Gardner started on the front row and led all 30 laps of the BOSS non-wing feature to claim his first career sprint car victory. The fifth-year sprint car driver questioned if his time in victory lane would ever come. It did Wednesday in front of a standing-room only crowd at Waynesfield. It also came in front of one of the sport’s greatest drivers.
Hewitt, the National Sprint Car Hall of Famer from Troy, presented Gardner with the trophy.
“Jack’s a legend. If you don’t know who Jack Hewitt is you don’t deserve to be in sprint car racing,” Gardner said. “For what he’s done, to win the Jack Hewitt Classic … I don’t know if I can put it into words yet.”
That’s something Hewitt never had a problem doing.
Hewitt welcomed the crowd prior to the race by signing autographs and posing for photos. He also delivered a few of his classic quips.
As a man kneeled so Hewitt could autograph his shirt, Hewitt apologized to him for having to kneel on the gravel but only the women get to sit on his lap. One woman had Hewitt sign a custom made shirt with his image that said, “You’re damn right I’ve got time for an interview.” The shirt was a tribute to his NSFW interview — and a classic in the racing world — at Macon Speedway in Illinois after a disagreement with the flagman.
As for Gardner, Hewitt had a few words for him after the race, too.
“He told me it was a bad-ass race and congratulated me,” Gardner said, smiling.
Gardner started racing 26 years ago a third-generation driver. His grandfather, Gus, drove stock cars in the 1950s. His father, A.R., drove go-karts and sprints.
The dream for Gardner was to run a sprint car, no matter the cost. Gardner said he sold everything he owned to buy his 9G ride. He lived in his dad’s shop and even out of his own car to save money to buy it.
And despite a handful of runner-up finishes, including at Waynesfield, that win never followed.
“My dad never gave up on me. There were many times where I wondered if this was for me,” Gardner said. “If I would have quit without a win I think I would have been fine with that. Racing sprint cars is something I dreamed of my whole life. I told myself even if I got to race one year I could say I did it and I was happy with that. Five years later I got a win. I think we’re ready to keep going now.”
He nearly did Wednesday night. Gardner said he was so zoned into the race that he never saw the flagman’s halfway signal.
“I just happened to catch the white flag. The car was so good and I was in such a rhythm and in a zone I think I could have went 50 laps. I wasn’t even paying attention to what lap we were on or what flag it was.”
Troy’s Lee Underwood, the defending Hewitt Classic champ, gave Gardner his toughest competition early. A caution after nine laps bunched the 20-car field behind Gardner. Underwood challenged until getting too high on the cushion and losing momentum, dropping him to fourth. That was all Gardner needed.
“We’ve led a lot of races, just lost them late,” Gardner said. “That’ something we’ve struggled with the second part of the race. We’ve really been working on it and I think it showed tonight.”
Underwood rallied to finish second with Indiana’s Thomas Messeraull, West Jefferson’s Kory Crabtree and Michigan’s Steve Irwin rounding out the top five.
Max Stambaugh won the winged NRA Sprint Invaders feature and Cale Conley won the winged FAST series sprint feature.
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