If you love what you do for a living, everything is supposed to be gravy, right? Easier said than done when your profession is driving a 900- horsepower sprint car more than 80 times a year from coast-to-coast.
I’ve been fortunate to build a career in racing, but every time I get into a sprint car my expectations are to win.
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the chance to have some fun racing outside my normal World of Outlaws job. Two weeks ago, Danny Lasoski came over to me at the last minute and asked me to be in the annual Michael Ross Memorial Celebrity Race of Champions in Sedalia, Mo. The Dude was in a pinch, so I figured I’d help him out.
There were a handful of guys from different types of racing in the event like Gary Scelzi and Jim Head from NHRA, some NASCAR guys like Clint Bowyer, Dave Marcis and Randy LaJoie, and me, racing modifieds right in the middle of a regular World of Outlaws points race.
Tony Synder, from Kansas, built an awesome race car, and I got to hot-lap it for about three laps…the first three laps I’ve ever made in one of those cars. I was pretty squirrelly, but that’s what happens when you get in a car that works exactly the opposite of a sprint car.

When I went back over by my sprint car, my dad says, “Man, Tony (Stewart) didn’t look real good in the modified. You think he is OK?” I told him that was me out there and thanked him for the vote of confidence.

After warm-ups the car owner told me to just run it in there, and it would stick through the corners, and I’d go to the front. Not quite the “matched set of tires” speech that Cole Trickle got, but it worked. We started fifth and drove to the front.
There was a late restart, and we had a green-white-checkered finish. I was leading and Clint Bowyer was right behind me. I knew Clint brought a good car to this event, and I’ve seen him race a modified and late model on dirt before, so I knew I would have my hands full. He was running the bottom and we were on the high side and I just kept it as straight as I could. I jumped the cushion at one point and thought I was doomed, but he never got under me. 
The other fun thing that I got to do recently was race against Tony, Kasey Kahne and Dave Blaney in sprint cars. The Ollie’s 360 Challenge is a three-race event that we are excited to be a part of, and it kicked off last week at Sharon Speedway.
I hadn’t been in a 360 since 1996, so I was really looking forward to it. Logistics were a bit of an issue since the two Tony Stewart Racing Outlaw rigs were in Kansas. We ended up using my transporter that we used last year, and both Tony and I worked out of it. 
I always get asked what’s it like to drive for him, so the fun part about this event is that we get to work out of the same trailer, talk about the track and race each other. He asked me a few things here and there, and we talked a little bit about making sure he didn’t get too balled up in the corners during the starts, but for the most part, he had it figured out.
Dave Blaney and his family have done a great job with Sharon. It’s a perfect place to race because you can roll the corners nice and either keep it held to the bottom or slide up to the cushion. Tony did a good job moving forward in both his heat and the B. I lapped him late in the feature and (Stewart’s crew chief for the night) Jimmy (Carr) told me after I lapped him, he got behind me, followed my tracks and did pretty well. The bottom line is that he had a blast.
We’ll get to do it again right before the Kings Royal, and, fortunately for us, we have a $50,000 incentive. The series organizers put up a bonus for any driver that could win two of the three challenge races. 
Paul Kistler, who builds the motors for the Bass Pro Shop World of Outlaws team, built a phenomenal engine for us. We took the lead in the feature on lap 12 and went on to win the race.
I couldn’t think of a better way to start the Kings Royal week than by picking up $50,000.
It’s fun to be able to get away from our regular World of Outlaws stuff on occasion. Not too often though; things are going OK there, too.