Jeff Gordon
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Jeffrey Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971 in Vallejo, California) currently lives in Charlotte, NC and is a four-time NASCAR Winston Cup (now NEXTEL Cup) Series champion and driver of the #24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. His sponsors include DuPont, Pepsi, Quaker State, Haas, GMAC, Georgia-Pacific, Sparkle, and Nicorette.
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Early career
Image:JeffGordon.jpg Jeff Gordon was a racing child prodigy, learning everything about racing from an East Texas Dirt track racer named Brian Merritt. It was Merritt who showed Gordon everything he could to help him become a better racer. Gordon began racing when he was about four years old and according to his step-father, John Bickford, racing was Jeff's idea. It may have been his idea, but his family fully supported him. Gordon's family moved from Vallejo, California to Indiana just for the racing opportunities available for drivers in general but especially for minor-aged drivers. 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. The next year Gordon won the USAC Midget title. In 1991, Gordon moved up to the USAC Silver Crown and at the age of 20 became the youngest driver to win the title. Gordon then went on to spend two successful years in the NASCAR in 1991 and 1992 Busch Series (he set a NASCAR record by capturing 11 poles in one season). Coincidentally and almost symbolically, 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. In 1993, Gordon raced his first full season in the Winston Cup for Hendrick Motorsports, where he won the Rookie of the Year award and finished 14th in points. In 1994, Jeff Gordon collected his first career victory at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in the Coca Cola 600. Additionally, Gordon scored a popular hometown victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the inagural Brickyard 400. Finally, in 1995, at the age of 24, Gordon won the first of four NASCAR Winston Cup Championships. There are only two other drivers with more than four Cup titles: Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt (both had seven titles). In 2004, Gordon also became the only NASCAR driver with four Brickyard 400 victories at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and one of only four drivers to have four victories at the historic track.
Gordon is widely regarded as the best active driver in NASCAR because he achieved so much through sheer talent at such a young age. He currently has 73 Nextel Cup victories and has yet to pass Dale Earnhardt's 76 wins, or Darrell Waltrip's modern-era NASCAR record of 84. It is also thought by many that he opened NASCAR up to the rest of the nation; before Gordon's success in NASCAR, the sport and organization was not popular outside of the Southeast United States. Gordon is still one of the best known drivers in NASCAR, often finishing 2nd in the Most Popular Driver Award seemingly every year.
Popularity and personal life
Image:JeffGordonCar.jpg Fan reaction to Gordon's continuing success has been sharply divided. Gordon remains popular in his home state of Indiana and his birth state of California, but is often booed by fans in the Deep South. Part of this schism in popularity is attributed to Gordon's "Madison Avenue" appeal, and the resentment of the Deep South of "Yankees." NASCAR for years had been a predominantly Southern sport, and many fans today attribute NASCAR's changes, not all of which are popular, to the influence of corporate sponsorships and the media. In the Internet journal Slate.com, an article speaks to the rumors, which have largely been fueled by The Globe, a tabloid of little to no credibility:
Jeff Gordon had been dating Miss Winston, Brooke Sealy, but because Sealy worked for Winston the couple was required to keep the relationship a secret. Gordon married Brooke Sealy in 1994. Their marriage ended in a very public and bitter divorce in 2003. Since his divorce, Gordon has publicly dated runway model Amanda Church, and is currently seeing aspiring actress and model Ingrid Vandebosch.
Since his last NASCAR Championship
Image:Gordon winston cup.jpg 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. Gordon was unable to qualify for the finals, as his car had trouble starting up in the quarterfinal round of the competition.
On June 11, 2003, at a special exhibition at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Gordon took laps in Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams BMW, while Montoya did laps in Gordon's Nextel Cup car. The exhibition was broadcast live by SPEED Channel, in a special called, Tradin' Paint.
On February 20, 2005 Jeff Gordon won the Daytona 500 for the third time. He previously won "The Great American Race" in 1997 and 1999. Also, Gordon won the Brickyard 400 on August of 2004, obtaining his 4th Indy win. He claimed wins at the famed raceway in 1994, 1998, and 2001.
Gordon even became a subject in Nelly's second hit song "E.I." A passage from the rapper's 2000 hit goes:
- I drive fastly, call me Jeff Gordon
- In a black S.S. with the navigation
In 2004, he finished 3rd in the NEXTEL Cup points behind Kurt Busch and teammate Jimmie Johnson even though he scored the most points throughout the whole season.
Effective September 14, 2005 Crew Chief Robbie Loomis resigned from #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, replaced Loomis as crew chief effective at New Hampshire International Speedway on September 18th, 2005. Letarte will serve his first full season as crew chief for Gordon throughout the 2006 Nextel Cup Season.
Jeff Gordon failed to qualify for Chase for the Nextel Cup in 2005 due to a disappointing finish at Richmond after a last minute run to attempt to make the Chase in the last 5 races before Richmond, where he made contact with the wall. Gordon also had very inconsistent results throughout the season, despite a victory at Daytona, which led to his missing the Chase for the Cup. On October 23th, 2005 Jeff Gordon won the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway. It was his first win in 22 points races. He went on to finish 11th in the Championship and received a $1,000,000 bonus.
In 2006, Jeff Gordon has scored 3 top 5 finishes and 3 top 10s and currently sits eighth in points through seven races in the season.