Ageless wonder: Harry Gant welcomes Hall of Fame’s long-awaited call

Harry Gant marked his 86th birthday two weeks ago, but the passage of time has been kinder to the legendary driver than most. Just ask his peers.

The fresh-faced octogenarian was celebrated in Friday night’s NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony for an influential stock-car racing career that ended some 30 years ago. Based on his still-dashing appearance, Gant seemed like he could still suit up, climb in and lay down lap times that would still be current-day competitive.

Advertisement

“I tell people that the first time I saw him was around 1970. When I saw him [Thursday] night, I hadn’t seen him in a couple of years, but I was just amazed at how he still looks the same,” said fellow Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett. “… It just looks like he could jump in and go.”

The crowd assembled at the NASCAR Hall of Fame marveled anew at “Handsome Harry” Gant, who joined Kurt Busch and Ray Hendrick as the newest members honored with stock-car enshrinement in the Class of 2026. The gala evening also paid tribute to promoter extraordinaire Humpy Wheeler as the winner of the Landmark Award for outstanding contributions to the sport and veteran motorsports scribe Deb Williams as the Squier-Hall Award recipient.

RELATED: Photos from Hall of Fame induction | Gant, Busch, Hendrick honored

The Hall’s call was a long time coming for Gant, elected in his seventh year of eligibility. That same worth-the-wait vibe also paralleled his late-blooming racing career, from his younger years as a short-track stalwart to a Cup Series rookie at 39 — an age when most current drivers are considering when to sunset their careers.

Advertisement

His arrival was a study in contrasts — the North Carolina foothills meets Hollywood. Gant was plucked from his humble and blue-collar upbringing by movie moguls Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham to drive the Skoal-sponsored No. 33 that would become one of his calling cards. His smile was silver-screen-ready, and his reputation for being firm but fair on the track was about to hit the big time.

“When he got to the Cup level, he came with an entourage,” said Ricky Rudd, a Class of 2025 inductee. “I mean, who else can start racing and you’ve got Burt Reynolds in your garage stall? And you’ve got Hal Needham the movie director and the Skoal Bandettes, I think they even had. It was kind of an interesting time but Harry’s a class-act guy, a very tough competitor on the race track and he raced you hard, but he raced clean. You never heard anybody complain about if Harry gave ’em a fender or a cheap shot. He was just that way. He would do what he had to do to win, but he was fair.”

Gant was the rare case where improvement came with his advancing years. Some of the most memorable of his 18 career Cup Series victories came north of age 50 — a brilliant four-race win streak that earned him the “Mr. September” nickname as a 51-year-old veteran in 1991, and his final triumph a year later at Michigan International Speedway that established him as the oldest Cup Series winner, a NASCAR record that still stands.

MORE: Relive Gant’s historic 1991 streak

Chalk it up to either the wisdom of experience or the enduring work ethic from his rich background as a carpenter and a farmer, but like Gant, his longevity remains a wonder all these years later.

Advertisement

“That is very unique. I mean, you don’t see that. You didn’t see it then, and you don’t see it now,” said Andy Petree, Gant’s crew chief during his 1991 stretch of success. “I mean, drivers were older, the good drivers. It took a lot longer to get into the sport to the high level, so the really successful drivers were older back then, but not what he was doing. By the time you get to around that 50-year mark, nobody’s really winning and they’re thinking about retiring. He just hit this stride, man, and I think it’s because he’s so physically fit. He worked hard all the time.

“You look, I guarantee. I haven’t seen him tonight, but I bet he looks like he could get in the car. I think that, along with just his toughness, there was no driver that was as tough as him — the hottest days, the worst conditions, he would always be the cream that rises to the top. I think that’s what really set him apart, to be able to win races at 52 years old. It’s ridiculous how he did that.”

Petree said Gant never fully considered racing as a job, even after he’d reached NASCAR stardom. “His job was building houses,” Petree said, noting how he’d often finish a race Sunday and return to the carpentry trade and hard manual labor in the fields the next morning. The secret to Gant’s fountain of youth might not be so secret.

“I guess it’s start driving late and put roofs on houses early, because that’s what he did,” said Kyle Petty, who presented Gant with his Hall of Fame ring. “I think the one thing with Harry is, Harry is that throwback, you know? I think so many people forget that, because he came along late. I mean, he ran for Rookie of the Year at 39. Oh my God, there’s 39-year-olds that have 14-year-olds almost driving Cup cars now, you know what I mean? When you start looking at it, it’s just such a different time. So I think the thing is his work ethic, his whole entire life, how he approached farming, how he approached driving, how he approached everything. It was all the same. It didn’t make any difference.”

Advertisement

Gant’s gait might have slowed a step from years of wear and tear, his personal odometer stacking up the miles on and off the track. His image, however, has seemingly changed little since he last ran a Cup Series race in 1994.

Gant entered NASCAR folklore for his tendency to turn back the clock. For the legends who once competed with him, the race against time feels like one that Gant is still winning.

“Some of them high school kids, I guarantee you he could wear them out,” said 2016 Hall inductee Terry Labonte. “He was just a great competitor, a nice guy, and I was actually teammates with him one year. He’s a fun guy to hang out with, but you can’t find anybody to say anything bad about Harry Gant.”