Tony Stewart in Men's Journal

The August issue of Men's Journal contains an interview with NASCAR's Tony Stewart and NHRA Funny Car driver Ashley Force. Here is a bit of the interview with Stewart, who was asked among other things, about a bet he made to raise money for Kyle Petty's Victory Junction Gang Camp, his first car and a special trip to Phoenix.

Tony Stewart on the biggest bet he ever made: "I’ve made a deal that if somebody will raise $100,000 for the Victory Junction Gang Camp— that’s Kyle Petty’s charity for children with life-threatening illnesses— I’ll wax my chest and back. NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick says he’s going to raise the money and be there to witness the pain, because I’m like a Chia Pet on steroids. I mean, I make Chewbacca look bald."

Tony Stewart on his first car: "My parents wouldn’t let me get my license until I was 17, even though I was already racing go-karts. I finally bought a ’79 Plymouth Volare, white with a blue vinyl top, for $350 from a friend whose father used it to deliver mail. I got a Camaro about a year later and sold the Volare to a guy who ended up living in it for five months."

Tony Stewart on the adventure that changed his life: "In ’93 I spent every dime I had on a plane ticket to Phoenix to drive in the Copper World Classic sprint car race. I placed second, and my prize money was $3,500. At the time, I was making $5 an hour at a machine shop in Indiana. So I was trying to figure out how many $5 hours I had to work to make that much. That’s when I decided to race cars for a living."