Tony Stewart Offers First in Industry NFT Collectibles

By: Tom Luttermoser

As a 3x NASCAR Cup Series Champion, 2x Cup Series Championship winning team owner, NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, track owner and 1997 IndyCar Champion and most recently NHRA Team owner, Tony Stewart has a TON on his resume. One thing he never added was Husband until Nov. of 2021 when he married NHRA driver Leah Pruett (this does have something to do with this article, I promise.) But Tony now has a new venture.. slightly outside the racing space.

Yesterday Tony Stewart's Twitter account had a wee bit of an exciting post "Shifting gears after an exciting weekend. Speaking of winning... Fans, we've shared lots of iconic moments over the years, haven't we? Stay tuned for a major announcement tomorrow." 

The post hashtaged; Thank You Fans, IndyCar, NASCAR, SRXRacing & World of Outlaw Sprints. Many people all across the social media world put on their tin foil hats and went to work posting  realistic ideas to insane ones. "Kyle Busch to the 10 or 41", "He's Bringing Dodge Back", "Hailie Deegan to SHR", "Cup and Trucks to Eldora" etc. 

But it appears that the announcement goes digital and not to the track. Tony Stewart and Leah Pruett are partnered up with the LA- based NFT company Orange Comet to venture into the space of digital collectables. The first set has a drop date of August 23rd with a limited run of 30 NFTs focusing on Tony's legendary racing career such as cars run on dirt, open wheel, NASCAR and more grassroots racing as well. This is a first of it's kind offering from the motorsports industry with Tony and Leah leading the way. 

"We're thrilled to be working with Tony, Leah and Tony Stewart Racing to truly change the way fans across the globe experience motorsports," said Orange Comet CEO and Co-founder, David Broome. "The deeply detailed collections we've created are a conduit to engage with these legends through an all new medium, while also offering the chance to own a piece of History." 

There will also be a second wave dubbed "The Legacy Series" which will feature 500 1-of-1 digital collectible versions of some of the cars raced by Tony as well as a few new, concept pieces based on the legendary career of Smoke. Those buyers will receive an autographed hat and have a 1/5 chance at winning a 30 minute long Zoom sit down with the racing legend himself.

"This is an entirely new way for us to engage with our fans and the racing community as a whole." Stewart said. "It's story telling on a new and emerging platform. We knew we could create come championship-caliber collections for the fans that are both collectible and have some awesome experiences attached to them."

Physical prizes like these show how some NFT companies are trying to offer real-world items and experiences along with your digital collectible to make the offer more appealing to people like me who just don't see the benefit of a digital collectable.