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HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Busy week, surrounded by a lot of friends and family, a legendary figure making the final start of his career with a shot at going out as a five-time champion.
Racer. Philanthropist. Father.
What’s there to say about Jeff Gordon that hasn’t been said? What’s there to write that hasn’t been written?
Do a Google search for “Jeff Gordon” and the search engine generates approximately 79 million results.
Tom Brady? 83.1 million. Kobe Bryant? 34.6 million. Derek Jeter? 14 million.
Gordon, 44, is one of those rare athletes who have transcended their individual sport. A champion on the track? Without question. Off the track? Certainly.
Television and tabloids flock to him. He purchased a second residence in New York City in part to escape the spotlight and to navigate life in between races unimpeded by the fame that followed him elsewhere.
Maybe he would not carry the same clout or create the same buzz had he chosen another profession. Then again, perhaps his impact would have been even greater elsewhere.
A precocious, driven youngster whose family packed up moved east from California in order to continue his development as a racer.
A NASCAR premier series champion at 24. And 26. And 27. And 30. Now, at 44, is there one more title in the tank?
What’s there to say that hasn’t been said, write that hasn’t been written?
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The Alpha and Omega
NASCAR didn’t begin with Gordon, and it certainly won’t end when the Hendrick Motorsports driver climbs from his No. 24 Chevrolet for the final time on Sunday evening.
“Everybody’s career comes to an end,” Richard Petty said. “He’s going out strong. I admire him for that part of it.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing him win the championship because he’s meant so much to NASCAR over the years. They’re going to miss him a whole lot from that standpoint.”
There is no one in the sport more qualified to speak on such matters than the man known simply as “The King.” Now 78, Petty set the standard for champions on the track as well as how to conduct oneself outside the car.
Icon, inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame member, winner of 200 races and seven championships, Petty is NASCAR. The Petty family is NASCAR. Petty’s father, Lee, won three titles, 54 races and was in the very first sanctioned race. He, too, is a member of the Hall of Fame.
The careers of Richard Petty and Gordon are inextricably linked by a single date – Nov. 15, 1992. Petty made his 1,184th and final start in NASCAR’s premier series. Gordon made his very first in the same event.
Petty met privately with Gordon this weekend at Homestead to present him with one of his signature Charlie 1 Horse cowboy hats. It was a gesture of appreciation and acknowledgement of everything Gordon has accomplished. But Petty understands better than most that the sport will move forward, just as it did when he stepped out of the car that sunny day in Atlanta.
“No matter who you are, you’re not strong enough to carry the whole load,” Petty said. “He’s been a strong leader all these years, but over a period of time, the next crowd comes along and kind of fades them all out. Over a period of time, you go away whether you want to or not.”
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Auspicious beginning
Gordon won the series’ Rookie of the Year title in 1993, competing for the honor against Bobby Labonte, Kenny Wallace and P.J. Jones. Two years later, he won his first championship.
It was the era of Dale Earnhardt, the six-time champion chasing Petty’s mark of seven titles while blazing new trails. He was “The Intimidator.” He was NASCAR.
Petty, Earnhardt and then there was Gordon.
No one else was as dominant — between 1995 and ’99, Gordon won 47 races. He won Daytona. He won Indy. He won the Winston Million.
Had he not come along?
“Someone else would have taken that spot,” Mike Helton, NASCAR Vice Chairman, said. “I don’t know that anybody could have filled it, though.
“There’s a difference. It’s like if the Atlantic Ocean went dry, somebody could figure out how to get water in it, but could they fill that whole ocean?
“I think we were very fortunate for Jeff to appear when he did and do what he did along the way to keep our momentum going. It certainly added to the momentum that we had going in that era. We needed a Jeff Gordon and he arose. He came into the sport … he could have chosen open-wheel racing … and he would have been massively successful.”
Why was it Gordon? Why not someone else who stepped up and helped carry the sport forward, who resonated with fans and sponsors?
Helton doesn’t know. “I know growing up there was a reason I became a big fan of John Wayne. And there were a lot of cowboys on television,” he said. “I just think that speaks to Jeff’s inclusiveness, and his capabilities extended beyond just being a very successful athlete as a race car driver.”
There have been issues from time to time, but nothing major, according to Helton, who added, “Of course we’ve had conversations in which he’d had to write checks afterward.”
Earnhardt’s death in 2001, in the season-opening Daytona 500, turned the sport upside down. Gordon was one of the few who could help stabilize it in an uncertain time.
“I think the whole industry looked at Jeff to take Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s place when we lost Dale,” said Helton. “The garage area needed a voice like we’ve had historically, whether it was Richard Petty or Darrell Waltrip, Dale Sr. … He got pressure from the industry inside the garage to be that voice.
“When that came, along with the championships that preceded that, he understood the need for a league or sanctioning body in order for the athlete to be successful. But he also had a good soapbox to stand on saying ‘Look, we need our voice to be heard too.’ And I think the respect worked both ways.”
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‘Iron Man’ of NASCAR
Consecutive starts: 796.
It’s one more impressive record in Jeff Gordon‘s body of work. He’s never missed a start, and passed Ricky Rudd for the consecutive starts record earlier this year.
Now, only one remains, one final attempt, one final opportunity.
Because of the format for NASCAR’s championship-determining Chase, Gordon doesn’t have to win Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400. He has to finish ahead of only three challengers — Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing), Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing) and Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing) to capture the title.
He’ll go out a winner regardless of where he finishes. Whether or not he goes out a champion has yet to be determined.
Capturing the inaugural Brickyard 400 in ’94 has always stood out as his most memorable moment. Until a recent Martinsville victory put him in the Championship 4 here at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The ’98 season when he won 13 races, the fourth title in ’01 with crew chief Robby Loomis after the departure of mentor Ray Evernham and the ’95 crown that was won when he “was going against Earnhardt; that was huge,” Gordon said earlier this week.
The finality of the moment, though, carries much weight.
“My final year, my final race, (wife) Ingrid and the kids,” Gordon said. “Kids motivate you in a whole new way, and no matter what we’re going to go out and be happy and celebrate.
“But to do it as a champion, oh, my gosh, I just can’t imagine anything that would be more emotional and more exciting and more gratifying than to look at my wife in the eyes and see that reaction from her when that race is over if we win it.”
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