For off-road race fanatics, Ironman holds a meaning far beyond Stan Lee (creator of the Ironman comic) and Robert Downey, Jr (who portrayed the comic book hero). You could say the nickname was given to Ivan Stewart, whose career is the stuff of legend; but, more accurately, Stewart laid claim to it fair and square.
The Ironman himself.
Stewart caught the sport’s attention in 1973 at the Ensenada 300 when his co-driver broke his leg before the race. Stewart recruited mechanic Earl Stah to drive shotgun in the Class 2 buggy and powered through the grueling terrain, all 300 miles of it, to claim first place.
Nearly 30 wins and 10 years later, Stewart joined forces with the Toyota factory-sponsored team. In those 10 years, he moved up from Class 2, won the Baja 1000, the Baja 500 twice and was named SCORE Driver of the Year twice.
He continued his winning tradition in the driver’s seat of Toyota-powered, Precision Preparation Inc. Motorsports-built race trucks winning six class victories including two SCORE World Championships. By the ‘80s, the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group had moved the dirt out of the desert and into stadiums, increasing the accessibility and popularity of off-road racing and opening new venues for Stewart/Toyota victories. Stewart holds the all-time MTEG win record with 17.
The seventh year into his partnership with Toyota—1990—was a lucky one. Stewart was named SCORE and High Desert Racing Association (HDRA) Driver of the Year, Overall Driver’s Champion, Unlimited Class Driver’s Champion and Grand National Sport Truck Driver’s Champion plus he garnered a total of 11 wins along the way. Just three years later, he duplicated his SCORE Overall and Unlimited Class championships and steered Toyota to its first Baja 1000 win. During that 1993 season, Stewart and Team Toyota took home the Crown Jewels of desert racing—the Baja 500, Baja 1000 and Nevada 400—marking the first time one manufacturer claimed victory in all three.
Check out this cheesy Ironman video game screen shot! It’s funny, but the guy was so pervasive this video game sold pretty well.
Moving up to the Trophy Truck Class in 1994, Stewart took home the gold in the San Felipe 250, another Baja 500 and the Fireworks 250. The following year he was named Trophy-Truck Class Driver’s Champion and added the Laughlin Challenge and Parker 400 to his list of victories. In the last three years of his racing career, he chalked up three more Baja 500 wins for a career total of 17 and one more Baja 1000 (his third). After 26 years in the dirt, the Ironman’s victories totaled 84 with 10 driver’s championships thrown in for good measure.
Stewart may have retired from racing, but he has maintained a high profile in the sport on two levels–first as founder of the Protruck Racing Organization, a special class of spec trucks that participates at off-road events including the Best in the Desert Vegas to Reno run, the Baja 500 and Pikes Peak. The series is a true driver’s challenge with all the Protrucks incorporating the same components and engine size limited to 360 CI. Next, Stewart moved from real dirt to virtual dirt with his Super Off-Road arcade game developed for Nintendo and Sega and the Off-Road Challenge, released by Midway Home Entertainment and based on the SCORE desert series. All hail the Ironman!
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Love the game and still play it to this day. the man is a legend!