THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 11, 1994 TAG: 9409110175
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
They say everything is bigger in Texas, and on that October night last year when Harry Gant rode his Harley across the vast west Texas desert, cruising 200 miles without seeing another vehicle, he knew it was true.
``The moon was so big,'' he recalls. ``It was cloudy, and the moon came up over those clouds and lit that desert up like snow.''
And there he was, leaning back, purring along at 85 mph, flames spitting out of the exhaust pipe, so relaxed he wanted to fall asleep. But he couldn't because the feeling was so perfect, so pure.
``That was the greatest feeling I ever had,'' he says.
Harry Gant's bike trip to the Phoenix race last fall, which he made with Kyle Petty and a number of other riders, felt almost as good as being in Victory Lane - or even winning four in a row, as he did in 1991.
So he's going to ride his Harley back to Phoenix again this year, this time with his wife, Peggy.
And the desire to do this more often - to get out on the open road and head toward some place like South Dakota - is part of what is pulling Harry Gant away from the racetrack. He'll be 55 in January, and he wants more time to enjoy simple pleasures. He wants to see his grandchildren grow. He wants to have weekends to himself.
But a big part of Gant's retirement is that racing, especially Winston Cup racing, just isn't as fun for him as it used to be.
These days, there are so many demands on drivers. They can't leave their haulers without being besieged by autograph hounds or interviewers. They have to watch what they say and do. It's life in a fishbowl.
``You don't know what to say to people,'' Gant says. ``And they're always coming up to you.''
Gant's farewell tour has been far less complicated than Richard Petty's fan appreciation tour of 1992. But he still will have almost 200 public appearances under his belt before 1994 comes to a close.
Gant says he actually will miss the Busch Grand National series more than Winston Cup.
``I always enjoyed that a lot more than Winston Cup the last few years,'' he says. ``I just kinda like driving that car. And the series is just a little different.
It's not as hectic, crowds in the Busch garage, as there are in the Winston Cup garage. It's more laid-back. It's just a little simpler and don't take near as much work.''
For Gant, the thrill of victory is a basic, gut-feeling thrill uncolored by the prestige of an event, the size of the crowd or the amount of money in the purse.
And so every one of those hundreds of victories in Late Model Sportsman cars in the 1960s and 1970s was just as big to him as the 18 times he went to Victory Lane in his Winston Cup career. In fact, those early victories were better in some respects. They were simpler, cleaner. You won and went home.
``There wasn't any big deal about it,'' he says. ``You might win 20 out of 25 and you never really thought much about it. You just went home. And you didn't talk about it. And the next day, you just worked on the car. And you always thought you done a lot better than you would if you went to a big celebration deal. That always brought bad luck.
``It was much more fun back then,'' he says. ``That was really racing. Things are tougher now. Everything is pretty scientific. Nobody handles bad anymore. And that was always our key - handling. The chassis played a big part, and all the drivers worked on the chassis themselves.
``So if you won a race, you won it not only as a driver, you built the car yourself, too. It was a lot more gratifying when you won. It was just a better deal. You just got paid and left. You didn't even get a lot of trophies for winning back then. Most of the time, you just was gone in 10 minutes.''
It won't be long before Gant is gone from the NASCAR scene. It won't be long before ``we just lay it all behind us,'' as he puts it.
And he doubts he'll have any second thoughts. He's raced for 30 years and that's enough.
``I don't think I'll miss it,'' he says. ``I can sit there and watch races on TV and not wish I was there.'' MEMO: Some of the quotes in this story were provided by Chevrolet motorsports
publicist Ray Cooper. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
``I don't think I'll miss it,'' says Winston Cup star Harry Gant,
who will retire after this season.
by CNB