I'm getting tired of driver's at the higher Nascar levels (cup, Xfinity, Truck, ARCA) wrecking a competitor to get the win, using a move that wouldn't be tolerated at your local Saturday night haunt.... And then jumping out of the car, with checkered flag in hand, quickly stating, "That's not how I race"... followed by every excuse in the book from bad air, to poor handling car, to a dirty track....  What's next, "I had to sneeze"???)

Bottom line, if you wreck somebody for the win, that is how you race.  That is, unless you do exactly what Jack Hewitt did in the video below from 1986 (provided to me by John Mc.):

https://m.facebook.com/usacracing/videos/1986-4-crown-hewittjacobs-last-lap/1543114479044318/?_rdr

WOW!  Thanks for posting Joe.   Guess they don't make em anymore like Jack Hewitt.   I believe there's a ton of race fans out there that agree with you!  I do.  Scott Ely

This won't be very popular, but that's not too far off what is done today. Jack, with his experience, knew if he slid under Kenny what might happen, but he did it any way. He apologised for three reasons: Keep the fans on his side, keep Kenny from kicking his ass, and keep the fans from lynching him. It's racing...go for the win and understand the consequences of your actions while you are trying to win. Problem is, ten other guys have the same idea!

I disagree.... I don't race - you do so I have to yield to you there, but I'll bet I watch more races than you from beginning to end since I'm not in the pits, not spotting, etc., and yea, racers have to go for it when it's time to go for it, otherwise they are just "drivers",... and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't, but I don't remember anybody in Nascar's "highest " 4 levels ever backing down after making contact, and letting the other guy try to recover, and then realizing that the other guy had damage, to then go on for the win, but announce that they would split their share of $'s.  That is way far off from what is done today, and to me, way different than what Jack Hewitt did in the video.

My guess is that he probably didn't have to do it every other week either like some of today's current drivers.

That incident ends when he makes contact with him. The rest is rhetoric. Of course Jack handled it in a class way, but he still took the steering wheel out of Kenny's hands.

So it's ok to wreck someone, but if the apology is acceptable, than the wrecking is OK?

Big Difference coming off the high side and diving low in a Open Wheel car.

Than driving into the ass end of Stock Car or throwing a Block as guy is about to pass you on the outside. As seen in Nascar 2022. 

Kev - Not sure where you're launching this to the extreme that "It's ok to wreck someone as long as the apology is acceptable."  I don't think wrecking someone for a win is acceptable, and others will disagree which is great - I get it.  (I still remember years ago Mike Skinner's response when asked if he'd wreck his teammate Earnhardt Sr to get his first win... he said something like "I'd wreck my mother to get my first win.")

At this time I'll settle for rhetoric, versus the low level excuse making BS victory lane reactions/speeches that we're seeing these days.

Actually, I don't think the incident does end when he makes contact as you say.  I think Hewitt's instant reaction is to let off, attempt to let Jacobs back by him, and then realizes that the contact did damage to Jacob's left rear which doesn't allow him to pick back up and motor by the intentionally slowing Jack Hewitt.  At that point, Jack gets back on the gas and takes the checker.  Maybe you're not seeing it that way?

Where else are you seeing a driver after questionable or worse contact backing out of it to let another driver back around to re-rack them?

Agree with you Kevin, and to add to what you wrote this was  I'm assuming  the  last lap of the race he knew how his car would handle on the bottom

Only problem with all this analysis........Jack Hewitt was never afraid of anyone kicking his ass.

And Jack was twice the size of Kenny.

I am a Jack Hewitt fan, what little I know or have seen him race, but even the great ones get into trouble trying to win.  John is right, maybe some things happened before. It's like a hockey fight, they usually start 10 minutes before the actual fight, sometimes games ago. We see the actual altercation and rarely what led up to it. Same here. No different weather you wreck him from behind or the side, you wreck him for the win, be ready for consequence. Jack tried to remedy the situation immediately than realized he had a race to win. Jack hit him so hard his foot could have came off the pedal. I bring that up because in many collisions your hands come off the wheel, your legs move around a lot, and often the helmet comes over your eyes. We don't know. If he was that upset he would have pulled off before the checkered... Not happening.  

....or, if he was that upset and realized that Jacob's car couldn't get the win, go on and motor on to the win, and as soon as they put the mic in front of you, say what happened, apoligize, and offer the difference in winnings to Jacobs.

Seems like you're really having a hard time with the idea that he lifted to try to give Jacobs a chance to recover (and most likely win since there was only 2 more corners left in the race), and that the offering to share a chunk of his share of winnings is no big deal. 

Like I said before, when's the last time you saw either of those things happen at a racetrack?

If I was the guy that got the shortend, I'm not saying that I would be sending him a thank you note, but I am saying that I'd rather hear what Jack said, instead of the standard now of "it was just one of those racing deals", or "the car got loose"... or "the car pushed up"... followed by "that's not how I race."

Of course the real important thing here is did it happen again?  I fully appreciate how Jack handled the situation, but I would be the first to bail on him if the same explanation/offering was needed the following week.

agreed , kevin 

AGREED, KEV--especially with open wheel racing , you

stand as good of a chance of taking yourself out as well

as the guy next to you-----100+ plus years of all kinds of

auto racing , and you STILL,---STILL can't put 2 cars in one spot

at the same time !!!! hahaha !!

blessings !!

bill----------

he'd race if first place paid black eyes!!

For Kenny's sake, I hope the track was paying dollars and the 40% was not the velocity of a fist from Jack!

It is nice that he owned up to his mistake, but in the end, whose name is in the record books for winning?

Maybe if he actually gave the win to the other guy it would mean something.  Other than that, it is just a nice gesture on his part.

If you ain't first your last

I might be picking at a scab here, but for those who are discounting that to some of us, it looks like Hewitt slowed up and tried to allow Kenny Jacobs to retake the lead, are you saying:

1. That isn't what he did... He didn't intentionally slow down.  His foot came off the gas pedal and it took him that long to find it again or something along those lines.
2. Once he made contact, he should have just pulled into the infield and not finished the race.
3. It doesn't matter that he slowed up (even if it was on purpose) because he took out the leader and his name goes down as the winner.  Even after offering an instant apology, and offering to split the winnigs with Jacobs, none of that matters.

Not sure if anyone will do this, but I'll ask anyhow.... Let us know your answer: 1, 2, any combination of the 3, or non of the above.

Since I still have my thinking hat on here, although it doesn't work as good as it used to...., let me further complicate things....  If Hewitt and Jacobs were way, way out in front... (3/4's of a lap or so) and if they both knew it they had a big lead over everyone else (which is probably doubtful even if they were that far out in front), then would it have made more sense for Hewitt after making contact to slow down (almost stop if necessary), and let Jacobs go back around him, (even if it at that point they were moving very slowly) and then stay behind Jacobs all the way around to the checkered in hopes that Jacobs would still get the win, and Hewitt would get 2nd (provided Jacobs could nurse it around to the checkered before whoever was running in 3rd place got there?)  That would have been pretty cool, but without spotters, I don't think either would know how far in front of 3rd they were.  Probably way too much info to try to process all at that instant.

By the way, does anyone know if Jacobs ended up finishing 2nd?

3.   

A list of names, which driver can do what Jack did and get away with the apology?

1. Gary Balough 2. Richie Evans 3. Noah Gragson 4. Richard Petty 5.Ty Gibbs 6. Gil Hearne 7.Danny Johnson 8. Sammy Beavers

Driver jargon/excuses, only a handful.

He crashed me. I got crashed. Got into a crash. Got caught up in a crash. I wrecked him. I walled him. I stuffed him. I bumped him. I nerfed him. I tapped him. I spun him. Went across his nose. I chopped him. Got chopped. Got spun. Got bumped. Went through him. He went threw me. He used me up. Got run into. Tagged him. Barely touched him.

I can remember being at the Nazareth 1/2 mile back in the late 60s when Buzzie and Frankie were 1st and 2nd on a late restart.  Buzzie ran Frankie high in turn 1 on a restart.  A few laps later, another restart and Buzzie slows entering turn 1 allowing Frankie to take the lead.  Another restart resulted with Frankie taking Buzzie high.  The last restart results in Frankie again running Buzzie just upout the groove to win the feature.  I saw nothing wrong with the finish and the events that lead up to it.  But its obvious that Buzzie and Frankie handled the same situation differently.  I wonder if given the chance, would Buzzie approach a potential winning restart differently, especially if Frankie was on his outside.  Scott Ely