Hewitt had the luxury of a front-row starting spot in the Team 6R Silver Crown entry. Every eye in the place was on No. 23 as the feature rolled off. Hewitt quickly found that the car was “perfect” and he outran fellow front-row starter Jimmy Sills to the first corner.
From that point, Hewitt looked like he was on cruise control and he won comfortably.
He had done it. He had scored four amazing victories on one amazing night.
“It’s still hard to believe that I did it,” Hewitt said in recalling the moment. “It was one of those times when everything just went my way and you probably only get that experience once in a lifetime. I was fortunate.”
Every great driver expects to win every race he’s in. But did Hewitt really believe sweeping the 4-Crown was possible?
“You say you’re going to win each race and that’s your goal,” he said. “But inside you know you’re not going to win ’em all. Actually, it’s a bigger challenge than people realize just to make the show in all four races. You set the goal high and sometimes you get it.”
In the years that have passed since that night, Hewitt has never once gone to a race track without someone mentioning the ’98 4-Crown.
“Everybody says they were there that night,” he laughed. “And believe it or not, a lot of people say it was their first time at Eldora. They saw me win all four and figured it was an everyday thing, like people do that all the time.
“People continue to bring it up and it’s nice. It’s not a bad thing to be remembered for. A lot of people never have such a night in their lifetime and I’m glad I got to have that one.”
Hewitt suffered career-ending injuries in a 2003 crash. In the decade that followed, he admitted that his longing to race has never waned.
“I miss it terribly. I really do,” Hewitt said. “There are no words to explain that feeling, that wanting to go race but you can’t. If a person is a heroin addict there are things they can do to help that person; but a racer who wants to get off the racing drug, there’s no help for him. It’s a tough deal to get away from.”
But Hewitt is quick to add that he’s happy in his life today. He and wife Jody still live in Troy and he enjoys attending races at Eldora and nearby Waynesfield Raceway Park. He also spends much of his time following his other passion — bass fishing.
Each winter finds him spending time in the warmer climate of Florida. He and Jody enjoy spoiling their grandson, Caden, and remain close to son Cody.
Hewitt is convinced the passing of time will make it more difficult for people to believe his sweep of the 4-Crown really happened. It is so far-fetched, he said, people will begin to think it is merely folklore.
“In a few years it’s going to be hard for anyone to believe it and hard for anyone to know about it,” he insisted. “It’s still hard for me to believe anybody could be that lucky. So as time goes on I think people will get more skeptical and not really believe it actually happened.
“I mean, think about it: I can hardly believe it happened and I did it,” Hewitt continued. “So think about a young person coming on … they’re going to think the whole thing is just a story that somebody made up.”
Except those thousands of people who witnessed it firsthand will believe it.
They’ll never forget those four amazing races, which boasted one amazing winner.