He's with us to make sure that I'm eating properly, stay off the pizzas and sodas all month. Which, if they can keep me off the sodas, that will be a major accomplishment. A veteran of the NFL's Carolina Panthers, Stewart's trainer is never far from the Rushville, Ind., native. When Stewart rides out to the line to participate in practice, so does the trainer. When Stewart exits the car and heads to the drink cooler, it's the trainer who substitutes fruit juice for the driver's preferred soda pop.
Nutrition replaces junk food.
What comes easy to Tony Stewart when he's strapped in the cockpit of his Home Depot-Target Stores Indy ride is offset by the regimen dictated by his trainer. A healthy body will not fail the way Stewart's did two years ago. Every day when the school bell would ring at 20 after three, the first thing I did was rush home, turn the TV on, and watch the Indy 500 coverage. I got in a lot of trouble with my parents because homework didn't get done, because I wouldn't pull myself off the TV until 6. I can't express in words how much this race means to me.