THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 13, 1994 TAG: 9411130218
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA. LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Intriguingly, the race-car haulers of veteran Harry Gant and rookie Jeff Burton sat side-by-side in the Atlanta Motor Speedway garage this weekend.
Gant, 54, was counting the hours to the end of his professional racing career, looking forward to retirement with no regrets.
Meanwhile, Burton, half Gant's age, is completing a very successful first year in NASCAR's premier racing series. Barring a dramatic change of fortune, he will be the 1994 rookie of the year.
This weekend, in between practice for today's Hooters 500, the final Winston Cup race of the season, Gant and Burton took a few minutes in the lounges of their haulers to talk about their seasons and their plans for the future.
Gant said he may miss a thing or two about his hectic life as a racer and a racing celebrity, but not much. And one thing he certainly won't miss at all is motel life.
``Sometimes I'll call home on Saturday night when I'm at a race and ask my wife what she's doing,'' Gant said. ``She'll tell me they're cooking out by the pool, and there I am, closed up in a motel room. And I'll have to walk across the street to get something to eat. There's so much to do that you can't do when you're racing.''
Burton, whose wife, Kim, is almost always with him at the track, never gave the wear of motel life a second thought, unless perhaps it was a matter of finding his motel at Pocono, Sears Point, North Wilkesboro or Phoenix, which he had never been to before this year.
``When I went to Phoenix, I didn't even know if I was on the right road going to the racetrack,'' Burton said. ``I was out in the middle of the desert and I was like, `There's no racetrack out here.' ''
Gant this year frequently has said he'll miss the Busch Grand National series more than Winston Cup.
Gant has 18 victories and 17 poles in 474 Winston Cup career starts, but he's won 21 Busch races.
``We won the Busch race here last time (in March), and that was a good one for us,'' he said. ``The Busch Grand National is a fun circuit, and I'm really going to miss it. I'm more competitive there, I guess, and that's why I like it better.''
For Burton, who won four Grand National races, the series has been but a stepping stone.
``The Busch series teaches you how to handle things,'' Burton said. ``When I raced Late Models at South Boston, I knew I was going to finish in the top five every week. But when I went to Busch, I didn't know if I was going to make the race.''
Although Burton was already fairly well-known when he came into Winston Cup racing this year, he saw his debut in a far different light.
``I knew so very little about it, I honestly didn't know what we would do,'' he said. ``I didn't know anything, much less how these cars drove. I had only run one race. I didn't know whether we were going to be able to drive the car. I came in from Mars.
``I came in not scared, but kind of gun-shy,'' he said. ``I was in awe of the Winston Cup series.''
By May, Burton was feeling more comfortable.
``I had really started to feel comfortable in Winston Cup cars, to kinda feel like I was a part of it,'' he said. ``And, really, one of the highlights of the year was to stand in front of that crowd for The Winston at Charlotte on that Saturday night and listen to them cheer. To be part of that was exhilarating.''
Gant, of course, takes those moments in stride. But while he is removing himself from the driver's seat, his love of racing has not dimmed in the least.
``Oh, yeah,'' he said. ``I'm a big race fan. I watch everything on the off Sundays, from the NHRA all the way down to the sprint cars. Did you see that Formula One race in the rain last weekend? It was just fascinating. I couldn't quit watching that race in the rain.''
And so next year, as Burton competes in his second season in the big leagues, Gant will most likely be at home, cooking out on the patio with racing on the TV.
Gant hasn't worried too much about whether he'll be forgotten. Notoriety was never big with him anyway.
``The only thing I can say is I'd like to be remembered as the driver of the No. 33 Skoal Bandit,'' he said. ``That's about the only thing I can say.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Harry Gant chats with crew members. His Winston Cup ``farewell
tour'' concludes with today's Hooters 500.
by CNB