Jeff Gordon was so young when he attended his first race that he can't even really remember it.

Yet he knows it had a lasting impact.

"I didn't know anything about racing," Gordon said. "My parents actually went on one of their first dates and brought me and my sister to a race at a dirt track near where I grew up [in Vallejo, Calif.]. I was too young to remember, but they tell the story. ... So I think my stepfather John [Bickford] had an interest in cars and some friends in racing, and he brought that into our family when my mom and he married."

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I think everybody has their own unique style. ... I've never tried to emulate myself after anyone else; I just did my thing. I just tried to do the best I could do.

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-- JEFF GORDON

Soon thereafter, Gordon started racing on his own at age 5 and it wasn't long after that before he began finding heroes to follow on the track. Bickford provided more than a little nudge of assistance.

"It didn't start right away, but shortly after [going to that first race] -- probably a couple of years after they'd been married -- he brought home a quarter-midget for me and my sister. That's what got me into it," Gordon said. "It didn't take long for me, really, to get serious about it to where I started following primarily sprint-car races -- and of course the ultimate sprint-car races were the World of Outlaws races.

"Around that same time, I started watching the Indy 500 and IndyCar racing -- primarily the Indy 500, though. So for me, back then, it was between sprint cars and being a Steve Kinser fan and the open-wheel cars and being a fan of Rick Mears and A.J. Foyt, [Johnny] Rutherford and those guys."

Although Gordon would go on to become one of the most successful stock-car drivers in the history of NASCAR, he didn't know much about that until almost right before he started venturing into that side of auto racing as a driver.

"NASCAR didn't come until much later for me. I was in high school, like 17, 18 years old, before I really knew much about it," Gordon said. "I remember watching the 125s [qualifying races for the Daytona 500] at Daytona. And the reason I didn't watch more is because I raced every Sunday. The only time I ever really got to watch a race was the [Indy] 500 -- and I probably didn't even get to watch all of it. But I would watch the month of May, the [Indy] qualifying and all that. And then when we moved to Indiana, I was an even bigger fan of all that.

"Like I said, I was a big fan of Rick Mears. I got his autograph and he was the guy that was winning Indy at the time. He was strong. He was just calm, cool and collective -- and I just loved the way he went about things. Plus he was a winner and a champion."

The fascination with IndyCars changed rapidly into an opportunity with NASCAR almost overnight.

"I was racing in high school and Larry Nuber was a commentator for the Thursday Night Thunder events that I did, he kind of took me under his wing -- and he loved NASCAR," Gordon said. "He said, 'I know you're looking at Indy and the open-wheel thing, but there are not a lot of opportunities there. I'd love to help you meet some people there and I think you have what it takes, but I really think you ought to consider NASCAR.' That's really what led me to come south. I started watching a little bit of it on TV and I was like, 'Hey, this is cool.' I went down and drove my first stock car with Buck Baker, because Larry and ESPN sort of set that up."

Soon he had new racing heroes to fill his mind and follow -- not just as a fan but around the same race tracks. And then almost just as suddenly, he frequently found himself leading them around most of the tracks instead of playing follower.

"It happened so fast, it was pretty amazing, I went from really not knowing much about stock cars to driving a stock car," Gordon said. "Ken Schrader was a guy that I looked up to -- because he could come and race on the open-wheel side. I raced with him in Phoenix in the dirt CHAMP cars. It was like here comes Ken Schrader, big NASCAR driver, and he was coming to race with us. I really respected that -- and he was fast. He was really nice to me, too, and I appreciated that.

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"Next thing I know, probably a year later I'm testing for [car owner] Bill Davis because I got a call from Ford. Somebody said, 'Hey, are you familiar with the Carolina Ford dealers' car?' And I said, 'No.' So immediately I started watching the races. And I'll never forget watching the Dover Nationwide race and Mark Martin was driving that Carolina Ford dealers' car and just wearin' 'em out, just flying. And I was like, 'I've got a shot at driving that car? Yes. Absolutely.' And so I got to meet Mark early on and race with him, and I was a huge fan of his talent and he was a great guy. And of course, who doesn't know [Dale] Earnhardt? I watched him wear everybody out on the superspeedways and Bristol and places like that. So I would say Ken Schrader, Mark Martin and Earnhardt were the guys I looked up to the most when I came in and got started."

But those aren't the same guys to whom Gordon would say his driving style through the years has most closely resembled.

"I would say it's probably a combination of Harry Gant and Bill Elliott, something like that. Because those guys didn't cause a lot of trouble, but they were fast and they won races," said Gordon, who entered the 2010 season with four championships, three Daytona 500 triumphs and 82 victories under his fire suit belt. "I'm definitely not Earnhardt. I mean, he would just go right up and spin 'em right out or move 'em out of his way. I never tried to ruffle those feathers unless I really had to, unless I was put in that position. So I think I've been known to typically be more of a clean driver. So throw out Rusty [Wallace] and throw out Dale.

"Maybe Darrell Waltrip. I didn't get much of a chance to watch Darrell a lot in his glory days, so I don't really know. And I can't say Richard [Petty], because all I know about him is from video and things like that. I feel like everybody is different, and their individual personality comes out in the race car. I think everybody has their own unique style, so there has never been one driver where I've said, 'Yeah, I drive like him.' I've never tried to emulate myself after anyone else; I just did my thing. I just tried to do the best I could do."