During the 2026 SEMA Industry Honors at the BleauLive Theater inside the Fontainebleu Las Vegas, Tony Stewart was honored by the Petersen Automotive Museum with the Robert E. Petersen Lifetime Achievement Award.
Established in 2002 and named for pioneering automotive publisher and Petersen Automotive Museum founder Robert E. Petersen, the Robert E. Petersen Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals whose enduring contributions have helped shape the automotive industry and motorsports.
Stewart certainly fits the bill. His versatility behind the wheel of a racecar has been on display for nearly 50 years, and in the last 25 years, he has proven to be a savvy team owner and track promoter.
“I’ve been racing since I was 7 years old, and all I ever wanted to do was win the biggest trophy. Making a career out of it, much less receiving an award like this, seemed pretty distant,” Stewart said. “Huge thank you to Juan Gonzalez from Mission Foods who nominated me for this honor. To have the support of someone who has become such a huge part of the motorsports world on the sponsorship side deem me worthy of an award like this is pretty special.”
“Racing has given me opportunities I never could’ve imagined, not just as a driver, but as a team owner and a track owner. I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of really talented people who helped make all of this possible. To receive an award that recognizes a lifetime in motorsports is pretty special, especially when I’m still out here racing and trying to win.”
The recognition places Stewart in elite company, as past award recipients include NHRA founder Wally Parks, automotive visionary Carroll Shelby, NASCAR legend Richard Petty, championship-winning team owner Jack Roush, racing innovator Dan Gurney and drag racing icon Don Prudhomme.
“It’s really humbling to see the names of the people who’ve received this award before,” Stewart said. “They helped build the sport and the industry into what it is today. To have my name mentioned alongside theirs is pretty incredible.”
At age 55, Stewart continues to race and win. He currently competes in the Top Fuel division of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, driving a 12,000-horsepower dragster for Elite Motorsports. He has three event wins, including this year’s Winternationals in Pomona, California. He also competes against his wife, Leah Pruett, a 13-time Top Fuel winner.
In 2024, Stewart won the NHRA’s rookie-of-the-year crown after a heralded four-decade career in circle-track racing that saw the Columbus, Indiana, native win 13 driving titles, most notably in the NASCAR Cup Series, where he is a three-time champion and a NASCAR Hall of Famer.
Beyond driving championships that include the 1997 IndyCar Series title and four USAC titles, highlighted by his 1995 Triple Crown sweep of the Midget, Sprint and Silver Crown divisions, Stewart is also a championship-winning team owner.
Stewart has 37 owners’ titles, the most recent of which came Oct. 17 when his sprint car driver Rico Abreu won the Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing championship. It was Stewart’s 10th sprint car owners’ title, with the previous nine coming in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. The 2026 season marked Stewart’s first fielding a car in High Limit Racing.
Stewart’s eponymous team, Tony Stewart Racing (TSR), already owns an NHRA championship, as his Funny Car driver Matt Hagan delivered the 2023 title in TSR’s second season of NHRA competition.
Stewart has been a track owner and promoter since November 2004, when the reins of Eldora Speedway were passed to him from founder Earl Baltes. Already recognized as the “World’s Greatest Dirt Track,” the half-mile dirt oval in Rossburg, Ohio, has seen its legacy burnished even further under Stewart’s ownership, hosting some of the most prestigious and highest-paying events in all of dirt racing.
“Tony Stewart embodies everything the Robert E. Petersen Lifetime Achievement Award represents,” said Terry L. Karges, executive director of the Petersen Automotive Museum. “He’s one of the most versatile drivers in motorsports history, but his success extends well beyond the driver’s seat. He’s built championship-winning race teams, preserved and elevated one of America’s most iconic racetracks and continues to find new ways to challenge himself as a competitor. His passion for racing is undeniable, and his contributions to motorsports will be felt for generations.”
Next up for Stewart is the season-ending In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals Nov. 13-15 at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. He is fifth in the Top Fuel standings, and Pruett is just 20 points ahead of Stewart in fourth. Hagan, meanwhile, leads the Funny Car standings by 39 points over Jordan Vandergriff. Hagan is looking to secure his fifth Funny Car championship and second for TSR.
This story was originally published on November 6, 2026.
The post Tony Stewart Honored With Robert E. Petersen Lifetime Achievement Award first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
