Tony Stewart Visits Ollie’s Grand Opening in Plymouth
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet officially opened its doors in Plymouth Wednesday morning. While the staff was busy welcoming customers in to get in on the deals of the day, three-time NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Champion Tony Stewart was on hand to greet race fans and sign autographs at the Plymouth store.
Stewart said it is always great to visit the chain of stores and to see the number of race fans at each event.
“You come to Ollie’s and you get here at 10 in the morning – you wouldn’t think there’d be many race fans showing up at 10 in the morning, but they had a really long line this morning,” said Stewart. “It’s good to be up here. This is an area we’ve raced at a lot and we’ve got a lot of ties to Hoosier Racing Tire in this area so we get to see a lot of people that we do know that came to see us, plus all of the race fans. It’s a pretty good morning.”
Stewart visits several grand opening events around the country to welcome race fans to the chain. Plymouth is the 439th store nationwide, and the 19th store in Indiana.
Stewart has raced at Plymouth Motor Speedway over the years. The track underwent a transformation after the season ended last year where the dirt was removed from the track to return to asphalt. Stewart said it remains an area favorite.
Stewart said, “I’m more of a dirt guy than a pavement guy, but Plymouth is a really cool facility. Ed [Kennedy] that had the track before made great improvements to it so it will be an awesome facility whether it’s dirt or pavement now. When race fans need somewhere to go they’ve got a great race track locally to go watch great racing.”
May is the month of racing in Indiana. Stewart commented that while he has a busy schedule, he is not too busy to take in the Indianapolis 500 set to take place Memorial Day weekend.
“I get an opportunity to go to Indy so we’ll probably hang out with my good buddy A.J. [Foyt] again this year and watch the race.”
He recently got involved with drag racing as his wife, Leah, is a driver in the sport. Stewart said he has learned a thing or two about the sport.
“Everyday we’re at the track I geek out and turn into a race fan all over again! It’s nice to do something different that’s outside the box of what I’ve been doing for 40 years. I’ve ran 13 times in one of Leah’s cars in the last couple of years. There’s no way you can explain it to somebody that doesn’t drive a race car. Even people that drive race cars, it’s hard to explain to them what that sensation is like of how hard they accelerate, and the power that you have when you have over 11,000 horsepower behind you.”
Stewart remains a part of NASCAR as he is co-owner with Gene Haas with several cars in the top two tiers of the popular racing series. He can also be seen in the FOX Sports booth alongside Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer to add some commentary during televised race broadcasts.
Stewart was able to visit Hoosier Racing Tire and other local facilities while in town for the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet grand opening in Plymouth Wednesday.