Born in Columbus, Indiana, on May 20, 1971 Stewart grew up racing go karts and was successful very early, winning the World Karting Championship in 1987. He raced three-quarter midgets until 1991, when he moved up to the United States Auto Club (USAC) series with help from one of his karting sponsors and friend Mark Dismore. Stewart was the USAC Rookie of the Year in 1991, fifth in 1993 after winning the Hut Hundred, [1] and was the National Midget series champion in 1994.In 1995, Stewart became the first driver to win USAC's version of the Triple Crown, earning championships in all three of USAC's major divisions, National Midget, Sprint, and Silver Crown. The highlights of the year were winning the Hut Hundred and 4-Crown Nationals.