Tony Stewart left Pocono Raceway on Sunday feeling like the unluckiest person in the world. A return to his hometown that night showed him just how wrong he was.
The torrential rains that turned much of Indiana into a disaster area hit particularly hard in Columbus, where Stewart was born and still resides. His farm and the house in which he grew up escaped damage, but many of his neighbors were not so fortunate.
“It makes my bad luck not seem so bad now,” said Stewart, who with finishes of 21st, 18th, 41st and 35th the past four weeks has dropped from seventh to 12th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings.
“It was amazing to see areas that in the 37 years I’ve been alive have never been flooded before. You see things on TV every night from different areas across the country, but this was different.”
Stewart plans to donate his winnings from Sunday’s LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway to the American Red Cross in Columbus.
“This is just the first step. We want to do something bigger down the road, but we need time to evaluate what that should be,” he said.
On Monday, Stewart visited the Columbus Public Works garage—“Everybody there had been working 24-hour shifts and I just wanted to say thanks,” he.
It took his mind off his recent troubles, where an assortment of crashes, flat tires and strategic mishaps have him clinging to the final spot in the Chase
standings.
“It’s frustrating, but it’s nowhere near as frustrating as barely having enough time to get out of your house and having to leave all of your possessions behind.”
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