Say what you will about Tony

Big mouth, big ego, even bigger heart.

Yep, that's Tony Stewart. Here is our driver at a NASCAR Members Club event I attended in Charlotte. He's doing a question and answer session for about 500 members at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He didn't have to, he had a race in just a few hours.

His latest big-hearted, just-a-teddy-bear-inside, act was to donate his winnings from Sunday's race to the American Red Cross in his hometown, Columbus, Ind. The town has been underwater for about 10 days now, as has much of the midwest.

Check it out at www.therepublic.com.

Say what you will about Tony Stewart, he is one of the most charitable people in NASCAR.

On Monday, Scene Daily quoted Tony as saying this:
"But we got a good top-five and raised a lot of money for the people in Columbus, and that's the main thing. … When it's your own community and your own neighbors, it's good to generate a good amount of winnings for our community." www.scenedaily.com.

He sends millions to Victory Junction, and even let his buddy Kevin Harvick pay cash money for Operation Wax Smoke on his weekly Sirius Radio show. Tony is a pretty hairy guy and he agreed have his back waxed if Harvick would pony up six figures for Victory Junction. Check out the photos at www.sirius.com/tonystewart. Looks painful to me!

When Morgan Shepherd was a call-in guest to his radio show a few weeks ago, Tony commented today's young drivers don't appreciate Morgan and his generation of drivers and what they've done for the sport.

Then Tony provided tires for Shepherd's "Racing With Jesus" entry in the Nationwide series race. Shepherd drives a car without a corporate sponsor and he relies on God to provide what he needs to stay out on the track week in and week out.

As part of The Home Depot's Kaboom! program, Tony rolls up his sleeves and helps build playgrounds for kids. Here's an Associated Press photo of Tony helping the Kaboom! projects.



OK, Tony's brash, outspoken, brutally honest and says what everyone is thinking but won't verbalize.

But you have to admit, he's a multi-series champion, can pretty much drive anything, even a woman's horse trailer stuck in a ditch in rural Indiana (read that one in NASCAR Illustrated a couple of years ago). He's devoted to his family and hometown and shows the utmost respect for the elder statesmen of his sport.

And has a heart as big as as all outdoors.

Good job, Tony. Good job.

Your good works don't go unnoticed.