I was trying to remember the words of a poem that I used to carry in my
wallet.  I don't know who the author is and it may be author unknown. 
Anyway, when I type in some of the words I do remember: "the battle is
fought in the home stretch and won twixt the flag and the wire"
..or..""Tis the knave who changes each day", I do get a match that
show alot of the words of this poem.  The site that matches is
www.askart.com.  Specifically it references a painter named John
Hardrick.  I go through this site expecting to find the full text of
this poem but I do not.  I think I am close but just cannot navigate
well enough to find the whole poem.  Maybe someone could enter these
same words as I did and see what i am talking about.

The name of the poem is "Success." It was written by John Trotwood Moore.

A Google search shows you a link to the askart.com page about the
artist John Wesley Hardrick, but (as you've noted) the page in
question doesn't contain anything related to the poem you're seeking.
The reason is that this page formerly contained the text of the poem,
but the page has been changed; the current version of the page does
not include your poem. It seems that AskArt no longer provides
artists' biographies for free; you now must be a paid subscriber in
order to obtain a biography.

At the moment, the page in its older form still exists in Google's
cache. You can view the cached copy here:

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:sHoejzdw2iAJ:www.askart.com/artist/H/john_wesley_hardrick.asp%3FID%3D86072

If the link above is not "clickable," you may need to cut & paste it
into your browser's address window. Google's cached copy will
automatically be replaced by Google eventually, and a copy of the page
in its revised form will take its place, so this link won't work
forever.

I have found one other source for the poem (including its title) and
the full name of the poet:

"SUCCESS

 Tis the coward who stops at misfortune.
 Tis the knave who changes each day;
 Tis a fool who wins half the battle,
 And throws all his chances away.

 There's little in life but labor,
 And tomorrow may prove but a dream,
 Success is the bride of Endeavor
 And luck but a meteor's gleam.

 The time to succeed is when others
 Discouraged, show traces of tire;
 The battle is fought in the home stretch
 And won twixt the flag and the wire.

 John Trotwood Moor"

The Ailsa Craig
http://www.lodgeailsa.org/Craig%20pdf/Craig%201995/Ailsa%20Craig%206%20-%2012%2095.pdf

I became curious about John Trotwood Moor. The name receives only one
mention when you search for it on Google. However, the spelling "John
Trotwood Moore" brings up hundreds of hits. John Trotwood Moore was
once the Poet Laureate of the State of Tennessee. He died in 1929.

"Founded in 1882 by John Trotwood Moore, who became a famous author,
archeologist, and poet laureate of the State of Tennessee, the
two-story wood frame building served the town of Pine Apple from 1882
until the present brick structure was completed in 1923."

Wilcox Development Council
http://www.wilcoxdevcouncil.org/moore_academy.htm 

"1929 - May 10 - John Trotwood Moore dies"

University of Tennessee: Tennessee Authors Past & Present
http://www.lib.utk.edu/refs/tnauthors/timeline.html 
 
Google Web Search: "twixt the flag and the wire"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22twixt+the+flag+and+the+wire

Google Web Search: "john trotwood moor"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22john+trotwood+moor

Google Web Search: "john trotwood moore"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22john+trotwood+moore

I hope this helps! If anything is unclear or incomplete, please
request clarification; I'll be glad to offer further assistance before
you rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

Great answer...exactly what I wanted.

Thank you very much for the five-star rating and the nice tip!

~pinkfreud