Jeff Gordon: Portrait of a Champion

by Jeff Gordon

Overview

"Go out and work hard and just take it one step at a time."

He is a living legend, an athlete whodominates his sport as few otherscan. With his rainbow-colored No.24 Dupont Chevrolet Monte Carlo, JeffGordon has accomplished what no

man before him could. In 1997, he wonhis second NASCAR Winston Cup

Series championship...the Daytona

500...the Coca-Cola 600...the Southern500...The Winston ...the Busch Clash.And he became only the second driver

to win NASCAR's toughest prize: The

Winston Million.

This stunning photographic portrait captures that extraordinary year--from the opening race at Daytona to theAtlanta Motor Speedway where the title became his-- and offers an intimate glimpse of the man behind the wheel himself. You'll discover what he really thinks about life on and off the track including: his family

NASCAR racing

• the people who have helped shape his career
• his spirituality
• his fans
• being a role model
• the Rainbow Warriors
• and much more.

Honest and straightforward, Jeff shares his triumphs and his failures, what it takes to be the best and what the future may hold. Here is a rare look at an amazing champion on the road to glory.

"Don't ever quit. Don't ever stop fighting. It's not over 'til it's over."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062004277
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/17/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	112
File size:	30 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

Read an Excerpt

Q & A with Jeff Gordon
Did you ever think that at 26 you'd be celebrating your second NASCAR Winston championship?
Oh, no, absolutely not. The first championship was certainly a big surprise. I think getting to this level of the Winston Cup you sort of expect to be in the back for a while and it takes a while to win. It takes experience and it certainly is going to take time to win a championship. We've done a lot of things in a short period of time that I certainly never expected would happen. But it just kind of shows what a great team we have and how things have really gone well for us. You know, it doesn't just take great race cars, or a driver, crew chief, or a team, it takes all those things to go your way, and it's pretty amazing that we've had that happen twice now in different seasons-really having things go well for us, into two Winston Cup championships.
What's the scariest moment you've had on the track, and off the track?
Well, I've been racing for a long time so there's certainly been plenty of scary moments on the racetrack. But I would say when you're on a racetrack like maybe a Talladega, averaging 190 plus miles per hour, and you get in a crash, you just don't know if it's going to end, you don't know if the car is going to get air-borne, because of the air moving so fast it'll pick these cars up and fling them around. So, I crashed at Talladega a couple of years ago. Pretty scary. I got into the wall, me and another car. I started spinning, and it just seemed like I was spinning and spinning forever. Then I got hit on one side and just when you think it's over, I open my eyes and all of a sudden, bang, it hit again, closed my eyes, think it's over, open my eyes up, then bam, get hit again. It just seems like it'll go on forever and those are probably the scariest moments, when things like that are happening in a place that is so fast. But I've had some pretty tough crashes, some bad wrecks on different types of racetracks, different races where I've actually flipped, you know, several times in the dirt cars, and midgets, and sprint cars, and things like that.
Off the track, I really can't think of any thing off-hand really scary.
Do you expect to win every race?
Yes and no. I certainly don't go out there thinking that we're going to win every race, but I think we have a chance at winning every race, and we go out there with that attitude thinking, "Hey, we're one of the best teams out there. We've got good race cars. We've got the combination of what it takes to win out there." I think if you go into a race thinking that you can't win, then you're already one step behind. So we always go out there thinking that we can win, but we don't expect it.
Where do you see yourself five years from now?
That's a good question. I think when you're involved in the sport that I'm involved with, but probably with any sport, especially one that deals with danger, it's hard for you to look very far ahead, because you can lose sight of what's happening now. And that's what I've always tried to do-is play my career one year at a time, and one race at a time and I've always done that and it's worked for me, so I stick to it. Maybe it's not the best way to do it. Maybe it's better to be a little more organized and look further ahead, and I'm starting to do that as far as financially, and make plans for family down the road and not try to get myself in too deep in certain situations that I can't get myself out of. You know, five years from now I'd love to see myself still being competitive in race car, hopefully Winston Cup. There are a lot of different opportunities that've come my way; I've certainly been interested, but I really like NASCAR Winston Cup. I think this is where auto racing in America is at, this is where the future's at and hopefully, I'll be there with it.
Who are your racing heroes, past and present?
You know, when I grew up, I grew up around open wheel sprint cars and midget racing. Steve Kinser, and Brad Doty, those guys were my heroes and so I guess I always wanted to be like them. And then I got into a sprint car and started racing sprint cars and got to race against Steve Kinser and all those guys. And I remember one time I beat Steve Kinser in a heat race and he came over to me and said, "Hey, boy, you're going to be a good one...." And I tell you what, that meant more to me than anything at that time and really made me feel proud, made me feel good. I didn't really watch NASCAR a lot at that age because I was paying attention to sprint car racing and racing every single weekend. So until I got into this sport, I really didn't know a lot about all the guys, but I can tell you that I respect them a lot, now that I have found out what it's really like to race at this level.