A NASCAR Truck Tribute To Eldora Speedways' Winningest Driver

[CIRF]

Niece Motorsports, who fields NASCAR Trucks driven by Ross Chastain, will feature a color and paint scheme that Jack Hewitt used during a very successful period of his career. Chastain's truck will be dark blue and yellow and will have J.W. Hunt and the penguin on it just as Jack had on his midget, winged sprint car, USAC Silver Crown and dirt late model cars.

All four of the aforementioned racecars were the centerpieces of a picture taken by Steve Remington twenty some years ago. Besides featuring the racecars the picture was highly unique in that it was staged and taken with the cars actually setting in the water at Ludlow Falls which is in a shallow area of Ludlow Creek near Jacks hometown of Troy, Ohio.

This is a great and fitting honor for one of the best and definitely the winningest driver in the history of Eldora Speedway. Hats off to Niece Motorsports and Ross Chastain!!

I can't get the picture to post here but this is the link; http://www.dirtfans.com/images/Hewitt_waterfall.jpg

[Clayton_Wetter]

[TS FAN]

Well, that looks like Sir Jack

[CIRF]

Thanks Clay! I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I can't get an image to post anymore. I'm doing it just like ya' taught me.

[CIRF]

Well, that looks like Sir Jack

Hey gutless wonder, it's likely you hate Jack just like you do JJ. Jack isn't nearly enough of an A-hole for your taste.

[ZERO25]

On the Eldora entry list, I saw a truck listing sponsorship by Jack!

[Barbecueboy]

Some of my late night posts are sponsored by Jack.

Cool picture Clayton......what's the backstory on that scene.

[Raceready]

Hey gutless wonder, it's likely you hate Jack just like you do JJ. Jack isn't nearly enough of an A-hole for your taste.

LOLOLOL !!!!!! I just read that his Hero Tony Stewart sucker punched a drunken morbidly obese drunken fan that was walking away from him at a dirt track. Whats up with yet another cowardly display ? Makes one wonder what { if anything } is going on inside his head ?

[golddirt]

The a hole deserved it

[CIRF]

Some of my late night posts are sponsored by Jack.

Cool picture Clayton......what's the backstory on that scene.

BBQ, I believe Donald Murphy owned all of the cars in the picture. The cars were sponsored by IGA Food Stores and J.W. Hunt Produce. I'm not positive but I believe Mr. Murphy owned several IGA grocery stores.

This picture is not photo-shopped. The cars are actually in the water. Jack said the water was only 3 or 4 inches deep.

Jack Hewitt's home town to this day is Troy, Ohio. Ludlow Falls is near Troy. Not sure who's idea it was to shoot this picture at Ludlow but it turned out to be a great idea. Jack told me it took over 4 hours to get the cars in place. In a clearer copy of this shot a road can be seen to the left of the racecars. I think that is where they accessed the falls and parked the equipment used to get the cars set into the stream. Steve Remington is the photographer. To my knowledge, for a variety of reasons, this picture isn't available for sale. It's one of the most iconic racing related pictures.

I have a copy that I lifted from packaging of the die-cast winged sprint car that is one of the cars featured in this picture. It actually came out pretty good and of course Jack signed it for my wife (who is, was and always will be a rabid Jack Hewitt fan!!) and I. Jack won a ton of races in these 4 cars, and yes, he won some races driving the late model. Jack was on the outside of the front row of the Dream driving the late model in this picture but never finished a lap due to snort Bloomquist putting him in the wall right after the flag stand and that crash broke Jack's wrist. Jack said if he ever caught snort off of Eldora Speedway property snort would need cotton stuffed up both sides of his big ass nose! LOL! Jack never had the pleasure of breaking snort's nose but I think word got back to snort and he avoided Jack for quite a while after that happened.

So, as you can see, these cars and this picture is the inspiration for the Jack Hewitt tribute color scheme that Niece Motorsports and Ross Chastain will sport at Eldora. A more than fitting venue to honor Jack Hewitt given that he's won more races at Eldora than anyone ever has. In September of 1998 at the 4 Crown Nationals at Eldora Jack won 4 A-main's in one night at Eldora, including all three USAC National Touring Division A-main's. That has never been done before or since and this year is the 39th annual 4 Crown Nationals. Kyle Larson came the closest to equaling Jacks feat when he won all three USAC National Touring Division A-main's but that was in September of 2011 and at that time only the 3 USAC divisions made up the 4 Crown Nationals.

Sorry so long, BBQ, but there is a bunch of back story concerning this picture and Chastain's paint scheme.

[Barbecueboy]

Thank you.....that's pretty cool.

[CIRF]

Thank you.....that's pretty cool.

It really is very cool, BBQ. I will record the Eldora NASCAR truck race telecast Thursday night on FS1 for no other reason but knowing they will most certainly interview Jack on live TV. That sometimes can be a hoot, although Mr. Hewitt has mellowed substantially over the years. We have been in contact with Jack and his wife since the announcement was made regarding the paint/color scheme tribute and Jack and his family are very excited to see the truck and watch it race at Eldora.

No one connected with Eldora Speedway is more deserving of something like this than Jack and his family!!!

[Clayton_Wetter]

And then a sudden flash flood happened upstream!!!!

[Late_Model_Mark]

Jack Hewitt was nothing but awesome!!!



Late Model Mark
TST Announcer

[Raceready]

AWESOME pictures of some AWESOME racecars by an AWESOME driver. Do it to it Hewett. I had the pleasure of watching compete in one the Pittsburgher 100s in a late model back when it was considered a crown jewel event. I don't want to date myself. but the car was white and #63. Fans were excited because the car was brought to the track earlier and Sir Jack was flown in to the speedway later via helicopter because of an other commitment at a sprint car event.

[CIRF]

AWESOME pictures of some AWESOME racecars by an AWESOME driver. Do it to it Hewett. I had the pleasure of watching compete in one the Pittsburgher 100s in a late model back when it was considered a crown jewel event. I don't want to date myself. but the car was white and #63. Fans were excited because the car was brought to the track earlier and Sir Jack was flown in to the speedway later via helicopter because of an other commitment at a sprint car event.

A very similar scenario played out at Eldora during World Hundred weekend way back in the mid 1980's. In those days the Hoosier Hundred was run at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Mile on the same weekend as The World. Jack qualified the late model Friday night at Eldora. He headed to Indy for the Hoosier Early Saturday morning. Bob Hampshire owned the #63 late model as well as the #63 Silver Crown car Jack drove in the Hoosier Hundred. Both cars were heavily sponsored by J.W. Hunt.

Following the finish of the Hoosier Hundred Jack and Bob were immediately whisked away to Eldora by helicopter so as to get to Big E in time to run his World Hundred qualifying heat race. They landed the copter in turn #2 at Eldora. Jack and Hamp jumped out of the copter and proceeded to put the #63 late model in the show through their heat race. There are pictures floating around of the helicopter hovering just above the track at Big E getting ready to land. The National Speed Sport News, among other racing publications, made a big deal of it.

Not sure but that might have all happened the same year that Bob Hampshire put a 75 gallon Champ Car tail tank fuel cell in his late model. There are pictures of that on the internet, as well. We were at Eldora for the World that year and we were going to try to attend both the Hoosier Hundred and the World that day but we chickened out of driving over to Indy fairgrounds from Eldora Saturday morning at the last minute. We would have missed some heat races at Eldora if we'd have tried to pull it off. Now I wish we had tried it just to say we did! Don't remember how that worked out for them, I just know they didn't win.

Jack has told me more than once that one of his biggest disappointments in regards to his racing career is not ever winning a Globe.

[Clayton_Wetter]

A very similar scenario played out at Eldora during World Hundred weekend way back in the mid 1980's. In those days the Hoosier Hundred was run at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Mile on the same weekend as The World. Jack qualified the late model Friday night at Eldora. He headed to Indy for the Hoosier Early Saturday morning. Bob Hampshire owned the #63 late model as well as the #63 Silver Crown car Jack drove in the Hoosier Hundred. Both cars were heavily sponsored by J.W. Hunt.

Following the finish of the Hoosier Hundred Jack and Bob were immediately whisked away to Eldora by helicopter so as to get to Big E in time to run his World Hundred qualifying heat race. They landed the copter in turn #2 at Eldora. Jack and Hamp jumped out of the copter and proceeded to put the #63 late model in the show through their heat race. There are pictures floating around of the helicopter hovering just above the track at Big E getting ready to land. The National Speed Sport News, among other racing publications, made a big deal of it.

Not sure but that might have all happened the same year that Bob Hampshire put a 75 gallon Champ Car tail tank fuel cell in his late model. There are pictures of that on the internet, as well. We were at Eldora for the World that year and we were going to try to attend both the Hoosier Hundred and the World that day but we chickened out of driving over to Indy fairgrounds from Eldora Saturday morning at the last minute. We would have missed some heat races at Eldora if we'd have tried to pull it off. Now I wish we had tried it just to say we did! Don't remember how that worked out for them, I just know they didn't win.

Jack has told me more than once that one of his biggest disappointments in regards to his racing career is not ever winning a Globe.

I saw all of his appearances and he needed more seat time in those cars. He had no chance in reality.

[CIRF]

I saw all of his appearances and he needed more seat time in those cars. He had no chance in reality.

No chance? That's a broad statement, Clay. I saw ever appearance Jack made in a late model at Eldora in both the World and the Dream. Jack actually won the Johnny Appleseed late model show at Eldora back when it was the second biggest dirt late model race at Eldora. Were you at Eldora for that one, Clay? Unfortunately we weren't.

Jack told me that the best chance he ever had of winning one of the 2 big DLM shows at Eldora came the year he started on the front row and snort wrecked him and broke his wrist on the very first lap. He said that car, which is featured in the waterfall picture, was the best late model he ever drove at Eldora. That was clearly evident when he won his heat race by nearly a full straightaway. He said that was a car capable of winning and we all know ol' Jack was not going to be out driven or out braved if the win was on the line at Eldora. That happened during the time that Jack had an engine deal with Ford.

Jack's interview with Sadler at the truck race was priceless but it may have went over the head of some who never followed Jack's career and aren't familiar with the infamous interview at Macon, Illinois during a midget event.

[Clayton_Wetter]

He was a bit rough on the equipment and the Appleseed was not loaded with national standouts. I doubt he could manage tires for 100 laps even if he was up front. Let alone the traffic.

[CIRF]

He was a bit rough on the equipment and the Appleseed was not loaded with national standouts. I doubt he could manage tires for 100 laps even if he was up front. Let alone the traffic.

Really? The Appleseed win was against a bunch of stiff"s? Have you seen the finishing order of that race or are you guessing, or are you just typing to see yourself type?

Are you serious about the the tire management and traffic thing or are you just trying to be funny? No offense intended and I like ya' Clay, but if you're serious you really don't know what you're talking about (that's a polite way of telling you that you're full of chit). Jack won at least 10 100 mile/100 lap races on dirt during his career driving cars that are highly reactive to tire management, or lack thereof. The class of cars in question do not make pit stops for tires. At least the guys that win them don't. He still owns the record for the fastest 100 miles ever driven at The Springfield Mile. A driver doesn't win that many 100 mile races on 3 different dirt tracks (Springfield 4 times, Du Quoin 3 times and the Indy Mile 3 times) without knowing how to manage tires for 100 laps. You might want to walk that statement back just a bit, Clay. Otherwise you're gonna' continue to look a bit silly!

You might have doubts about ol' Jacks tire management skills but those doubts would be extremely misdirected.