race.

Idolatry turned into a business relationship, beginning in the mid-1990s when Foyt and partner George Snider gave Stewart a chance in a USAC silver crown car. In 1995 Foyt took Stewart to Phoenix for a five-day test in preparation for the debut of the Indy Racing League the next season, and a friendship was formed.

"I got to spend a lot of one-on-one time with A.J., and that's something," Stewart said. "If you have a childhood hero, and you get to spend five days with your childhood hero and cut up and laugh and make jokes with each other, once that week was over, we've been great friends ever since." (Continued)