Jeff Gordon

Jeffery Michael Gordon

Born	August 4, 1971 (1971-08-04) (age 38)
Hometown	Vallejo, California
Achievements	USAC Triple Crown champion (1990 Midget, 1991 Silver Crown) 1991 NASCAR Busch Series Rookie of The Year 1995 / 1997 / 1998 / 2001 Sprint Cup Series Champion 1997 / 1999 / 2005 Daytona 500 Winner 1994 / 1998 / 2001 / 2004 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Winner Sprint All-Star Race XI, XIII, and XVII Winner
Awards	1993 NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Listed as one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers 2009 inductee in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Statistics
Car #, Team	24 - Hendrick Motorsports
2007 Sprint Cup Position	2nd
Best Cup Position	1st - 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001
First Race	1992 Hooters 500 (Atlanta)
First Win	1994 Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte)
Last Win	2007 Bank of America 500 (Charlotte)
Wins Top Tens Poles 81 328 65
NASCAR Nationwide Series Statistics
73 races run over 5 years
Best NNS Position	4th - 1992
First Race	1990 AC-Delco 200 (Rockingham)
Last Race	2000 Miami 300 (Homestead)
First Win	1992 Atlanta 300 (Atlanta)
Last Win	2000 Miami 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top Tens Poles 5 32 12
Statistics current as of June 18, 2008.

Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is a professional American race car driver. He was born in Vallejo, California, raised in Pittsboro, Indiana, and currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a four-time NASCAR Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup) Series champion, three-time Daytona 500 winner, and driver of the #24 Chevrolet Impala. His primary sponsor is DuPont, though Pepsi and Nicorette both supplement the team as secondary sponsors. Other sponsors include Quaker State, Haas Automation, GMAC, Bosch Spark Plugs, and Georgia-Pacific/Sparkle. He, along with Rick Hendrick, are the co-owners of the #48 Lowe's sponsored team, driven by Jimmie Johnson, who won both the 2006 and 2007 NEXTEL Cup series championship. Gordon also has an equity stake in his own #24 team.

Racing career

Early career

Jeff Gordon began racing at the age of five racing quarter midgets. The Roy Hayer Memorial Race Track (Previously the CrackerJack Track) in Rio Linda, California is noted as the first track Gordon ever competed on. By the Age of 6 Jeff Gordon won 35 main events and set 5 track records.^[1] By the age of 13 Jeff took an interest in the 650 horsepower sprint cars. Jeff Gordon and his family had to overcome an insurance hurtle. The minimum age for driving the sprint cars was 16. His persistence paid off with an all Florida speed weeks. Supporting his career choice, Gordon's family moved from Vallejo, California to Pittsboro, Indiana, where there were more opportunities for younger racers. Before the age of 18, Gordon had already won three short-track races and was awarded USAC Midget Car Racing Rookie of the Year in 1989. That season was highlighted by winning Night Before the 500 midget car race on the day before the Indianapolis 500.^[2] In 1990, Gordon won his second consecutive Night Before the 500, the Hut Hundred, and the Belleville Midget Nationals on his way to winning the USAC national Midget title.^[2] In 1991, Gordon into the USAC Silver Crown, and at the age of 20 became the youngest driver to win the season championship.^[2] He also won the 4 Crown Nationals midget car race that season.^[2] In his midget car career between 1989 and 1992, he finished in the Top 3 in 22 of 40 USAC midget car events.^[2]

Busch Series Career

In 1991 and 1992 Jeff Gordon went on to the Busch Series driving for Bill Davis Racing. In his first year as a Busch driver he won rookie of the year. In 1992 Jeff Gordon set a NASCAR record by capturing 11 poles in one season. His time with Bill Davis racing introduced Jeff to Ray Evernham as his crew chief. He was sponsored by Carolina Ford Dealers in 1991 and Baby Ruth in 1992. Coincidentally, Gordon's first NASCAR Winston Cup Series race, the 1992 Hooters 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, was also the final race for Richard Petty. He went on to finish 31st, crashing after 164 laps of competition.

Cup career

In 1993, Gordon raced his first full season in Winston Cup (now the Sprint Cup) for Hendrick Motorsports, in which he won a Daytona 500 qualifying race, the Rookie of the Year award, and finished 14th in points. Ray Evernham was placed as Jeff Gordon's first crew chief. Gordon's success in the sport reshaped the paradigm and eventually gave younger drivers an opportunity to compete in NASCAR. However, during the 1993 season, many doubted Gordon's ability to compete at such a level at such a young age because of his tendency to push the cars too hard and crash.

1994

In 1994, Gordon collected his first career victory at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca Cola 600, NASCAR's longest and most demanding race. Additionally, Gordon scored a popular hometown victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the inaugural Brickyard 400, passing Ernie Irvan for the lead late in the race when Irvan cut down a tire. Gordon finished eighth in the Winston Cup point standings for the '94 season, as Earnhardt grabbed the driving championship for his 7th and final time.

1995-2001

1995 saw Jeff Gordon win his first NASCAR Winston Cup Championship. He won it by battling 7-time and defending champ, Dale Earnhardt into the final race of the season. Many see this as a symbolic passing of the torch, as Gordon collected his first championship the year after Earnhardt won his seventh and final championship. Earnhardt won his first championship in 1980, the year after Richard Petty won his seventh and final championship.

Gordon got off to a rocky start in 1996, but rebounded to win ten races. He finished 2nd to teammate Terry Labonte for the championship.

Jeff Gordon won his first Daytona 500 in 1997. Later in the season he also won the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte and had a chance to become the first man since Bill Elliott in 1985 to win the "Winston Million." Gordon completed the feat by holding off a determined Jeff Burton in the final laps of the Southern 500 at Darlington. While Elliott failed to win the Winston Cup in 1985, Jeff Gordon claimed his second Winston Cup championship in 1997, completing one of the most impressive single-season performances in NASCAR history.

1997 racecar

In 1998 Gordon successfully defended his victories in the Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500, winning a record four consecutive Southern 500s in the process. Gordon also won his second Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. According to most NASCAR drivers the race at Indianapolis has become second in prestige only to the Daytona 500. Gordon finished the 1998 season with a victory in the season finale at Atlanta. This was his 13th victory of the season and tied Richard Petty's modern era record of 13 wins in a single season.

In 1999, Gordon along with crew chief Evernham formed Gordon/Evernham Motorsports. Though short lived, the race team enjoyed success. The co-owned team received a full sponsorship from Pepsi and ran six races with Jeff Gordon as driver and Ray Evernham as crew chief in the NASCAR Busch Series. GEM only survived one year as Evernham was pulled away by Dodge. Jeff Gordon extended his Busch experiment one more year, through 2000 as co-owner, with Rick Hendrick buying Evernham's half. After the departure of Evernham, the race team was renamed JG Motorsports.

Many people questioned Jeff Gordon's ability to win championships without longtime crew chief, Ray Evernham, especially after Gordon struggled to a 9th place points finish in 2000, winning only three races. Gordon answered those challenges in 2001 by winning 6 races en route to his 4th Winston Cup championship. Jeff Gordon became the third driver to win four Cup championships in NASCAR history only second to Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt (7 times).

2002-2003

Jeff Gordon struggled in 2002, not winning til the fall Bristol race, and winning Kansas, and Lowe's

In 2003, Jeff Gordon returned with Robbie Loomis for a third season together. Jeff won early in April, winning Martinsville, and winning Atlanta and Martinsville again in the fall. He finished the year 4th in the NASCAR standings, with 3 wins, 15 Top-5 finishes, and 20 Top-10 finishes. Jeff also was in second in rank to Matt Kenseth for the championship early in the season.

2004

Gordon won the Brickyard 400 in August 2004, obtaining his 4th Indy win (1994, 1998, 2001, 2004). He is the only NASCAR driver with four Brickyard 400 victories at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and one of only five drivers to have four victories at the historic track. He finished 3rd in the 2004 NEXTEL Cup points standing behind Kurt Busch and teammate Jimmie Johnson even though he scored the most total points throughout the whole season, a consequence of the new Chase system implemented in 2004.

2005

Gordon started the 2005 season with a win in the Daytona 500, but inconsistency would plague him throughout the year. A late season (notably top 10s at Indy and Bristol) run put him in position to qualify for the Chase, but in the last race before the Chase at Richmond, Gordon made contact with the wall and failed to qualify for the chase. Despite this disappointment, on October 23 Gordon won the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway, his first win in 22 points races, and his 7th career victory at the 0.526 mile track, which leads all active drivers at the facility. He went on to finish 11th in the Championship and received a $1,000,000 bonus as the top driver finishing outside the Chase. It was Gordon's first time outside the top 10 in the point standings since 1993.

On September 14, 2005 Crew Chief Robbie Loomis resigned from the #24 team. Loomis stayed on with Hendrick Motorsports as a consultant for Jimmie Johnson's #48 team through the Chase for The NEXTEL Cup in 2005. Steve Letarte, Gordon's car chief for most of the '05 season and long time member of the 24 crew, replaced Loomis as crew chief effective at New Hampshire International Speedway on September 18th, 2005.

2006

Gordon won his ninth road race, the 2006 Dodge/Save Mart 350, at the Infineon Raceway - his first win of the season and fifth at Infineon. The day before the race, he announced his engagement to Belgian model Ingrid Vandebosch.

On June 29, 2006, Gordon announced that he would participate in the Rolex 24 endurance sports car event at Daytona International Speedway, teaming up with SunTrust Racing drivers Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor, who won the 2005 Rolex 24 race.^[3] His team went on to finish third, despite problems, two laps behind the winning team of Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett, and Salvador Durán.^[4] On July 9, 2006, Gordon won his first race at the Chicagoland Speedway at the running of the USG Sheetrock 400(this was also the first win for Hendrick Motorsports at this track).

Gordon made the "Chase for the NEXTEL Cup" with his improvements on the intermediate 1.5/2-mile downforce racetracks from 2005. His consistency in the latter portions of 2006 made him competitive week-in and week-out, eventually finishing 6th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Standings.

Jeff Gordon attended the awards ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City for his top-10 finish in the NEXTEL Cup Standings. While there he collected a check for his 2006 winnings of $7,471,447 which brings his career winnings total to $82,838,526.

2007

Pulling into the pits at Texas in 2007

Gordon started the 2007 Cup season off by winning his Gatorade Duel qualifying race. Due to a rear shock bolt breaking during the race on his car, he failed the post-race inspection which found that the rear of his car was too low and, as a result, had to start 42nd in the 2007 Daytona 500. He went on to finish 10th in the race despite being involved in a crash during a spectacular last-lap finish.

On March 23, 2007, Gordon won his 58th career pole for the 2007 Food City 500 at Bristol, the first race for the Car of Tomorrow. He went on to a 3rd place in the race, which gave him the points lead for the first time since the 2005 Daytona 500. At Texas Motor Speedway, Gordon started on the pole because qualifying was rained out. He led the most laps before brushing the wall coming out of turn 4 and finishing 4th.^[5]. On April 19, 2007 at Phoenix International Raceway, Gordon won the pole, and tied Darrell Waltrip's modern day record of 59 career poles. Two days later, at the Subway Fresh Fit 500, he won, ending a streak of 21 races of non-pole winners at PIR. He has now won a Cup race at all but two NASCAR racetracks (Texas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway). With the win, he also tied Dale Earnhardt for 6th all time in overall number of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series wins (second in the modern era). After winning the race, he held a black flag with the number 3 to honor the late Dale Earnhardt.

On April 28, 2007, Gordon earned the pole at Talladega Superspeedway, his 60th career pole (and third consecutive in 2007), passing Darrell Waltrip's record of 59 to become the modern era pole leader.^[6] One day later, he passed Earnhardt for sole position of sixth on the all time wins list with 77 by winning the Aaron's 499.^[7]

On May 13, 2007, Gordon held on despite an overheating car and a late charge by Denny Hamlin to win the Dodge Avenger 500, the 78th win of his career, and his 7th at Darlington Raceway.

In the 2007 Coca-Cola 600, Gordon crashed after contact with Tony Raines and AJ Allmendinger on lap 61 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, only 91.5 miles into the race,^[8] ending his streak of completing every lap during the season. Gordon finished 41st.^[9]

On June 11, 2007, Gordon earned his 4th win of the year and 79th of his career in a rain shortened race at Pocono Raceway. Six days later, he scored a ninth place finish at the Citizens Bank 400 at Michigan International Speedway, the 300th top-ten finish of his career. On September 8, 2007, Gordon earned a place in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup. With his four wins in the first 26 races, he earned the second seed (teammate Jimmie Johnson earned the top seed with six wins) in the chase.

On October 7, 2007, Gordon led only the final lap in winning the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway for his 80th career victory, using a strategy of staying near the end of the field until nearly the end of the race to avoid the inevitable "big one", especially with the unknowns involved in racing the Car of Tomorrow. With the win, he swept the 2007 season races at Talladega, and won his 12th race at a restrictor plate track (Daytona and Talladega), making him the all-time leader for restrictor plate wins.^[10]

On October 13, 2007, Gordon led 71 laps and, although fuel was a question near the end of the race, he was able to finish the race and earned his 81st career victory in the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Finishing fourth in the 2007 Ford 400, Gordon finished the 2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup 2nd in the standings to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, trailing by 77. However, Gordon's top-ten finish at Homestead left him with a total of 30 top-ten finishes for the season, setting a new modern era Cup Series record. The 2007 season was also the sixth time that Gordon had amassed the most total championship points in a season, placing him just one short of the seven-time record held by the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Petty. He is the only driver to have accumulated the most championship points in an entire season and not been awarded the championship because of The Chase system.

2008

2008 Cup car

Gordon finished fourth in the Budweiser Shootout and finished third in the Gatorade Duel qualifying race. He started the 50th annual Daytona 500 from the eighth position and led eight laps, some under caution, but on lap 159 suffered suspension failure and finished in 39th position.

Jeff Gordon wrecked with 5 laps to go at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS), claiming that it was one of the hardest wrecks he's ever had, and leading him to call for safety improvements on the inside walls of LVMS and other similar tracks.^[11] The wreck has had drivers and owners from all around Nascar now concerned with the lack of a SAFER barrier on the inside walls at tracks and the design of the wall where it allows access for emergency vehicles.^[12] Greg Biffle went as far to say that the wreck should be taken as seriously as the one that took Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s life in 2001.^[13] Other drivers who have publicly supported Gordon's call for safety improvements include Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon, and Kurt Busch.^[13]

Jeff Gordon collected his 64th career pole for the Kobalt Tools 500 on March 7, 2008, then went on to finish 5th in the race leading 3 laps.^[14]

Jeff Gordon collected his 65th career pole for the Goody's Cool Orange 500 on March 28, 2008 at Martinsville Speedway. Gordon went on to finish second in the race after being caught up in a crash caused by Aric Almirola and coming back from the tail end of the field. Gordon led 90 laps in the race.

Gordon finished 3rd in the Dodge Challenger 500 making that his 4th straight top 3 finish in that particular event.

Gordon scored a 3rd at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 making this finish his 4th top 3 finish in the last 8 events at Sonoma.

Other racing

Gordon has also participated in some off-road events, including a winning drive with Team USA at the 2002 Race of Champions. He was slated to run it again in 2004 against Formula 1 Champion Michael Schumacher but was sidelined by the flu, and Casey Mears took his place. In 2005, Gordon competed in the Race of Champions event again, this time held in Paris, France, where he was partnered with famed motocross racer/X Games winner Travis Pastrana. In 2007, Gordon competed in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona for the first time. He raced the #10 Pontiac for Wayne Taylor racing. His teammates consisted of: Max Angelli, Jan Magnussen, and Wayne Taylor. The team placed third in Jeff's first ever Rolex 24.

Career NASCAR statistics

Data as of July 11, 2008 ^[16]

Sponsorship and Paint

Jeff Gordon and his team have carried the nickname The Rainbow Warriors throughout the years. Jeff has always carried DuPont^[17] as a sponsor. From 1993 to 2000 Jeff carried a rainbow scheme that got the team their nickname. Throughout the years Jeff has sometimes carried different paint, such as Jurassic Park, Star Wars, and Snoopy. In 1997 Jeff signed a long-term contract with Pepsi^[17]that is still in place today. Every year Jeff has driven a car with the Pepsi scheme. In 2001, Jeff debuted a new scheme with the current flames. In 2006 Jeff acquired a new sponsor, Nicorette^[17]. In 2007, Jeff increased his partnership with Nicorette, and ran the paint scheme in 4 races. At Talladega in 2007, Jeff had a fan design contest. The design got a real treat, as Jeff won the race. Since 2007, Jeff has had the same design with different colors. Ex. Nicorette scheme, green and yellow flames. Jeff will occasionally run a scheme that will support a different type of DuPont paint such as Cromax Pro.

Personal life

Gordon's parents are Carol Ann Bickford (née Houston) and William Grinnell Gordon of Vacaville, California. He has an older sister, Kim.

Gordon met first wife Brooke Sealey after he won a Busch race. Sealey was then a college student and had been present as "Miss Winston" in the victory lane in 1992. The pair began dating in secret, due to a rule that didn't allow drivers to date Miss Winston, and were married in 1994. In 2003, Gordon's divorce from Sealey became tabloid fodder. In court papers, she asked for "exclusive use of the couple's oceanfront home, valued at $9 million, as well as alimony, two cars and periodic use of their boats and an airplane."

Gordon was introduced to Ingrid Vandebosch by a mutual friend in 2002, but they didn't begin dating until 2004.^[18] Jeff announced their engagement on June 24, 2006, at a croquet event at Meadowood Resort in St. Helena, California. According to Gordon, they had kept the engagement secret for the past 30 days.^[19] Gordon and Vandebosch were married in a small, private ceremony in Mexico on Nov. 7, 2006. On June 20, 2007, Vandebosch gave birth to their first child, Ella Sofia Gordon in New York City. ^[20][21]

Gordon owns a private jet, a British Aerospace BAE-125-800 also known as a Hawker 800 with a tail number on this jet matching his car number, N24JG^[22] and also owns a Lazzara 106 yacht called the 24 Karat. ^[23]

In 1999, Jeff Gordon established The Jeff Gordon Foundation to help support children facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses. In 2007, Jeff Gordon along with Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Mia Hamm, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning, and Cal Ripken, Jr. founded Athletes for Hope, a charitable organization, which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and inspires millions of non-athletes to volunteer and support the community.^[24].

Career awards

He is scheduled to be inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame at the January 10 2009 Chili Bowl Nationals race at Tulsa.^[2]

In popular media

Gordon occasionally appears on television shows. He has co-hosted Live with Regis and Kelly ten times on days when Regis Philbin is unavailable. In January 2003, Gordon became the first NASCAR driver to host NBC's Saturday Night Live.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Stats

NASCAR Nextel Cup results

() (Races in bold indicate pole position)