Jeff Gordon: His Dream, Drive & Destiny

by Joe Garner

  BRICKYARD 400—AUGUST 6, 1994

  I don’t remember the exact moment or day, but when they announced NASCAR would be racing at Indianapolis, it was huge for me. Rick Mast was on the pole, Dale Earnhardt was second, and I started third. Those two really drove in hard on the first turn and made contact right in front of me. Earnhardt made it as far as turn four then hit the wall, and was pretty much done for the day. I got out front on lap three and then swapped the lead with Geoff Bodine, Rusty Wallace, and Ernie Irvin for the next 140 laps. Bodine was actually taken out by his younger brother Brett. Over the last twenty laps, Irvin and I passed each other five times, and then he blew a right front tire with five laps to go. I don’t think I actually took a breath until the checkered flag. That first Brickyard 400 victory will always be one of the biggest and the most significant moments of my career.

  CROWN ROYAL PRESENTS THE JOHN WAYNE WALDING 400 AT THE BRICKYARD—JULY 27, 2014

  I needed this win to guarantee a spot in the chase, but a win would also tie the record for the most wins at the track. The last restart happened with about fifteen laps to go. I was outside my teammate Kasey Kahne. I’m not very good on restarts, but I nailed it when it counted and got the lead. I was trying so hard to block out the crowd, but I just couldn’t do it. I’d glance up and could see the reactions, and those emotions take over. To do something special—to tie the record at the track—that meant so much to me my entire racing career, well, there was only one thing better than doing it. It was having my family there to share it with me.

  KANSAS SPEEDWAY

  LOCATION: Kansas City, Kansas

  MILE AND SHAPE: 1.5-mile tri-oval racetrack

  TRACK FACT: This is a motorsports facility with a 72,000-seat capacity

  KANSAS WAS A NATURAL FIT FOR ME. Built in 2001, it’s one of the newer track facilities on the schedule. It suited my driving style. I liked the layout, the transitions, and the grip level. I enjoyed racing there all the way through my career. I won the first two Cup races in the track’s history in 2001 and 2002 as well as the inaugural night race in the spring of 2014.

  PROTECTION ONE 400—SEPTEMBER 30, 2001

  On a September 10, 2001 flight from Denver to Newark, New Jersey, Rob Quillen made the acquaintance of United Airlines pilot Captain Jason Dahl. During the flight Rob discovered both Dahl and his then fifteen-year-old son were big fans of mine; something they had in common with Rob. Rob had two extra tickets to the upcoming race at Kansas and invited Captain Dahl to bring his son to the race. The next day, September 11, Captain Dahl was piloting United Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

  Shortly after, Rob reached out to us and shared the story. He said Matt and his mother had decided to come to the race and asked if I’d meet them. I said yes immediately. I met Matt briefly race-day morning and he got to hang out with the team in the pit box. He had a great time. But his mom needed to get him back home for school the next day. So they left the race before it ended. I wish he could have stayed a little longer because I won the race that day and I would have enjoyed sharing the celebration with him in Victory Lane. Captain Dahl was one of the heroes of 9/11 and it was great having his son at the race. I hope that fulfilling his dad’s plan to attend the race gave Matt a break from what he was going through.

  THE 5-HOUR ENERGY 400—MAY 10, 2014

  It was a stormy start to this Mother’s Day weekend race. I remember the lightning threatening to pick off the cameramen in their posts up around the track. When we finally got on the track, Kevin Harvick took the lead and held it for 119 laps until a caution shuffled him back in the pack.

  Then if dealing with the rain delay wasn’t enough, the storm had knocked out the lights on the backstretch. We were racing on a track that was only half lit. I remember Danica Patrick was also having one of the best nights of her Cup career, running as high as third at one point. Eventually Kevin was back up front. But under the final green flag stop, he ran out of fuel coming to pit road which cost him a lot of time. Although I was able to get ahead, I barely held him off on the final lap for the win.

  MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY

  LOCATION: Ridgeway, Virginia, just south of Martinsville

  MILE AND SHAPE: 0.526-mile oval track

  TRACK FACT: It is the shortest track located in Henry County.

  THERE’S NOTHING NATURAL ABOUT MARTINSVILLE. It’s one of the oldest, shortest, and trickiest tracks in the series. A stock car doesn’t do anything you want it to on that track. Our cars have a lot of power, very small tires, and not a lot of down force. At Martinsville, we try to accelerate, brake, and turn the sharpest turns, and experience the most wheel spin. It goes against all physics. But because of the success I’ve had there, it’s grown on me as a track. I love the place.

  ADVANCE AUTO PARTS 500—APRIL 10, 2005

  Coming back and winning the spring race the season after the tragic plane crash was one of the hardest-earned and most satisfying victories of my career. Five laps into the race, I was three laps behind in fortieth place. I wasn’t thinking about brakes, tires, nothing—just going as hard as I could. I bumped, finessed, pushed, shoved, and picked off positions one at a time to make up the laps. I even got into two fender-banging duels with Kurt Busch late in the race. I wasn’t happy that a sixteenth caution flag came out with less than ten laps to go, but I stayed focused. Eventually, I pulled away from Kasey Kahne with three laps to go and won by a couple car lengths. I’ll never forget seeing Rick Hendrick there to greet me as I pulled into Victory Lane. He poked his head in the window and just said, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” It hit me like a ton of bricks. Winning never felt better. It wasn’t going to erase the memory of the tragedy. But symbolically the victory became a tribute to our ten team members and friends who were killed. It was a reminder that life goes on, and Martinsville could once again be a place we looked forward to race.

  MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

  LOCATION: Brooklyn, Michigan

  MILE AND SHAPE: 2-mile moderate-banked D-shaped speedway

  TRACK FACT: This facility has a seating capacity of 71,000.

  MICHIGAN’S ALWAYS BEEN A FAVORITE TRACK. It’s not always the best racing. It’s not always at the top of many people’s list. It often has long green flag runs which sometimes isn’t thought of as the most exciting racing. But as a racecar driver—and purely from a driver’s standpoint—I just loved racing that track because it’s big and fast with wide, sweeping corners, long straightaways, and multiple grooves. Any track that you can search for a groove is a track most drivers enjoy. It’s like Atlanta and Charlotte in that respect. It’s a track where you can change your arc into the corner. You can go in on the top and come off the bottom, or you can go into the middle and come off the top.

  KMART 400—JUNE 12, 2001

  When you win a race, it gives you momentum going into the next week. We dominated at Dover and so we were very excited about our chances at Michigan. We won the pole and I knew we had a good car, but Ricky Rudd sure didn’t make it easy. He started second, and we pretty much stayed that way for most of the day until we both got messed up on a late pit stop. I had to go back in for a loose lug nut, and Ricky had a tire issue. We came out tenth and eleventh with twenty-five laps to go. We were able to race back through traffic and catch the leader, Sterling Marlin, when there was a caution flag with ten laps to go. I was able to get back into the lead, and got away from Ricky a little bit, but five laps later there was another caution. I got a good restart, and Ricky stayed with me. But he drove it in a bit too hard when he tried to make a pass going into turn one on the final lap. Not only was it a great race, it was also the one hundredth win for Hendrick Motorsports, which I was very proud to get for Rick.

  PURE MICHIGAN 400—AUGUST 17, 2014

  The weekend started off very fast. I won the pole, set a new track record of 205.558 mph for the qualifying lap and led for sixty-eight laps. But it came down to a final restart. Joey Logano, who led
for more laps than we did and had been strong on restarts all day, was next to me with seventeen laps to go. I thought he had a good start, but I had one, too. Restarts are not only crucial, but they are intense because of the speed we’re carrying there. I won the race, earning my third trip to Victory Lane that year and my ninety-first career victory. Jimmie Johnson won at Michigan in the June race that year giving Hendrick Motorsports a clean sweep and bragging rights for Chevrolet in the backyard of Motor City.

  Jeff Gordon, four-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion, walking the track at Watkins Glen, August 8, 2015.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  THIS BOOK WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE without the dedicated, enthusiastic, and generous cooperation of Jeff Gordon. I am enormously grateful and honored for his confidence in me to tell the story of his life and career. The person I got to know is purposeful, humble, fiercely competitive, naturally curious, perceptive, compassionate, and passionate. Over the course of eight months in 2015 and 2016, interviews took place whenever and wherever his schedule permitted; in cars, planes, and his motor coach at the tracks as well as at his homes in New York and Charlotte. I logged well over 35,000 miles in the process but it would not have been possible without Jeff’s continued involvement and commitment to make himself available and offer input at every step of this project. I am also greatly appreciative of his wife, Ingrid Vandebosch-Gordon, for contributing her story and for her creative contributions to the design of the cover and interior of the book. It’s my sincerest hope that this book justifies both Jeff’s and Ingrid’s trust in me.

  I am extremely grateful to John and Carol Bickford. They welcomed me from the outset. It’s just their nature. They both graciously sat through hours of interviews sharing details of their incredible journey. It was John who introduced the idea of this book to me and made sure all doors were open during its researching. I’m certain I would not have been able to tell as thorough a story without his direction and encyclopedic memory. Although John occasionally reminded me, “there was only one seat in that race car,” there’s no doubt a measurable percentage of Jeff’s success is due directly to John and Carol’s unfaltering love and dedication.

  I am also grateful to the other members of Jeff’s family for sharing their personal recollections and insights with me, especially his father, Billy Gordon, his sister Kimberly (Gordon) Combs, his nephew Brandon Perry, and his stepbrother, John Bickford, Jr.

  I am greatly appreciative for the support and cooperation of Hendrick Motorsports, especially Rick Hendrick, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for generously sharing their stories and perspectives.

  I am truly grateful to Tom Cruise for generously consenting to provide the foreword. His passion for the sport and admiration for Jeff are genuine and he could not have been more gracious.

  I am appreciative of the team at Jeff Gordon, Inc. for their support and cooperation, including Michael Holland, Ryan Hutcheson, Dan Guffey, Jon Edwards, Patience Compton, Jennifer Jones, Eddie Millsaps, and Archie Kennedy.

  Thank you to the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation, particularly Trish Kriger, Executive Director, and D. Wade Clapp, M.D., a member of the Board of Directors, for agreeing to be interviewed about the work of the Foundation. I would also like to thank Allison & Quinn Clarke, Jayson & Tatum Parker, and Shannon & Olivia Pierce for sharing their courageous stories of battling cancer, the ways in which they’ve benefitted from JGCF, and how they’re helping other children and families with their fight against childhood cancer.

  I am profoundly appreciative of the time and access provided by Ray Evernham. Ray graciously sat for a lengthy, insightful, and candid interview which was essential to this project, in addition to granting me access to his substantial photo and clipping collection. Thank you to Ann Eaton at Ray Evernham Enterprises, LLC for her kind hospitality during my visit and for providing content in this book.

  My sincerest thanks to Brian Whitesell, Robbie Loomis, Steve Letarte, and Alan Gustafson for willingly sharing their knowledge, recollections, and perspectives. This book is better because of it.

  The sprint/midget/Silver Crown and initial Busch Grand National era of Jeff’s career has not been as well documented as his Cup career. For that reason, I am all the more grateful to the following individuals who each offered their time and recollections to add to the richness of that era in the story: Rollie Helmling, Terry Winterbotham, Fred Ede, Jr., Jack Hewitt, Cary Agajanian, Dave Heitmeyer and Hugh Connerty.

  I am particularly grateful to Bill and Gail Davis. For many reasons, they could have refused to participate. Instead, they could not have been more gracious and willing to share their perspective, further insuring the integrity of the story. Visiting with them was one of the highlights of this experience.

  There are several people I had the honor of meeting and interviewing who played very important roles at various points in Jeff’s career. Among them: Bill Armour; Ron Miller; Lee Morse; Mike Helton; Howard “Humpy” Wheeler; and Bobby Labonte. Each provided a unique perspective that enhanced the authenticity of the story.

  Dave Despain and Terry Lingner each had a hand in helping Jeff’s star rise and I am grateful for their contributions to this book.

  Motorsports journalist Bill Holder offered not only his time but after his interview, he forwarded his entire Jeff Gordon folder stuffed with clippings, photos, and artifacts. Bill was an invaluable resource and I am extremely grateful to him.

  Bob Brannan, who oversaw Jeff Gordon, Inc. for over nine years, provided his perspective on several pivotal moments in Jeff’s life and career. Ron Faust and Hal Price, who helped facilitate Pepsi’s sponsorship of Jeff’s career. Their firsthand accounts, along with Hal’s handwritten notes, were invaluable.

  I appreciate having had the opportunity of speaking with Greg DeCaires and Rod Sherry, Jeff’s longtime friends. Both were able to provide insights into Jeff’s life on and off the track when he lived in Vallejo, California.

  To Jeff’s close-knit friends in Pittsboro, Indiana—Bruce Pfeifer, Chris Cooper, Jim Bear, Greg Waters, Jason Love, and Jeff Broshears. Their interview was one of my more memorable experiences. Jeff’s friend Andy Graves picked up Jeff’s story after he left Pittsboro. I am grateful to each of them for being so welcoming and candid.

  Last, but certainly not least, I am indebted to my intrepid team. Todd Schindler, for his incredible writing and editing talent; Lynnsey Guerrero, for his invaluable editorial contributions and his irreplaceable role as a sounding board for ideas and research; and the team at becker&mayer, for their perseverance and support in making this book a physical reality. And of course, my son James and daughter Jillian for their unwavering love and support throughout.

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