It`s getting to be an old story, and not all of Harry Gant`s fellow race drivers enjoy the retelling. Every time Gant wins a Winston Cup race, he extends his own record as the oldest driver ever to win on NASCAR`s premium circuit.
The 52-year-old Gant did it again Sunday when he scored a strategic victory in the Champion 400. It was his second victory of the season and the eighth since he turned 50.
And, as happened in his earlier victory this year at Dover, Del., Gant`s Oldsmobile was not the fastest. But, as runner-up Darrell Waltrip noted, ”I keep telling people you don`t win races with m.p.h. You win`em by e.t.
(elaspsed time). Harry got the best e.t. today.”
”Harry did a great job strategy-wise,” agreed third-place finisher Bill Elliott, ”and that wins as many races as any other way. I was pretty good, but when somebody like Harry does what he does and wins on gas mileage, I mean, that`s a part of this game.”
Not all of his beaten foes were so philosophical about Gant`s victory, achieved through superior gas mileage. ”The strokers won again,” sneered Sterling Marlin, using a derogatory racing term that implies a driver is not willing to stand on the gas.
”The fans deserve to see a good race and all of a sudden they see a guy that`s run 20th all day long win the race,” fumed Kyle Petty, who finished sixth. ”It`s not fair to us and it`s not fair to the fans.”
If there was little grace in Petty`s remarks, there was some truth. A terrific five-car battle for first place was shaping up over the final 40 laps until those who were keeping track of such things began to realize that none of the five fastest cars was going to win if Gant could go the final 51 laps without refueling.
Noted D.K. Ulrich, owner of Ted Musgraves` car, ”Harry came in for that last stop and I looked at our guys and told them, ”He`s gonna win this race.” Then the other crews caught on to what was happening.”
By then it was too late. All the others could do was hope that Gant made a mistake or ran out of gas before the finish, because it was obvious that he would not come in again.
”We had nothing to lose,” said Gant. ”If we ran out we were going to finish fourth and if we didn`t we were going to win it.”
”We couldn`t outrun anybody,” admitted crew chief Andy Petree, ”so our only chance was to outgas `em.”
It was close, but not that close. Gant said he noticed his fuel gauge begin to bobble just as he picked up the white flag indicating one lap to go, a comfortable five seconds in front of Waltrip. ”You can go about 2 1/2 miles from the time you see that gauge drop down the first time,” said Gant.
With only two miles to the checkered flag, he knew he was home free. In order to conserve fuel, Gant picked up whatever drafting partners he could and in that final lap swerved back and forth down the homestretch, hoping to slosh the remaining gas into the fuel line.
All of that, he conceded, ”might give you an extra half mile. I feel I still could have made it even if I`d run out coming off the last corner.”
The strategy that set up the finish went almost unnoticed at the time. On lap 97, the yellow caution flag came out for the fifth and final time when four cars spun out in the second turn, but made no contact with the wall.
The leaders, who had all pitted 10 laps earlier, stayed on the track, but Gant came in to top off his fuel tank. ”When you`re in the back of the pack,” observed Waltrip, ”you don`t have track position and you can come in and get that extra shot of gas. That`s what Harry did. That made the difference.”
When the rest of the field began a round of green flag pit stops on lap 134, Gant was able to stay out and he inherited the lead on lap 143. That`s when Petree got on the radio and told Gant: ”Run as hard as you can and try to give me six more laps.”
When Gant finally did pit, Irvan took the lead with Davey Allison right behind him. Elliott, Waltrip, and Petty all were right in the thick of it and the crowd of 90,000 was treated to a 180 m.p.h. dogfight.
But all of the leaders knew that eventually they would have to pit and Allison and Petty came in first, taking on tires and gas.
When Irvan pitted 20 laps from the end he took on gas only, almost forcing Elliott and Waltrip to adopt the same strategy. Waltrip`s stop was the quickest and he emerged in second place, but nearly a half mile behind Gant.
All five of the caution periods came in the first 100 laps. There were no serious injuries to any of the drivers but Ricky Rudd was knocked a little loopy when he plowed into the first turn wall on lap 57. Lake Speed had to bail out of his car when it caught fire on lap 87.
”I`m still seeing spots right this second,” Rudd said after the race.
”Something broke and it went right into the wall. It rung my bell a little bit. I really don`t know what happened after we hit. I never was all the way out, but I felt it getting hot and knew I had to get out of the car.”
Speed was trying to drive his car slowly around to the pits after bringing out the caution flag when it suddenly burst into flames near the fourth turn. He received a small burn on the heel of his left hand pushing his way out the driver`s side window, but was otherwise unhurt.
The only one really hurt in the driver`s standings was Kulwicki, who finished 14th and fell from third to fourth place. Elliott extended his lead over Allison, who finished fifth, by 20 points and now leads by 37. Gant moved into third place in the standings, 135 points behind.
