RELATED: Gordon sets new NASCAR standard
To be a sport’s “Iron Man” requires battling through plenty — nagging injuries, poor performance at times and so much more. It also requires longevity, which comes from being pretty successful over the course of a long career. You can’t become a sport’s Iron Man overnight.
On Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Jeff Gordon became the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Iron Man. With his start in the Sylvania 300 at the “Magic Mile,” Gordon made his 789th consecutive start. Ricky Rudd had held the honor since passing soon-to-be NASCAR Hall of Famer Terry Labonte in 2002, with the final total of 788 consecutive starts ending when Rudd didn’t start the 2006 Daytona 500.
But think about this — It took Gordon 24 years and 23 full-time seasons to set a new mark and it comes as he now has just eight races left in his full-time career after New Hampshire.
The longevity and success that comes with being able to set such a mark is remarkable. Gordon has been a four-time champion in the sport’s top series, won 92 races in his career and is a surefire Hall of Famer. If he wasn’t winning races and titles, he would not have been in position to set this record. He has overcome some back trouble en route to passing Rudd but just as so routinely dispatched competitors in the prime of his career, he battled past the back issues.
Gordon’s breaking of this record brings back memories of when Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s Major League Baseball record for consecutive games played in 1995. Gehrig’s mark of 2,130 consecutive games played, which ended in the 1939 season, was thought to be a record that would stay with the Hall New York Yankees Hall of Famer forever. But Ripken Jr. broke Gehrig’s record on Sept. 6, 1995 and went on to establish a new mark with 2,632 before bringing his streak to an end late in 1998 season. Interestingly, Gordon tied Rudd’s mark 17 years to the day that Ripken ended his streak.
Ripken, a Hall of Famer for the Baltimore Orioles, battled plenty during his long run to get to the record: slumps, changing batting stances, sprained ankles and a knee injury suffered in a brawl. His streak lasted parts of 17 seasons and it took him 14 seasons to catch Gehrig, simply by doing one of the most overlooked tasks in life: showing up, ready to go to work.
On the night Ripken broke the record, he hit a home run in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fifth when the game became official, Ripken received a standing ovation at Oriole Park at Camden Yards that lasted over 20 minutes with umpires, opposing players, teammates and fans saluting the Orioles legend. Ripken did a victory lap around the field to shake hands with fans.
While Gordon and Ripken reached their milestones with one team, NFL quarterback Brett Favre took a different path. Favre played most of his career for the Green Bay Packers, winning one Super Bowl with the team, but also had stints with the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings.
Favre holds the record of most consecutive starts by any player in the NFL with 297 (321 if you count playoff games) and he is just one of eight quarterbacks to have started 100 consecutive games. Even more mind blowing, 238 quarterbacks made starts in the NFL during his streak.
Favre broke the mark of 116 held by former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, turned ESPN analyst, Ron Jaworski in 1999 and he broke the mark for consecutive starts at any position, 271, in 2009. Favre’s streak would come to an end toward the end of 2010 when he suffered a shoulder injury. Favre is on the 2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame ballot and will likely get enshrined in Canton, Ohio, in short order.
Legends set records that push them into another realm in their sport and Gordon’s consecutive start mark is just the latest in a long line of athletic accomplishments to do so. The fact that it comes in what is his final full-time season is both poetic and fitting as his own racing career is winding down. As an Iron Man, Gordon is in a unique class that recognizes both the length and greatness of his career.