One for the ages: Gant wins four in a row in '91

With his win at Phoenix, Mark Martin joined three other drivers who won at the Cup level after the age of 50. Bobby Allison and Morgan Shepherd did it once, but the driver who best proved that life begins at 50 was the pride of Taylorsville, N.C.

To say Harry Gant was a late bloomer would be to discredit much of his early success in the Sportsman division. It's true he didn't make his Cup debut until he was 33, and didn't land a full-time ride for another six years, but he was well-known in Victory Lane celebrations throughout the Southeast before then.

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He scored the first of his 18 Cup victories for Hal Needham's Skoal Bandit operation at Martinsville in 1982. But as most drivers lose their edge as they grow older, "Handsome Harry" just seemed to get better with age. That was no more evident than in 1991, when he put together a string of race wins that earned him his other nickname: "Mr. September."

And what might be the most amazing fact of all is that all four of his Cup wins that month were in the same car.

Gant's remarkable run began at NASCAR's oldest superspeedway -- Darlington Raceway -- in the 1991 Heinz Southern 500. As challengers Davey Allison, Martin and Dale Earnhardt suffered from pit-road problems, engine failures and broken axles, Gant stayed steady, leading the final 70 laps en route to his second Southern 500 victory.

"This was an easy race for us," Gant said. "I couldn't believe how easy it was. We just didn't have any trouble.

"I think the only scratch I even got on the car was when Derrike Cope was getting ready start off and he kind of bumped over into me and scrubbed his tires on me."

Gant, who had turned 51 in January, made it look easy in what normally is a grueling race.

"I feel good," Gant said. "I figured ... the only way I was going to beat 'em today was wear 'em out. They may be younger, but I can wear 'em out."

Gant wore 'em out again the following weekend at Richmond, winning the Busch Series race on Friday night, then battling Davey Allison for the lead over a 40-lap stretch before finally going ahead for good with 18 laps to go in the Miller Genuine Draft 400.

"I was chasing Davey and I was running as hard as I could go," Gant said. "He started sliding a little bit and I looked over at the board with 20 laps to go and decided to go for it. We got by him, and I really don't think he had anything for us. He was really loose.

"But we had a problem near the end, too. We started to get loose, as well. I was running as hard as I could. I was just glad to see that checkered flag."

Gant said he noticed a number of things in the Busch race that he was able to use to his advantage the next evening.

"We made some changes based on what we learned in the Busch race, and it really helped," he said. "In the Busch race, I learned the places on the track where the car ran good. I learned the type of springs I wanted to use and learned that the car ran good and then got loose. So we tried to set the car up so it wouldn't do that." (Continued)