Gary St. Amant
| Gary St. Amant | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | Gary Wayne St. Amant October 19, 1962 Columbus, Ohio, U.S. |
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| Achievements | 1998, 2000 American Speed Association Champion 2007 Hooters Pro Cup Series Northern Division Champion 1992, 2000 Snowball Derby Winner 1999 Snowflake 100 Winner 1990 All American 400 Winner 1999, 2002 Winchester 400 Winner |
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| Awards | Seven-Time American Speed Association Outstanding Sportsmanship Recipient | ||||||
| NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career | |||||||
| 5 races run over 5 years | |||||||
| 2008 position | 116th | ||||||
| Best finish | 64th | ||||||
| First race | 1995 Action Packed Racing Cards 150 (IRP) | ||||||
| Last race | 2008 Ohio 250 (Mansfield) | ||||||
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Gary Wayne St. Amant (born October 19, 1962) is a former stock car racing driver from Columbus, Ohio. While he competed in several NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races, his career is most notable for his success in the American Speed Association, winning the National Tour in 1998 and 2000. When the ASA folded after the 2004 season, he found success in the Hooters Pro Cup Series, winning the Northern Division Championship in 2007. With St. Amant having won the Snowball Derby and Winchester 400 twice, along with the All American 400 and Snowflake 100 once, he is the only driver in history besides Chase Elliott to have won all four short-track crown jewel events. He also showed his mentorship to a young Jimmie Johnson in his early ASA days, before his transition to NASCAR. Johnson has since mentioned his appreciation for the coaching while making history himself in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
St. Amant's career in the ASA National Tour began in April 1986 at Auburn, Michigan's Tri-City Motor Speedway with an 11th-place finish. He scored his first ASA win at his home track, Columbus Motor Speedway, in the 1990 Buckeye 300, holding off Rich Bickle and Ted Musgrave. Later that fall, he won the prestigious All-American 400 at Nashville's Music City Motorplex. He managed another hometown win at Columbus in 1996, leading all 200 laps from the pole.
In 1998, though he only managed two wins (Orange County Speedway and Berlin Raceway) to Scott Hansen's seven, St. Amant was more consistent, and leading nearly twice as many laps as any other driver helped him claim the 1998 title. His 2000 championship was won quite similarly; domination and consistent Top 5 finishes placed the Winchester 400 winner nearly 500 points ahead of second place Kevin Cywinski. After playing second fiddle to NASCAR-bound rookie Johnny Sauter in 2001, St. Amant and Joey Clanton waged war for the 2002 championship. Clanton won the first five races of the season (winning nine overall) and ultimately led over 35% of the laps, but had several poor finishes during the year. St. Amant won just four times (all but one of the final five races) but had only two non-Top 10 finishes. St. Amant won the season-ending Winchester 400, but Clanton recovered from a late-race crash to finish third, defeating St. Amant for the title by 1 point, the closest points margin in series history.
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