CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Blog by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Chevrolet photo —
In the back of my mind, I knew the announcement that came on January 22 would eventually happen, I was just completely unprepared for it to come when it did.
In fact, I was almost blindsided by it.
Jeff Gordon is going to stop racing full-time at the end of 2015.
Now, from someone who has literally been alive as long as Gordon has been racing in what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, I can say for a fact that I have not known a waking moment where Gordon has not been a championship driver at NASCAR’s top level.
But I’m about to. In fact, we’re all about to.
For older race fans, it’s not as hard for them to wrap their heads around. Many of them grew up watching “The King”, the “Silver Fox” and Cale compete week in and week out, and may have taken slight offense to the fact that Gordon was NASCAR’s “Golden Boy” when he came on the scene. But they couldn’t take as much offense when he backed the nickname up.
Gordon has written and neared records likely never to be matched in the modern era of Cup Series action.The numbers are a part of his legacy. They are the first indicator of his driving prowess and success.
Let’s take a look at some of the most striking ones, shall we?
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2: Gordon has won the Sprint Unlimited twice, but both of his victories (1994 and 1997) came back when the non-points invitational for season-long pole winners was still called the “Busch Clash”.
3: Gordon won the legendary Daytona 500, NASCAR’s biggest race, three times — in 1997, 1999 and most recently in 2005. Gordon also won NASCAR’s All-Star Race three times, in three of his four title years (1995, 1997, 2001).
4: Gordon won four premier series titles when the circuit was still known as the “Winston Cup Series” (in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001).
5: Gordon won his record-setting fifth Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, breaking a tie with his teammate Jimmie Johnson for the most wins at the facility in major NASCAR history and tying the legendary Michael Schumacher for the most wins in a single division in IMS history (Schumacher won five U.S. Grands Prix in Formula One competition).
Gordon also won five NASCAR Busch (now XFINITY) Series races between 1992 and 2000.
6: Gordon has won six Southern 500s at the famed Darlington Raceway, taming the track billed as “Too Tough to Tame” more than any driver in the Cup Series since his first win there in 1995. His most recent Southern 500 triumph came in 2007.
Gordon also made six consecutive International Race of Champions (IROC) appearances from 1995-2000.
10.4: Gordon’s career average starting position in NASCAR’s premier series.
12: Gordon has 12 NASCAR Busch (now XFINITY) Series pole awards to his name, but all of them were scored before he went full-time Cup racing in 1993. Gordon’s last pole in NASCAR’s second-tier series came in 1992 (he won 11 of the twelve that season en route to fourth in the points standings).
12.4: Gordon’s career average finishing position in NASCAR’s premier series.
23: Gordon will embark on his 23rd and final full-time season in 2015 since winning Rookie of the Year honors in 1993.
24: The car number that Gordon has campaigned for every race of his NASCAR premier series career, all of them driving for car owner Rick Hendrick. Gordon is the most successful driver to ever pilot the No. 24, scoring all of the number’s career victories and all but one (Glen Wood; 1960) of the number’s career poles at NASCAR’s top level.
50: Gordon was named one of NASCAR’s “50 Greatest Drivers” during the series’ 50th Anniversary Celebration in 1998.
77: The number of career premier series poles Gordon has accrued, third on NASCAR’s all-time list.
92: The number of career premier series victories Gordon has claimed, also third on NASCAR’s all-time list.
320: Gordon has finished in the top five 320 times over the course of his career at NASCAR’s top level, with his first coming at the Daytona 500 in his rookie year of 1993 (he finished fifth). Gordon’s mark is third on NASCAR’s all-time list.
454: Gordon has finished in the top ten more in more than half of his career premier series starts, with the most recent coming .
761: The number of career starts that Gordon has made in his Cup Series career, all consecutive dating back to his debut at Atlanta in November of 1992.
789: The career start that will mark Gordon surpassing Ricky Rudd for the “Ironman” (most consecutive starts) honor in NASCAR premier series competition. Provided Gordon does not miss a race between now and then, Gordon is set to make career start No. 789 at Loudon during the Chase in September.
24,664: Gordon’s career laps led mark at NASCAR’s top level. With 336 laps led this season, Gordon will cross the 25,000-laps led
218,360: Gordon’s career laps completed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
$146,089,198: Gordon’s career Sprint Cup earnings entering the 2015 season.
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Staggering numbers, aren’t they?
So, now that you’ve had a second to process all of that, just think about this.
What Jeff Gordon has done in the modern era of NASCAR is likely never to be matched for the rest of the sport’s history. There’s too much parity, too many good faces and too many variables in this age of the sport for anyone to dominate like he did early in his career and maintain that high a level of performance as long as he has. The only other driver that has come close? Of course, that’s Gordon’s teammate and the driver he helped pick to enter Hendrick Motorsports in 2002 — Jimmie Johnson. No surprise there.
But Gordon’s accomplishments and legacy go far beyond his accomplishments on the race track. In a way, it was fitting that he introduced Wendell Scott during last Friday’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, because like Scott, Gordon blazed a trail for others to follow.
He was a West Coast boy who grew up in the Midwest, and was one of the first superstars to transition from the USAC and open wheel ranks over to NASCAR full-time — not just successfully, but stunningly.
And if it wasn’t for that, Tony Stewart says he might not have ever gotten his chance in NASCAR.
“(I) can’t imagine being at the track without Jeff Gordon,” Stewart wrote on Twitter after the announcement 2015 would be Gordon’s final full-time season. “I don’t think I would have ever had my opportunity without Jeff paving the way.”
Stewart went on to add that the news caught him “off-guard”.
“It caught me off-guard,” Stewart said during the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom. “I think it caught everybody off-guard. I always thought my whole life, especially early when we were rivals, I thought, ‘Man, I can’t wait until this guy announces his retirement,’ but it’s the polar opposite. I was really sad. I can’t imagine the day that he is not in the 24 car at the track. It’s not something I am looking forward to.”
But Stewart also emphasized a quality that defines Gordon’s legacy on-track more than any other.
“I think we all respect Jeff Gordon, everything that he has done in this sport. I don’t think any of us ever imagined the day we weren’t going to see him in a car. As the season gets closer to the end, you are going to see a lot of people that are pretty sad about it, especially his peers that he races with.”
I know I will be one of those people. It’s going to be tough to watch, but it will also be something to smile about in a way.
Think about it. Gordon will be able to walk off in competitive fashion and his wife and two children (Ella and Leo) will be able to see him at the top of his game one more time. He’ll be able to spend time with them and not have to give up the important moments — and from everything I’ve heard the four-time champion say of late, that is important to him.
Gordon will also be able to devote more time to his charity work with the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation in their work to find a cure for pediatric cancer. The cause is one that’s close to Gordon’s heart and one he will continue to fight for long after the 2015 season ends.
“It’s been an incredible opportunity (already),” Gordon says. “I remember the first time I went to a hospital in Winston-Salem, a children’s hospital and met a family and a child that was battling cancer the first time. I didn’t know how to react. I didn’t know why I was there or how I could help.”
“When I left there I knew that I wanted to do more and find a way to help in more than just maybe getting an autograph or taking a picture. So it was not long after that Ray Evernham’s son was diagnosed with leukemia. We started a program together called Racing For a Reason. Shortly after that Mr. Hendrick was also diagnosed with leukemia, so in 1999 I formed the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation, and we started primarily doing work with Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, pediatric cancer, and that grew into doing research with some of the top hospitals in the country, like Riley Hospital For Children, Levine here in Charlotte, and Children’s National in D.C., and working with the Children’s Oncology Group. That led to other opportunities like working with the Clinton Global Initiative and taking things abroad to other countries.”
“So it’s been amazing. It’s given me something also to be very proud of beyond just driving a race car, but also I know there is so much more that needs to be done for pediatric cancer that I want to be a part of in the future.”
And then of course, there’s Hendrick Motorsports. I’m not sure if there’s anyone out there who doesn’t expect Jeff to take a large role in the business side of the team once he steps out of the Cup car for the last time at Homestead. I said this to someone a couple of weeks ago and I believe it — as gritty as Rick Hendrick is, there will come a day, just like there came the day of Jeff Gordon’s retirement, that Mr. H will no longer be able to run the day to day aspects of Hendrick Motorsports.
Who better to step up to that job than the driver who first made HMS into the NASCAR superpower it is today? I’m not saying that’s what will happen for certain, but when you think about it — it does make some sense, doesn’t it?
For right now though, Gordon says he wants to focus on 2015 — and then give back to the fans who got him to where he is today.
“My plan is that I’ll be back at the track in 2016 doing all kinds of things with the fans,” Gordon said of his future plans. “I’m certainly going to be there at Hendrick Motorsports and the team. I’ll be a major fixture at the track quite a bit in 2016, and I look forward to really getting interaction to those fans that have been so loyal to me over the years.”
“I think they want me to be competitive out there when I’m on the track. That means a lot to me.”
I can say from a fan standpoint and a student of the sport’s history that there is nothing I personally want more than to see Gordon go out on top this year and make a statement one last time. He’s called it the “Drive for Five” for years, and he’s got one last shot to make it a reality.
But whether he gets his fifth Cup title or not, Jeff Gordon’s legacy — as a driver, a trailblazer, a respected figure in the garage, a family man, a philanthropist and supporter to the only team he has ever driven for — is already secure in enough ways that it will shine brightly for many years to come.
