Kyle Larson is often regarded as the most diverse elite race car driver since Tony Stewart.
The three-time NASCAR Cup Series and IndyCar Series champion went a step further during the Dirt Late Model Dream pre-race show at Eldora Speedway.
“Kyle Larson is better than I was.”
Does he really believe that?
“I do.”
Stewart is an archetype of his hero, AJ Foyt, who replicated Super Tex in every aspect of his professional driving career. Stewart won all three USAC National championships in 1995, including Midgets, Sprint Cars, and Silver Crown Champ Cars, and was subsequently promoted to the Indy Racing League.
He won the IRL IndyCar Championship in 1997 and then moved on to NASCAR, where he won three championships and 49 top-level victories before being inducted into the sanctioning body’s Hall of Fame in 2020.
He remained a mainstay in dirt racing throughout his career, and at the age of 50, he has already won twice in a Sprint Car.
Larson has followed that model in carving his own legend.
In the 41-year history of the 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora, he is one of only two drivers to sweep all three USAC events in one night. Back in 1998, the famous Jack Hewitt completed the sweep. It was that feat that Stewart, who knows owns and operates Eldora, realized he was watching the start of something special.
“I honestly do,” Stewart said. “I remember watching him during the first time he ran the 4-Crown Nationals, and won all three races, in his first time racing here. This isn’t the easiest place to come to for your first time and for him to take a Midget, and a Sprint Car, and a Silver Crown and just dominate in the fashion that he did.”
Larson was just 19 at the time.
Larson has already established himself as a NASCAR contender, but his career was disrupted last year when he was sacked and suspended for using a racial slur during an iRacing broadcast. Since then, he has received sensitivity training and has worked with a number of inner-city youth foundations.
He also spent last summer primarily racing on dirt, where he won 47 times in 96 races, including victories in his first few Dirt Late Model starts. He joined with Hendrick Motorsports over the winter and has won three times in the Cup Series so far this season, while also continuing to win on dirt.
Larson is on a Stewart like run right now and Smoke recognizes it.
“To see him come here in a Winged Sprint Car and now a Late Model, anything he gets in, he wins in,” Stewart said. “The incredible thing about Kyle is that most drivers have to really think about what they’re doing as they do it. Kyle? He’s plug and play, man. You just plug him in the car, send him off and he’ll figure it out very naturally.”
“In an era where technology is better, the competition is much closer than its ever been, and for him to dominate in so many different cars, that’s hard to do.”
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