There have been plenty of times in his life when folks have had the urge to tell Tony Stewart to go jump out of an airplane -- or worse.

So he did. Along with his 72-year-old father, Nelson, the owner and driver of the No. 14 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing recently participated in a tandem jump with the Golden Knights, the U.S. Army Parachute team. The Army sponsors one of the two cars Stewart-Haas runs in the Sprint Cup Series -- the No. 39 Chevy driven by Ryan Newman.

Stewart talked about the thrill of the jump with NASCAR.COM.

“

It was one of the coolest things I've done in my life. My only regret was that I didn't do it 10 years earlier.

”

-- TONY STEWART

Q: First of all, whose idea was it to go skydiving and what was your initial reaction to the thought of it?

Stewart: Actually, the guy we deal with at the Army sent me a text message and told me that they were going to be in the Ohio area and if any of our people from Eldora Speedway wanted to go, he was offering that up to them. It was a coincidence that I ended up having a rescheduled race that put me in the area. I sent him a text message and said, 'That's ironic, because I'm going to be there. Would it be all right if I go?' He said absolutely. Then I sent him another text message and asked if it would be all right if my dad went. That's how it got set up, basically.

Q: So how was the experience?

Stewart: The experience was awesome. It was about 140 miles from Eldora to Monroe, Ohio. So we flew from Eldora. ... We landed, they took us in, showed us the safety course and gave us a safety briefing, basically showing us what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. I was a little apprehensive going into that part of it. But once we sat through that, the anxiety was gone -- realizing you were as safe as you could possibly be going into that kind of situation.

We went up and did the jump -- and it was an unbelievable feeling. It was one of the coolest things I've done in my life. My only regret was that I didn't do it 10 years earlier.

Q: Was it something you always wanted to do?

Stewart: No, I was just the opposite. I was always the one who said, 'Why would I want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?' Their response when I told them that was that there isn't ever really a 'perfectly good airplane.'

Q: What about your father? I know earlier you said he's 72 and he liked it so much you worry about what he might want to do next. Was this something he always wanted to do?

Stewart: Yeah, it was. And we've created a monster. He's already wanting to go through the training and all that to learn how to skydive on his own. I actually want to do the same thing. He'll probably have more opportunities to do it than I will -- but now it's something we both want to do. (Continued)