Q. Just want to go back to, I can understand and appreciate your point about you've got to live life with your limited time here. Obviously your situation is different from mine or a lot of other people, and certainly a lot of people depend on you here in this organization. How does that responsibility change? Does this incident make you rethink that to some degree in that balance between your responsibility to the folks in here to your right to do whatever you want in your life? Has that changed?
TONY STEWART: Well, in saying that I'm going to live my life doesn't mean I can do anything I want. But you can go in there and ask those guys, none of those guys missed a day of work through this. Nobody has got a cut in paycheck. It hasn't changed their life as far as what they do and what their job and what their responsibilities are here.
My role in the company has definitely changed, but we've got a guy out here that you couldn't ask for a better guy to come fill in and having Mark and Arlene here; thank you, guys. I appreciate you guys being here, first of all. That means a lot.
But this company has never stopped. I know what you're saying about the responsibility, but I mean, I've been a part of meetings for the last three weeks. I haven't really missed work. I mean, the only part of my job that I've missed as far as responsibilities to this company is I haven't been in the race car. Granted, I'm not trying to downplay that, but I am going to go to Tallahassee, Florida, tomorrow to a Bass Pro Shops appearance; I'm going to be in Richmond on Thursday. I'm not missing work. I'll have missed one appearance since this has happened, and other than being out of the race car, that's all I've missed. That's all I've let down as far as my responsibilities.
Like I said before, if I got hit by a car on the street coming to the shop and this injury happened, I would still have missed the same thing. You know, you can't guard against everything, so as far as thinking about it, everything that I do we sit there and try to make sure we're as safe about doing it as possible. It was an accident. It wasn't something that -- it wasn't something that was pre-planned. It wasn't anything other than just an accident that happens just like anything else in life that happens out there, just like Bobby's deal this week.
That's why they call it accidents; nobody does it on purpose.
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