Jeff Gordon: His Dream, Drive & Destiny

by Joe Garner

  It was the money clip he’d received from Richard Petty that inspired Jeff to present a commemorative gift to each of the drivers competing in his final race. Jeff gave each driver a black carbon-fiber ring box, engraved with the driver’s starting position on a small plaque that read, “Thanks for the Memories.—Jeff Gordon.”

  “I wanted the day to be remembered not just by the fans, but by the drivers as well. I think everybody really appreciated it. I got a lot of texts from drivers saying, ‘You’re a class act, man.’ ‘Thank you very much.’ It was the younger drivers that seemed to appreciate it the most. The fact that I’d thought of them, that meant the world to them,” he says.

  At the drivers’ meeting, where there were more than a few No. 24 hats on the heads of his rivals, they showed a video celebrating Jeff’s career. After the meeting, he went back to his trailer to do his stretching regimen, ride a few minutes on the exercise bike, and get ready for the race.

  A specially made helmet featuring images from throughout Jeff’s career. Jeff wore the helmet for his final Cup race, and then presented it to Rick Hendrick.

  Jeff doing a pre-race interview with NBC.

  The No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet prepped and ready for Jeff’s final ride.

  Jeff with racing legend Mario Andretti (left) and British Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton (right).

  Jeff and Ella walk out during driver introductions.

  Ella hides behind a podium while Jeff poses with the three other championship contenders.

  Jeff and family posing with Rick and Linda Hendrick and the entire No. 24 team prior to the race.

  Jeff competing in his final championship race, Miami, 2015.

  When the announcer trumpeted out his name, the crowd erupted and rose as Jeff made his way down the stage, holding his daughter’s hand. Whether they had loved him or hated him over the years, for that moment, win or lose, he was everybody’s hero, everybody’s champion. It wasn’t just his career coming to an end. It was an era. It was the last link to Petty and Earnhardt and all the other erstwhile greats who bumped and rubbed back when stock-car racing was still largely a regional deal and Jeff was a wide-eyed pup.

  Jeff gives Ella a kiss on the cheek pre-race, Homestead-Miami Speedway, November 22, 2015.

  Jeff reminiscing with racing legend Mario Andretti, Miami, 2015.

  Jeff visiting pre-race with British Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton, Miami, 2015.

  And then, after a few delays due to a passing rainstorm, Jeff walked off toward his car, followed by scores of friends, family, supporters, photographers, and journalists. On any other day, he would have grown anxious and impatient by all the distraction and mayhem just moments before climbing into his car to compete for a championship. But he insists, “There was nothing that was going to upset me at that point on that day. It was the opposite of the norm, where I’m so tuned in to getting into the car and I can’t wait to get rid of all the people and get in and do my job,” he says. “I think I would have been disappointed had I not just taken it as it came.”

  Thirty minutes later, following all the kisses and embraces and well wishes, track officials managed to clear everyone off, and Jeff climbed in and buckled up. At one point, his interior technician Jordan Allen, after handing Jeff his helmet and steering wheel, got a little glassy-eyed, and Jeff good-naturedly lambasted him. “Really? Right now, Jordan? I’m getting ready to freaking drive off and you’re doing this now,” he said. “He had all weekend to do that, and he did it right then. I was joking around, just enjoying the moment, having fun with it all and being pretty loose. I wasn’t nervous. I wasn’t emotional or anything at that point. I was just going through the motions, but in a fun way.” And then he was off.

  As soon as the green flag dropped, Jeff realized the car had a bit more pace than he had anticipated. “I knew we had a decent car going into the race but not the best car. So it was a pleasant surprise when we got the green and it felt as good as it did,” says Jeff. After an early caution and restart, he worked his way up from sixth place to third place, where he battled door to door with Kevin Harvick for several laps before Harvick was able to knock him back. After a second restart, on lap thirty-six, with all four championship contenders running in the top six, Jeff jumped out to the lead. He couldn’t hear the roar of the crowd, but he could sense it. “I was excited,” he says, “and I felt like others were excited. And I was like, all right, maybe we actually have something for them today.”

  But the cautions were falling like rain, and within four laps, they had to do it all again. This time, although he started up front, it didn’t work out so well. Kevin Harvick quickly blew by him, followed by Kyle Busch. “I could tell they were a little better than we were,” he admits. He soon dropped back to eighth, then to ninth, with Martin Truex Jr. eventually passing him, and he languished back there. “I was like, yeah, we’re not good enough. I hoped that we could adjust and that maybe when the sun went down, it might change. Maybe we’d get good track position on a pit stop or a restart or whatever. But we just never recovered after that. We had a car that could maintain track position, but we didn’t have a car that could drive up through there.”

  With six laps left, he did manage to move up from tenth to sixth, ahead of Truex, but the other contenders, Busch and Harvick, crossed the finish line in that order, the win giving Busch his first Sprint Cup championship.

  Ingrid, Ella, and Leo congratulate Jeff after the race, Miami, 2015.

  “I would say it was the most amazing race we, and I, ever had, up until the green flag dropped,” Jeff says. “And there’s no doubt that’s true. Everything leading into it couldn’t have been better. But it just wasn’t the Cinderella story; it wasn’t the perfect ending. And it wasn’t from lack of effort. I’ve never seen the team work so hard. They were so excited because they felt like they built a car that could go down there and win. And I believe they did, but we missed something—some detail in the setup—and we just didn’t have the speed of Harvick and Busch.”

  Climbing out of the car, he couldn’t help but be disappointed, for himself, for the team, and particularly for Gustafson, whom he would have loved to celebrate a title with. “I’d won four championships, and I didn’t have to have this championship, although it would have been icing on the cake and amazing to go out of the sport like that,” he says. “But for someone like Alan, he’s sitting there thinking, ‘I don’t know when my next opportunity is coming to be in this position again.’ So I wanted to make the most of it.”

  Jeff ready for his post-race bash in Miami, 2015.

  He hugged Rick Hendrick and gave him his helmet, while members of the team began to gather round. Always the competitor, he was having trouble letting go of the race enough to really let the significance of the end of his career seep in. As he gave a quick interview to a FOX broadcaster, Ella came up and nuzzled him, followed by Ingrid and Leo. “It’s a happy, good day,” he said. “I wanted that win, but we’re still going to celebrate.”

  By the time Jeff had congratulated Kyle Busch, finished his post-race interviews and given one last wave to the fans, he and Ingrid were running late for the big party and had to hightail it back to Miami to get ready. Eventually they made it. “It was great,” Jeff says. “It was good getting to see and interact with a lot of people who have been friends throughout many years, and family and all that. . . . We had a great time.”

  Over 200 family, friends, and colleagues celebrating the conclusion of Jeff’s incredible Cup Series career. It was the hottest ticket in town, November 22, 2015.

  Jeff and Ingrid at the Last Lap party in Miami, November 22, 2015.

  The great time went on and on, with people jumping into the pool and one of Jeff’s teammates dumping an ice bucket on his head like a football Gatorade shower. But nothing was going to ruin his night. When they shuffled back to the hotel, it was five o’clock in the morning.

  At the NASCAR year-end banquet in Las Vegas on December 4, they venerated Jeff lik
e a motorsports saint. It was hard enough for him to accept the adoration of his peers and fans without getting emotional, but then, as third place finisher among the season’s top 10 drivers, he was expected to get up and say a few words. He’d never enjoyed giving banquet speeches—“There’s nothing else I do all year that I get as nervous about,” he confessed—and he knew this one would be particularly tough, it being his last. Having Ingrid and the kids in attendance made it that much more challenging to hold back the floodgates of emotion.

  Before his scheduled introduction by host Drew Carey, they played a video of his fellow drivers saluting and congratulating him on his illustrious career. “It was hard for me not to get caught up in that moment. So I didn’t want to hear it,” he admits. “In the back of my mind, I’m sitting there going, ‘oh man, this is going to be an absolute disaster. I’m going to go up there and I’m going to be babbling, tears running down. I’m not going to be able to get through any of this.’ My heart was racing, sweaty palms, the whole thing.”

  When the video ended, it wasn’t Drew Carey who came to the podium to offer the prologue to Jeff’s speech. It was Tom Cruise. The actor had been a big supporter of Jeff’s since the two met at the post–Academy Awards party in 1997. “That they got somebody of his significance to come do that and that they surprised me, that hit me hard,” Jeff recalls. “I just looked at Rick Hendrick and said, ‘Oh shit, I’m screwed.’ ”

  As Cruise spoke about his life and achievements, his charitable works at home and around the world, the four-time champion sat with Ella on his lap, his chin quivering, dabbing his tearing eyes with a napkin. Coming to a close, Cruise said, “Transcendence—few reach it. He did. And although many of us want to say, ‘We’ll miss you,’ what we really mean is, ‘We thank you.’ ”

  Jeff and Tom Cruise share a laugh on-stage at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Awards banquet at the Wynn Las Vegas, December 4, 2015.

  Ingrid, Ella, Leo, and Jeff pose in formal attire for the media prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Awards banquet at the Wynn Las Vegas, December 4, 2015.

  “When he said that, I’ll never forget it,” Jeff says. “It just, man, it really got to me. That was very, very cool. And I was just trying to figure out how I was going to get through it. I was trying to take some deep breaths and get prepared.”

  As he came to the stage to a standing ovation, he was surprised again, this time by NASCAR’s chairman and CEO Brian France, who presented him with the prestigious Bill France Award of Excellence.

  And then he gathered himself and spoke. When he talked about stepping away from racing, he was briefly overcome and had to pause. He said he thought his retirement wouldn’t truly sink in until he got to Daytona in 2016 and stepped into the broadcast booth instead of the No. 24, but it was clear that it was starting to hit home. He struggled against getting overly sentimental, but the crowd cheered in appreciation. He choked up again when he came to thanking Rick Hendrick and his parents.

  Jeff delivering an emotional farewell speech at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Awards banquet at the Wynn Las Vegas, December 4, 2015.

  Jeff’s passion, his emotion, the warmth, the love—it was all on display. But what he felt most keenly, and what he most poignantly expressed, was a deep sense of gratefulness—gratefulness for the people, the circumstances, and the opportunities that had allowed a young boy from California to turn his childhood dream into something far more immense and far more meaningful than he ever could have imagined.

  “I think, wow, I grew up as a kid wanting to be a professional racecar driver, and I got to have a lot of success as a young kid and all these cool experiences, traveling all over the place. And I got to go race against some of my heroes and race sprint cars, and that was something I always wanted to do. I got to win some big races, graduate from high school, and go on and become a professional racecar driver and do it at a level I never thought was possible. And for that, I’m forever grateful and amazed at the same time.

  “But there’s also a lot of talented racecar drivers out there that never got that chance, never got that opportunity, who could have excelled as much or more than I did. But for whatever reason, the stars aligned. I met this person and that person, and I got to drive this car and get this sponsor and have fans and win races. And that’s cool. That’s just extremely cool.

  “But I think that even with all the accolades, what I’m most proud about is how I did it, how I went about it. Because whether you like me or not, you have to see the effort that I put into it—into what I did on the racetrack and what I did off the racetrack.”

  That night at the banquet, Brian France summed it up best. He told Jeff that his award would “always be a reminder that you gave everything you could to the sport you loved so much.”

  JEFF’S TEN FAVORITE TRACKS

  IN HIS TWENTY-THREE FULL-TIME NASCAR Cup Series seasons, Jeff competed on some of the most challenging racetracks in all of motor sports. In his own words, Jeff reflects on the significance of his ten favorite tracks and shares some of his most memorable moments.

  ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY

  LOCATION: Hampton, Georgia; 20 miles south of Atlanta.

  MILE AND SHAPE: 1.54-mile quad-oval track

  TRACK FACT: It opened in 1960 as a 1.5-mile standard oval.

  I LIKED ATLANTA FROM THE FIRST TIME I raced there in the Busch Grand National car for Bill Davis. I won the pole and the race. It’s superfast with great transitions and big, long sweeping corners. You have to push the limits of the car to get on the edge and stay on the edge. I liked that aspect of it, especially in my earlier years. I was able to utilize some of my dirt-track skills.

  The track has changed tremendously since then. They’ve completely reconfigured how the corners are laid out. It took a little while for it to age and develop a more abrasive surface, and that’s what everybody loves about it now. It wears the tires out. There’s a groove on the bottom, in the middle and at the top, which is how it used to be. It’s just a fun, exciting, and fast racetrack.

  ATLANTA 300—MARCH 14, 1992

  You’re always a little bit intimidated by the unknown, and in 1992 the track was an unknown for me. We showed a lot of speed and I had the car to win. I just had to make sure I didn’t screw it up.

  It was a Busch race and we dominated that weekend. Harry Gant was second, Hut Stricklin was third, Davey Allison fourth, and Mark Martin came in eighth. I even had a couple of great battles with Earnhardt but eventually he had head gasket issues and came in thirty-first. These were all Cup guys. So to win the race from the pole against those competitors my first time on the track was amazing. Rick Hendrick happened to be there watching me that day. As he’s said, “I was just waiting for the wreck and the wreck never happened.” I ended up winning the race and Rick was like, “Wow, who’s this guy?” That was my introduction to Hendrick Motorsports.

  CRACKER BARREL OLD COUNTRY STORE 500—MARCH 11, 2001

  This was one of my favorite finishes . . . even though I didn’t win. The shock of Dale Earnhardt’s death at the Daytona 500 the month before carried into the next several races. Dale had won the Atlanta race the previous year, so it was another reminder he was gone. Then here comes this guy, Kevin Harvick, who Richard Childress put in Dale’s place. The rest of Dale’s team was the same and they were fired up. Determined to honor Dale in every way they could, and even though it was only Kevin’s third race in the Cup Series, he kept the car in contention. Dale Jarrett and Jerry Nadeau were battling for the lead, Harvick was in third, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and I were right there in fourth and fifth.

  Harvick made his move on the bottom to take them three-wide and make the pass for the lead with five to go. It was awesome. Jarrett got loose and Dale Jr. cut down a tire, then I passed Nadeau. I made my move on Harvick. We were side-by-side, but it was too late. He crossed the finish line about half a bumper ahead of me. Richard Childress and the whole team were crying. The crowd in the stands was going crazy, especially when Kevin drove around giving the th
ree-fingered salute out his window in honor of Dale. Watching the replay sends chills up my spine to this day.

  ADVOCARE 500—SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

  At that point in my career, Jimmie Johnson was the dominant driver. He almost passed me a couple of times but couldn’t quite complete them. We were both driving all out and sliding the cars to the limit. Jimmie made one final run for it on the last lap, but he had to back off to keep from putting his car in the wall and I won. So to battle him and get my eighty-fifth win—which moved me up to third all-time—was a huge moment for me personally and for us as a team. I was pretty excited about that one, and it definitely adds to the significance of Atlanta in my career.

  BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY

  LOCATION: Bristol, Tennessee

  MILE AND SHAPE: 0.533-mile oval track with 36-degrees of banking in the corners

  TRACK FACT: Bristol Motor Speedway was formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway.

  I LOVE WALKING THE TRACK AT BRISTOL. Most tracks don’t allow you to walk them without permission and going through security. But that’s not the case at Bristol. It’s even more special at night when the lights are on. It’s almost like a Zen thing for me. I’ll probably continue to do it when I visit even though I won’t be driving it. This is one of those tracks that brings out the fan in all of us.

  They’ve reconfigured the track so it’s totally different from when I first raced on it. It was still concrete then, but the way the banking worked, you wanted to be nailed right down to the bottom of the racetrack. And because there was only one groove, your job was to force your opponents to make a mistake, get them off the bottom, and get your nose in there. That’s how you made your passes. But when you worked out the setup, it was like magic.