| RACING’S VETERANS |
| Driver | Age | Birthdate |
| Dave Marcis | 60 | March 1, 1941* |
| Ken Schrader | 46 | May 29, 1955 |
| Bill Elliott | 46 | October 8, 1955 |
| Rusty Wallace | 45 | August 14, 1956 |
| Ricky Rudd | 45 | September 12, 1956 |
| Terry Labonte | 45 | November 16, 1956 |
| Dale Jarrett | 45 | November 26, 1956 |
| Jimmy Spencer | 44 | February 15, 1957 |
| Rick Mast | 44 | March 4, 1957 |
| Bobby Hamilton | 44 | May 29, 1957 |
| Mike Skinner | 44 | June 28, 1957 |
| Sterling Marlin | 44 | June 30, 1957 |
Dave Marcis plans to retire following the 2002 Daytona 500.
Did You Know?
Bill Elliott's first Winston Cup race was February 29, 1976, at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. He qualified 34th and finished 33rd, earning him a $640 paycheck.
Walking Away
For many race car drivers, the toughest decision is when to walk away from a sport that has been an essential part of their lives. But for Harry Gant, his decision was easy.
Gant told his sponsor, U.S. Tobacco, that he would retire at 51. So when he entered the 1991 season, he was prepared to park his car for the final time at the end of that season. That was until he won five races, including a record-tying four in a row in September of that year. His sponsor simply couldn't let him walk away.
"I had planned when I started when I was going to quit," says Gant, who turned 62 in January. "I was going to race 10 to 12 years and that was it. In fact, I told the Skoal people that when I went to work for them in 1981. I said, 'Listen, I'm 41. All I'm going to run is 10 years until I'm 51.' We went along and kept renewing contracts.
"So in 1991 when I got to be 51, they said my contract runs out in 1992. This was before we won all those races."
Gant agreed to run two more years. He says he didn't quit because he believed he couldn't drive the race car; it's just what he had planned when he started his Winston Cup career.
"I had raced for so long before I went Winston Cup racing. I was gone from home a lot and missed a lot of people," Gant says. "I had grandkids coming along, and I missed funerals because we were racing for points. I wanted to spend more time with my family."
When Gant climbed out of his Winston Cup car for the final time in 1994, it wasn't the last time he was a NASCAR competitor. In 1996, he ran a partial schedule in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
"The competition and the smell of the rubber made it hard to not want to get back out there," Gant says.
Today, Gant raises cattle on his farm in Alexander County, North Carolina, and owns Harry Gant's Steakhouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina. For fun, he clears timberland and maintains 13 miles of fence around his property.
Gant says he is fine away from racing as long as he stays outside of the racetrack. When he makes personal appearances, he makes sure they are outside of the speedways so he doesn't have to go into the garage area.
"I don't go inside where the people are at," Gant says. "At the drop of a hat, you want to get back in the race car. So I decided when I was going to quit, I was going to quit totally so I wouldn't have the urge to get back into it."