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CUP: Gant Recalls Petty’s 200th At Daytona
Written by: Tom Jensen   
06/30/2009
Charlotte, NC
 
Want proof that no one ever remembers who finished second? Just ask Handsome Harry Gant about the 1984 Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
Harry Gant looks back on the 1984 Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images) ยป More Photos

The whole world remembers Richard Petty nipping Cale Yarborough at the line to win his 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup victory on that day and in front of President Ronald Reagan, no less. But here’s the deal: Petty and Yarborough were racing back to the start-finish line to take the caution flag, because of a spin in Turn 1.

Petty nipped Yarborough at the start/finish line to secure his 200th win, but Yarborough didn’t finish second. With the field taking the white flag, he pulled onto pit road believing the race was over and Gant took runner-up honors.

Gant looked back on that day from his driver’s seat in the No. 33 Skoal Bandit Chevrolet:

How about the wild finish between Petty and Yarborough? That day, he (Petty) had a fast car. Cale had a fast car. It was just his day to win. I thought they were going to spin each other out maybe coming down to the start/finish line.

What happened with Yarborough coming onto pit road before the checkered flag? I wasn’t paying attention. I went around the race track and (the pace car) picked us up and Richard comes around and Cale goes down pit road and I started to go with him. I thought that must have been the checkered flag. I almost went down and they hollered at me on the radio to stay on the track. I almost followed Cale right down pit road. He was running right in front of me.

When Petty and Yarborough were side by side coming to the start/finish line, did you think that they might wreck each other battling for the victory? That’s what I thought. They made their move in the corner in (Turns) 3 and 4, one passed another and then the other one came back around, sort like Pearson and Petty (in the 1976 Daytona 500), and then they got side by side right off of 4. You could see that from behind and see that they were together and they were going to bump more and maybe one of them would get loose but they didn’t. I didn’t really know who won. You couldn’t tell. I really had thought Cale had won it, but Richard picked up a pretty good push out of the corner and shot his car ahead.

What did you do after the race? Richard’s car went to the winner’s
circle and our cars went to the gas pumps. We were glad that we ran second. We just went on back to the trailer and changed clothes like everybody else and tried to get out of there real fast to catch the airplane. I didn’t talk to anybody but the crew guys and I was running to the truck when I was talking to them.

On the impact of Richard Petty winning his 200th race in front of President Ronald Reagan. It was big. It brought a lot of attention. That shot of the President’s plane coming in, he got there a little late and his plane was coming in on the (runway) and race cars were going down the backstretch. The photo had his plane and the race cars all together. I guess it had been the first time any President had been to a race and stayed for the race and Richard winning the race, it brought a whole lot of attention.

Is winning 200 races an unbreakable record? Several years back I thought Jeff Gordon, when he was with Ray Evernham, was the only person that could win 200 races. He was winning about 10 a year. I said, “That’s the only person that could beat Richard Petty’s record if he wants to race that long.” Even winning 10 races a year, it’s still going to take you a lot of years. They were doing real good but after him and Evernham broke up, that pretty much took that away.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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