Tony Stewart

In addition to his 3 wins in the Indy Racing League, Stewart has also won 2 International Race of Champions events. This is a partial listing of them:. During the 2005 season, Stewart won a total of $13,578,168, including $6,173,633 for winning the championshiop, making this the largest season total in NASCAR history. Many communities of dedicated programmers have taken it upon themselves to patch the old Ultima games to run under modern operating systems, or to remake and/or revise their cherished series with modern gaming engines. He was also praised by fellow competitors, notably NASCAR veteran Mark Martin who proclaimed Stewart as the greatest NASCAR driver of this generation.
. After winning his second championship, Stewart because only the third active driver in NASCAR to win multiple championships, along with Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte. In most cases, gameplay and graphics have been changed significantly.

He is also one of the youngest drivers to win multiple championships. Console versions of Ultima have allowed further exposure to the series, especially in Japan where the games have been bestsellers and were accompanied by several tie-in products including manga based on Ultima. On November 20, Stewart won his second NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship, joining Jeff Gordon as the only active drivers to have won multiple championships. They are The Second Age, Renaissance, Third Dawn, Lord Blackthorn's Revenge, Age of Shadows, Samurai Empire, and Ultima Online: Mondain's Legacy. He mentioned in a press release from his sponsor, "I plan to keep winning races and helping to drive down the cost of home improvement for The Home Depot customers.". However, several expansions were released for Ultima Online, adding new features and areas to be explored. After his Allstate victory, Home Depot presented fans who presented the advertisement of his Allstate 400 win with a discount on purchasing bricks. UO spawned two sequel efforts that were cancelled before release: Ultima Worlds Online: Origin (cancelled in 2001) and Ultima X: Odyssey (cancelled in 2004).

After his second full climb of the fence in Loudon, NH, they ran a discount on ladders and fencing at the stores with a campaign named, "Hey Tony, we've got ladders," where anyone who presented the advertisement in national newspapers in their stores earned the discount. See Ultima Online for more information. It also led to sponsor Home Depot cashing on Stewart's success with some promotions reminiscent of Stewart's Eldora Speedway drivers. In Ultima Online, thousands of players interact online in Britannia. Tony was quoted as saying "I'm too fat for this," and recently purchased $17,000 worth of exercise equipment to remedy the problem. A MMORPG version of the world of Britannia. Stewart has, following his second win of the season, begun a tradition of climbing the fence separating the fans from the racetrack after each victory, a practice adopted from two-time Indy 500 winner Hélio Castroneves . There is also a substantial community of Ultima fans known as the Ultima Dragons.

In an apparently unrelated incident, Kyle Busch was also fined $10,000 and placed on identical probation for ramming Anthony Lazzaro's car after the Sirius Satellite Radio race, also at Watkins Glen. The creator, Richard Garriott, no longer owns the rights to the game, nor participates in the development. Stewart was also placed on probation until December 31st. A nickname that fans gave such trinkets is "feelies". Stewart was driving a Busch series car owned by Kevin Harvick at the time. Made of metal or glass, they usually represented an important object also found within the game itself. On August 16th Stewart was fined $5000 for hitting the car of another driver, Brian Vickers, after the completion of the Busch Series Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International. Starting with Ultima IV, small trinkets like pendants, coins and magic stones were found in the boxes.

He won five races, including the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard, a race that Stewart said he would give up his championship to win, and took with it the #1 seed headed towards NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup 10-race playoff. From Ultima II on, every main Ultima game came with a cloth map of the game world. 2005 was one of Stewart's most successful years in the Nextel Cup. The Ultima games were also famous for the trinkets included in the game boxes. In addition to placing fourth, the trio placed third in the Daytona Prototype class. The earlier Ultima games were ported to many computer types, including 8-bit Atari (Ultima I-IV), Atari ST (Ultima II-VI), Commodore 64 (Ultima I-VI), Commodore Amiga (Ultima III-VI) and IBM PC (Ultima I-V). With 15 minutes left in the race, and with Stewart at the wheel, one of the rear wheels came off, finally ending their run. All the games from Ultima VI on were developed on IBM PC compatible machines.

The result does not show the trio's performance, however: they had dominated the race until the last two hours, when the suspension cracked. Ultima I-V were originally developed on and released for the Apple II family of computers. in a Boss Motorsports Chevrolet to take fourth place in the 24 Hours of Daytona sports car race. The third and final trilogy (Ultima VII-IX), the "Age of Armageddon" (also known as The Guardian Saga), pits the Avatar against an anti-virtue deity known as the Guardian. In 2004, Stewart teamed with Englishman Andy Wallace and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. The three principles of Truth, Love, and Courage echo the quests of the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion from The Wizard of Oz; though Garriott denies that they were the original source. He also still makes the occasional cameo on dirt tracks, appearing regularly at an ARCA race on dirt and at many prominent midget car events, USAC's Turkey Night Grand Prix, and the indoor Chili Bowl Midget Nationals. The eight virtues are loosely based on the Hindu concept of Avatarhood, which involves sixteen paths of purification, with the final (sixteenth) path being to become one with God (according to 'the Official Book of Ultima' by Shay Addams.) The character of the Avatar is basically a Christ figure without any religious overtones.

Located in Rossburg, Ohio, Eldora is a half-mile dirt track known to many as "Auto Racing's Showcase Since 1954." Stewart began racing there in 1991 and continues racing in special events alongside other Nextel Cup drivers and dirt track legends. The character had to attain the eight virtues of honesty, compassion, valor, justice, sacrifice, honor, spirituality and humility. In November of 2004, Stewart became the owner of one of the most legendary short-tracks in America, Eldora Speedway. The next three games (Ultima IV-VI), the "Age of Enlightenment" trilogy, add a revolutionary moral element into the fantasy game genre. His current driver lineup in USAC consists of Josh Wise in the midget, sprint, and Silver Crown cars and Jay Drake in the sprint car and Silver Crown Series. Ironically the antagonists of the first three games appear to do nothing but reside in their castles, while the protagonist has the option of stealing and murdering. Yeley in 2003 and Jay Drake in 2004. The first three games (Ultima I-III), the "Age of Darkness" trilogy, are the typical "kill the evil overlord" fantasy games.

He also collected owner titles in USAC's National Sprint Car Series with J.J. The Ultima series can be divided in three parts. Yeley, and in 2004 with Dave Steele. As time passed, that hero would overcome several obstacles and fight several entities (both in Britannia and in other planes), and gain the title of Avatar, becoming the embodiment of virtues. Stewart has won USAC car owner titles in the Silver Crown division in 2002 and 2003 with J.J. The ruler of that world is called Lord British, and his pleas would be answered by a stranger coming from another world known only as Earth through a magical portal. In addition to his Nextel Cup gig, Stewart, nicknamed "The Columbus Comet" (for his present hometown of Columbus, Indiana), "The Rushville Rocket" and "Smoke", is also the owner of a World of Outlaws sprint car driven by Danny "The Dude" Lasoski. Ultima tells the story of a hero who would be summoned by the ruler of a different world known first as Sosaria, later as Britannia, whenever troubles would arise and put in danger the peace of the land.

He only won twice that season, but led more laps than he'd done the previous year and was highly competitive in the final races of the year. . Driving a Chevrolet instead of his previous Pontiac ride (Gibbs switched), Tony actually had his worst Cup season, but it was still good enough for a 7th place finish in points. Today, Electronic Arts holds the brand. As defending champion, Stewart managed to have a relatively incident-free 2003. Several games of the series are considered seminal games of their genre. At the end of the year, Stewart held off a charging Mark Martin to win his first Winston Cup championship. Lord British.

Stewart went on to win the race immediately after being disciplined, and went on a tear in the final races, finishing consistently in the top five. Ultima was created by Richard Garriott, a.k.a. NASCAR put Stewart on probation for the rest of the season. Ultima is a series of fantasy computer role-playing games from Origin Systems, Inc. The second half of his season was plagued by an altercation he had with a photographer after the Brickyard 400. The Time Lord. He won twice early in the season though, but was only 7th at the halfway point of the season. Zipactriotl.

Tony started 2002 even more inauspiciously than he'd started his previous season, as his Daytona 500 lasted just two laps due to a blown engine. Johann Schliemann Spector, a.k.a. Tony, understandably, earned a reputation for being NASCAR's bad boy. Dr. Stewart was not allowed to practice until wearing one, and only managed to practice after his crew chief intervened. Smith, Iolo's talking horse. He confronted the same official at the race in Talladega after refusing to wear a mandated head and neck restraint. Shamino.

This resulted in another fine and longer probation. Minax. At the same race, he also got into an incident with a reporter, kicking away a tape recorder. Mondain. He got into further trouble at Daytona, when he confronted a Winston Cup official after ignoring a black flag. Iolo. Stewart was fined and placed on probation by NASCAR. The Guardian.

Gordon pulled a "bump and run" on Stewart to gain a better finishing position in a race in Bristol, and it resulted in Stewart retaliating in a post-race incident by spinning Gordon out on pit road. Exodus. The season was not without controversy though. Dupre. Statistically, he had a worse season than 2000, but he was the runner up to Jeff Gordon for the Cup championship. Chuckles. He recovered to win three more races, and as he'd done before, ran near the front most of the season. Lord British.

Amazingly, he walked away nearly unscathed. Lord Blackthorn. Tony's 2001 got off to a frightening start, as he was involved in a nasty crash in the Daytona 500 where his car violently flipped over several times. Beh Lem. The two are still heated rivals to this day, with Gordon always seeming to outlast his competetitor. Batlin. Stewart made his displeasure towards Gordon known in an obscenity-laden tirade. The Avatar.

The most well known of these came at Watkins Glen, when he and Jeff Gordon tangled and crashed into each other. EUO (website) - A MORPG based on Ultima IV and Ultima V. Tony also began to get some bad press for his on-track incidents. It tells the story of several companions of the Avatar who are notably absent from Ultimas after Ultima VII, and their quest to root out Fellowship remnants who have fled to not one, but two of the lost continents of Old Sosaria. However, he "slipped" to 6th place in the standings because of a handful of DNFs, and an increase in the number of competitive drivers, among them his teammate Labonte, who won the Cup championship. Lost Sosaria is an expansion to the Ultima storyline being developed by Withstand the Fury Dragon and Time Immortal. Stewart showed no signs of a sophomore slump in Winston Cup in 2000, as he won six races. (4-10-2005).

His attempt at "The Double" was mildly successful, as he finished in the top 10 at both races, but he fell 10 miles short of completing all of the miles. Currently the project is in the pre-planning stage. Tony also attempted to race 1,100 miles on Memorial Day, as he attempted to race the Indy 500 during the day and the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte at night. This game will be developed with the Neverwinter Nights 2 game engine (due for release in 2006) developed by Obsidian Entertainment. Not surprisingly, he ran away with the Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award. The goal of this project is to allow free download of a module template based on the Ultima universe for multiplayer, single player, and hosted DM-lead games. He finished his first year an unprecedented 4th in points, the highest points finish by a rookie in the modern era (since 1972), and only bested by James Hylton, who finished 2nd as a first-timer in 1966. Realms of Ultima is a Persistent World Template project under development by The Grumpy Strumpet.

He won a pair of pole positions at short tracks, and tied a rookie record with three victories. Ultima: The New King is a planned new adventure chronologically set after Ultima IX. He only failed to finish a race once, and even then he finished 9th. Ultima IX: Redemption is an effort to create an alternative Ultima IX, writing a new ending to the series "for the fans". Stewart spent most of his rookie season wowing people, as his car was often in the top 10. Titans of Ether merges two former development efforts, both based on Morrowind game engine. In the 500 itself, Stewart ran near the front until problems with the car relegated him to a midpack finish. Currently in pre-alpha, but they have released a demo of their technical systems.

The Intimidator came out on top, but Tony had nonetheless impressed quite a few people with his performance. The Ultima VI Project - a remake of Ultima VI also using the Dungeon Siege engine. He showed courage in one of the Gatorade Twin 125 races, when involved in a great battle with Dale Earnhardt for the win. The game was released on the 22nd of December, 2005. Stewart started his Winston Cup career with a bang, as he qualified his No 20 Home Depot Pontiac in second place in his first Cup race, the Daytona 500. Ultima V: Lazarus - A remake of Ultima V by voluntary programmers using the Microsoft Dungeon Siege engine. With that move, Stewart ended his three year career as a full time IRL driver. Currently abandoned.

Gibbs had enough confidence in Tony that he was moved into Cup for the 1999 season. The System Shock Hack Project - An open-source, work-in-progress portable Ultima Underworld (and System Shock) engine. Stewart finished a solid 2nd place in 2 (of 31) starts, ahead of six drivers with more starts, and had an average finish that was comparable to some of the series' top 10 finishers. Underworld Adventures - An open-source, work-in-progress portable Ultima Underworld engine. He came extremely close to winning his first Busch Series race in Rockingham, but was beaten on a last lap pass by Matt Kenseth. Pentagram (website) - An open-source, work-in-progress portable Ultima VIII engine (may later work with Crusader games, too). On the Busch side, he finished in the top-five five times in 22 starts. Exult (website) - An open-source, portable Ultima VII: The Black Gate and Serpent Isle engine (works with the expansions as well).

His season was something of a disappointment, especially as he finished last in the Indy 500 because of an engine failure. Nuvie - An open-source, work-in-progress portable Ultima VI engine (works with Savage Empire and Martian Dreams, too). In the IRL, he won twice and finished 3rd in the championship. nu5 - A planned open-source, portable Ultima V engine. The double duty did not affect his performance in either series. xu4 - An open-source, portable Ultima IV engine. Stewart so impressed Gibbs that he was signed to drive the majority of the Busch schedule in 1998 to go along with a full-time IRL schedule. u3project - An open-source, work-in-progress portable Ultima III engine.

When Stewart was able to finish, he was in the top 10, and had a 3rd place in Charlotte. Ultima Classics Revisited - An open-source, work-in-progress portable engine, currently covering Akalabeth (complete) and Ultima I (partial). This time, he was racing for Joe Gibbs, the former (and current as of 2004) coach of the Washington Redskins who was having a lot of success with driver Bobby Labonte in Winston Cup. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (PlayStation) — Released in Japan only. As he had done the previous year, he raced a handful of Busch Series races. Japan only, cancelled in the US. Despite an average end to his season, finishing 7th, 14th, and 11th, and five DNFs, Stewart did just enough to beat Hamilton for the IRL title. Ultima: The Savage Empire (SNES) — A graphical update using the Black Gate engine for the SNES.

He became the leading contender for the series' championship after a bad slump knocked points leader Davey Hamilton out of first place. Includes plot changes and reduction in violence. Tony finally got his first career win at Pikes Peak, where he led all but seven laps of a 200 lap race. Ultima: The Black Gate (SNES) — Gameplay adapted for the game pad. At that year's Indy 500, Stewart had a good enough car to win his first IRL race, as he led 64 laps, but tailed off near the end of the race and settled for 5th. Includes plot changes and reduction in violence. He failed to finish the first three races of a ten race schedule, but recovered to finish second in Phoenix. Ultima: The False Prophet (SNES) — Gameplay adapted for the game pad.

Tony was poised to improve his IRL standing in 1997, but struggled with finishing at times. Ultima: Runes of Virtue 2 (Game Boy, SNES). He had more success in a one-time ride in the Craftsman Truck Series, where he finished 10th. The antagonist is called the "Black Knight.". In nine races, however, he had only a best finish of 16th place. Ultima: Runes of Virtue (Game Boy) — Non-canonical, action based gameplay and puzzle solving. Tony also made a handful of starts in NASCAR's Busch Series that year. Ultima: Warriors of Destiny (NES).

When he wasn't racing Indy Cars, he raced stock cars. Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (NES, Master System). In 1995, Stewart became the first driver to win USAC's version of the Triple Crown, earning championships in all three of USAC's major divisions, National Midget, Sprint, and Silver Crown. Ultima: Exodus (NES). Stewart was the USAC rookie of the year in 1991, and was the National Midget series champion in 1994. Ultima X: Odyssey (cancelled in 2004). He raced three-quarter midgets for a handful of years before moving up to the USAC series. Worlds of Ultima III: Arthurian Legends (cancelled in 1993).

Born in Columbus, Indiana, Stewart grew up racing go karts, highly successfully, winning the world karting championship in 1987. Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (1992). . Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1991). Anthony Wayne "Tony" Stewart (born May 20, 1971), is an auto racing driver who has won championships in sprint cars, Indy cars, and stock cars. Ultima Underworld: