Harry Gant
The oldest man to ever win a NASCAR Cup Series race, Harry Gant (January 10, 1940, of Taylorsville, North Carolina, came to major-league racing after a long and successful career racing Late Model Sportsman cars on the short tracks of the Carolinas. But although he might have been “late to the party” once he got there he had a much fun as anybody.
Gant’s early experiences with racing found him running his Corvette-powered black 1957 Chevrolet for all that it was worth on the back roads of his hometown region. After several years of that activity in 1963 he began to race a Hobby car on the then-dirt one-third-mile Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway where his rural-road racing proved to be a valuable education. It wasn’t too long before he won that division’s track championship.
When fellow EMPA Hall of Fame member Ned Jarrett became the promoter at Hickory in 1967 he had the famed track paved. Gant was now running in the Late Model Sportsman division and he easily adapted to the asphalt and was the track champion there in 1969 & 1973.
Gant was also running in some of the big NASCAR Late Model Sportsman races in his own No. 77 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle at places like Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, the then-named Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega. He also made some starts in the NASCAR Grand National East Division – a series of races for the “pony cars” of the period – in the No. 90 Mercury Cougar.
Good runs in all of these situations got him an occasional NASCAR Cup Series ride and he made his first such start on October 7, 1973, at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway where he started 17th and finished 11th in Junie Donleavy’s No. 90 Truxmore Industries 1972 Ford.
Over the next four years, Gant made six more Cup Series starts in a variety of cars but he was still racing hard in NASCAR’s Late Model Sportsman division. Those efforts eventually earned him over 300 victories and three straight (1972-1974) national titles and three (1969 & 1976-1977) runner-up finishes in the season championship. Plus, he was fifth in the NASCAR National Late Model Sportsman title run in 1975, sixth in 1973, eighth in 1971, 11th in 1974 and 14th in 1970.
With all of this as a prelude, Gant – a carpenter by trade who was named as one of NASCAR’s Top 50 Drivers – spent his first full year in NASCAR’s top division in 1979. But he really got his career going when he began driving the No. 33 Skoal Bandit Racing Team Chevrolet Lumina owned by movie star Burt Reynolds and Hollywood stunt man Hal Needham (1981-1988), and then the No. 33 Skoal Bandit Racing Team Oldsmobile Cutlass owned by Leo and Richard Jackson (1989-1994).
In this ride, Gant’s fortunes and popularity rose right to top as he won 18 races – including 13 superspeedway wins – and 17 poles. While he never won NASCAR’s Cup Series championship, he was second in the standings in 1984, third in 1981 and 1985, and fourth in 1982, 1991 and 1992.
Known as “Handsome Harry” throughout most of his career, Gant got a new nickname in 1991 when he was tagged with “Mr. September” after winning four consecutive races in the Cup Series at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, Dover (Delaware) Downs International Speedway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Harry Gant also has two unique distinctions. He became the oldest driver (52 years and 219 days) to win a NASCAR Cup Series race when he won the Champion 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 16, 1992 and he became the oldest driver (52 years and 142 days) to win any 500-mile race when he won the Budweiser 500 at Dover on May 31, 1992.
The oldest man to ever win a NASCAR Cup Series race, Harry Gant (January 10, 1940, of Taylorsville, North Carolina, came to major-league racing after a long and successful career racing Late Model Sportsman cars on the short tracks of the Carolinas. But although he might have been “late to the party” once he got there he had a much fun as anybody.
Gant’s early experiences with racing found him running his Corvette-powered black 1957 Chevrolet for all that it was worth on the back roads of his hometown region. After several years of that activity in 1963 he began to race a Hobby car on the then-dirt one-third-mile Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway where his rural-road racing proved to be a valuable education. It wasn’t too long before he won that division’s track championship.
When fellow EMPA Hall of Fame member Ned Jarrett became the promoter at Hickory in 1967 he had the famed track paved. Gant was now running in the Late Model Sportsman division and he easily adapted to the asphalt and was the track champion there in 1969 & 1973.
Gant was also running in some of the big NASCAR Late Model Sportsman races in his own No. 77 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle at places like Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, the then-named Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega. He also made some starts in the NASCAR Grand National East Division – a series of races for the “pony cars” of the period – in the No. 90 Mercury Cougar.
Good runs in all of these situations got him an occasional NASCAR Cup Series ride and he made his first such start on October 7, 1973, at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway where he started 17th and finished 11th in Junie Donleavy’s No. 90 Truxmore Industries 1972 Ford.
Over the next four years, Gant made six more Cup Series starts in a variety of cars but he was still racing hard in NASCAR’s Late Model Sportsman division. Those efforts eventually earned him over 300 victories and three straight (1972-1974) national titles and three (1969 & 1976-1977) runner-up finishes in the season championship. Plus, he was fifth in the NASCAR National Late Model Sportsman title run in 1975, sixth in 1973, eighth in 1971, 11th in 1974 and 14th in 1970.
With all of this as a prelude, Gant – a carpenter by trade who was named as one of NASCAR’s Top 50 Drivers – spent his first full year in NASCAR’s top division in 1979. But he really got his career going when he began driving the No. 33 Skoal Bandit Racing Team Chevrolet Lumina owned by movie star Burt Reynolds and Hollywood stunt man Hal Needham (1981-1988), and then the No. 33 Skoal Bandit Racing Team Oldsmobile Cutlass owned by Leo and Richard Jackson (1989-1994).
In this ride, Gant’s fortunes and popularity rose right to top as he won 18 races – including 13 superspeedway wins – and 17 poles. While he never won NASCAR’s Cup Series championship, he was second in the standings in 1984, third in 1981 and 1985, and fourth in 1982, 1991 and 1992.
Known as “Handsome Harry” throughout most of his career, Gant got a new nickname in 1991 when he was tagged with “Mr. September” after winning four consecutive races in the Cup Series at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, Dover (Delaware) Downs International Speedway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Harry Gant also has two unique distinctions. He became the oldest driver (52 years and 219 days) to win a NASCAR Cup Series race when he won the Champion 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 16, 1992 and he became the oldest driver (52 years and 142 days) to win any 500-mile race when he won the Budweiser 500 at Dover on May 31, 1992.