Winston Cup Career
Gant made his first Cup start in 1973 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, finishing eleventh in the #90 Truxmore Industries Ford. He made six starts over the next four years and had two top-ten finishes. His first full season in Winston Cup was in 1979. He competed for the Rookie of the Year against Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte. He finished fourth in the overall rookie battle in the #47 Race Hill Farm car for Jack Beebe. He split the next season between the #47 and the #75 RahMoc Enterprises entry, finishing 21st in points.
After starting out the 1981 season driving for various teams, he moved to the #33 Skoal Bandit Pontiac, which was owned by Hal Needham and Burt Reynolds, and Leo Jackson after 1988. He stayed with the team for the rest of his career.
Gant finished second 10 times before winning his first Winston Cup race at Martinsville April 25, 1982, in the Virginia National Bank 500. He then went on to become runner up to Winston Cup season champion Terry Labonte in 1984.
Gant won the IROC (International Race of Champions) championship in 1985. He tied on points with Darrell Waltrip but was awarded the title on tiebreak by finishing higher in the final race: a photo-finish win over Labonte at Michigan International Speedway.
Harry drove the #33 in the 1986 Talladedga NASCAR race with the first telemetry data system ever installed on a race car. The data from the car was sent to the CBS television network and broadcast during the TV coverage of the race.
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Famous quotes containing the words cup and/or career:
“In poorer lands
No one touches the water of life.
It has no taste
And though it refreshes absolutely
It is a cup that must also pass
Until everybody
Gets some advantage....”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“A black boxer’s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. Every day is like being in the gym, sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a black male must confront in the United States, where he is the object of both fear and fascination.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)