Tony Stewart's pet monkey Mojo, pictured here with human mother, Krista Dwyer (Photo: Greg Gagne)
NASCAR Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart and on again-off again girlfriend Krista Dwyer share parental custody of Mojo, a patas monkey. Mojo currently lives with mum in North Carolina and has nanny care while she works. According to Tony, Mojo no longer goes to races because he has gotten too big for the motor home and goes stir crazy.
He also gets into trouble at home:
NASCAR Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart doesn't remember where he was when the call came -- at a racetrack, certainly, but they sort of blend together. It was from Krista, his former longtime girlfriend. They share joint custody of the child. Stewart knew that this call was trouble.
"Let me tell you what your son just did," Krista said. When Krista says your son like that, it's always trouble.
What Stewart's son had done was find a pen, break it in half and let the ink run into a pool. Then he dipped both hands in the ink, and proceeded to leave ink handprints all over the house. And when the handprints started to fade, he went back to the ink puddle, dipped and started all over again.
Yes, Stewart had to admit, it was bad. Not the worst, though: That had to be when the three of them were in his motor home at a race, and a doctor was visiting -- something about a hyperbaric chamber -- and when the doctor left, he accidentally closed the door on their son's tail.
Tail? Did I mention their son is an 18-month-old Patas monkey named Mojo?
Anyway, Mojo's tail was bleeding, badly. "If Krista had a gun, she would have shot that poor doctor," Stewart says. Mojo flew around the motor home -- did I mention that the Patas monkey is the world's fastest terrestrial primate, capable of running at speeds up to 35 mph? -- flinging blood everywhere. Everywhere. Mojo is fine, and the motor home has been sold, but certainly there must still be flecks of monkey blood in multiple unseen areas.
And then at the last race at Homestead, Mojo, who likes to jump into Stewart's arms, saw Stewart on TV and jumped into his arms, sending a 42-inch plasma TV to the floor, and then the dump. [Orlando Sentinel, Dec. 22, 2005]
Flickr: Photo album
You've been searching for this...
tony stewart's monkey mojo
This post was updated on Dec. 29, 2005
