NASCAR race car driver Jeff Gordon
Jeff Gordon began racing at the age of five, racing quarter midgets. The Roy Hayer Memorial Race Track in Rio Linda, California is noted as the first track Gordon ever competed on.
By the Age of 6 Gordon had won 35 main events and set 5 track records. By the age of 13 Gordon took an interest in the 650 horsepower sprint cars. In his midget car career between 1989 and 1992, he finished in the Top 3 in 22 of 40 USAC midget car events.
In 1994, Gordon scored a popular hometown victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the inaugural Brickyard 400, passing Ernie Irvan for the lead late in the race when Irvan lost a tire. Additionally, Gordon collected his first career victory at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca Cola 600, NASCAR’s longest and most demanding race.
1995 saw Gordon win his first NASCAR Winston Cup Championship. He won it by battling 7-time and defending champ, Dale Earnhardt into the final race of the season. Many see this as a symbolic passing of the torch, as Gordon collected his first championship the year after Earnhardt won his seventh and final championship.
Gordon got off to a rocky start in 1996, but rebounded to win ten races. He finished 2nd to teammate Terry Labonte for the championship. Jeff Gordon won his first Daytona 500 in 1997. Later in the season he also won the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte.
Gordon struggled in 2002, not winning til the fall Bristol race, and winning at Darlington and Kansas. Gordon started the 2005 season with a win in the Daytona 500, but inconsistency would plague him throughout the year. A late season run put him in position to qualify for the Chase, but in the last race before the Chase at Richmond, Gordon made contact with the wall and failed to qualify for the chase.
Gordon won his ninth road race, the 2006 Dodge/Save Mart 350, at the Infineon Raceway his first win of the season and fifth at Infineon. The day before the race, he announced his engagement to Belgian model Ingrid Vandebosch.
Related posts:
- NASCAR raceway legends NASCAR legends and South Carolina favorite sons, Cale Yarborough and...
- Female Nascar Racers There have been quite a few female NASCAR race drivers...
- NASCAR blogs NASCAR blogs...
- NASCAR Race Car Driver Tony Stewart On May 20th, 1971 in Columbus, Indiana Anthony “Tony” Wayne...
- The NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup The NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup, originally known as...