When the NASCAR Hall of Fame announced the Class of 2026, the name of Harry Gant was revealed along with Kurt Busch and Ray Hendrick.
One thing for sure, Gant didn’t follow the usual route of many drivers to the big leagues of NASCAR and into the Hall of Fame. Matter of fact, he was a homebuilder before the racing world got to know “Handsome Harry” and his winning ways.
Hammering Houses Before the Gas
The now 85-year-old native of Taylorsville, NC plied his days with plywood and lumber before steering his way to the short tracks. He didn’t make his first NCS start until he was 33 years of age, doing so at Charlotte in 1973.
“I was surprised and caught off guard when they announced my name to the NASCAR Hall of Fame,” Gant said Sunday during a Charlotte Media Availability. “I’ve looked forward to this for a long time, so I appreciate the honor.
“I thought I would just keep doing what I was doing building houses back in the day. I started racing Saturday nights. Then, it became racing a short track race on Friday and Saturday, that led to running on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It just kept growing.
“I’ve always been a race fan. I saw my first race here at Charlotte then went to Darlington in 1955. The Winston Cup cars would run 10 races a year at Hickory Motor Speedway and then some at North Wilkesboro.
“When I started racing, I started racing late in life. It was a few races a year then it became 70 to 80 a year as time went on.”
How Gant Became “Mr. September”
In 1991, Gant and his famous No. 33 Skoal Bandit Oldsmobile set the racing world on its ear. Winning any NCS race is tough, twice is great and three times earns even more accolades.
Gant and the Leo Jackson-owned team led by crew chief Andy Petree won once, then twice, three times and finally four times…consecutively. For that incredible feat, Gant became known as “Mr. September” for those victories at Darlington, Richmond, Dover and Martinsville.
“I was young, I was hungry and I wanted to win,” Gant said. “That was the whole thing, if you wanted to race you wanted to win. If you’re not winning, you’re not going to have fun.”
Still untouched today, that winning streak helped solidify Gant for this Hall of Fame honors. When his career ended, “Handsome Harry” won 18 NCS races in 474 starts with 123 top fives, 208 top 10s and 17 poles. He also made 128 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts winning 21 times while earning 52 top fives, 71 top 1os and 14 poles.
Hall of Fame Neighbor
During those early days, Gant had a certain neighbor he grew up watching. Living a few miles away was Rex White, the 1960 NASCAR Champion and 2015 NHoF inductee.
“When Rex won the championship, he was at every race,” Gant said. “He raced all the time. We would go in a group to watch the races and pulled for Rex because he was from our town.
“He lived three miles from where I lived, he’d park his car there when he was racing close by in North Wilkesboro or here in Charlotte.”
Gant and his fellow inductees will be honored January 24, 2026.
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