Tony Stewart’s 1995 Silver Crown championship winner

As part of the 2018 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Indianapolis the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum presented the “Hoosier Thunder: Indiana’s Short Track Heritage” exhibit which featured Tony Stewart's 1995 United States Auto Club (USAC) championship winning Silver Crown championship dirt car.

In 1995, Tony Stewart became the first driver to win the USAC “Triple Crown”- as won championships in the National Sprint Car, National Midget and the Silver Crown series - all in the same season. 

Tony drove this USAC Silver Crown championship dirt car owned by Edinburgh Indiana engine builder Glen Neibel  powered by one of Neibel’s potent V-6 engines with sponsorship from the Willie Boles Chevrolet dealership in Pendleton Indiana. As they were competing against cars equipped with 358-cubic-inch V-8 engines, the V-6 powered car was given a weight break.

Stewart never won a USAC Silver Crown race during the 1995 season but strung together a consistent series of finishes. In a ten-race season, Tony scored five top-5 finishes and three top-ten finishes. 

As he entered the final race of the season at the Cal Expo Fairgrounds in Sacramento California, Tony was in third place in the points. As the race progressed the two drivers ahead of him in points, Dave Darland and Jack Hewitt experienced troubles during the 100-mile race,  Stewart scored his second consecutive and third overall runner-up finish and won the 1995 USAC Silver Crown title by just two points.   

Stewart moved into the NASCAR "cup" series and won three driver championships (2002, 2005 and 2011) to go along with his four USAC driver championships. With his 1997 IRL championship, Tony is the only man to win both an IndyCar and NASCAR  championship. Stewart was elected into the USAC Hall of Fame in 2016 and the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2019. 

All photos by the author