DAYTONA BEACH, FLA., FEB. 14 -- Winston Cup stock-car driver Jeff Gordon has a knack for moving at whatever speed seems necessary. On the track, he flew past everyone in NASCAR's major league last year. Off the track lately, he's been leisurely taking on a computer -- in chess.
By Ken Denlinger
Grandmasters soon will be taking notice if Gordon's improvement rate is anything close to the one he's had during three full years on the Winston Cup circuit. He's gone from top rookie in 1993 to becoming overall champion in 1995 with an astonishing $4,347,343 in official earnings for the season.
"What do you do against Gordon?" said veteran Darrell Waltrip, a three-time Winston Cup champion in the early 1980s. "You try to hire him."
At 24, Gordon won seven times last season and led for at least one lap in all but two of his 31 races. He had a 309-point lead late in the season, then held off seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt for the championship.
Gordon was the youngest overall champion in NASCAR's modern era, which dates from 1971. He almost certainly would have been the premier division's youngest champion ever had it not been for a fluke in 1950. Bill Rexford was 23 when he won the title that year. However, the Associated Press quoted a historian as saying that Lee Petty, Richard Petty's father and Kyle Petty's grandfather, would have won had he not competed in several non-sanctioned races over a three-week period and had 809 points deducted.
That hardly concerns Gordon, who still is amazed that so much success has occurred so quickly.
"I never thought this would happen in my lifetime, let alone this early," he said. "I was watching TV yesterday when they were giving the starting lineups for the {two 125-mile races Thursday that will determine most of the field for the Daytona 500}. I hear my name: Jeff Gordon, 1995 Winston Cup champion.' I go: Wow!' No matter what, I'll always have that."
Gordon's success is especially helpful to a burgeoning sport that is pushing every marketing button it can. He is glib and cute, a neat counter to the generations of drivers who have all but let their skills behind the wheel speak for them.
In addition to nerve and technique, Gordon has remarkable discipline. As car owner Rick Hendrick said: "When he straps into the race car, he's another person. He's no longer the kid who likes to play video games and hang out. He's totally in control. It's like watching Superman going into that phone booth."
A few hours before racing, most stock-car drivers are a pleasant contrast to other athletes, many of whom are unapproachable and surly at such moments. Gordon, for instance, will field questions from up to 1,500 sponsor-related fans before attending the pre-race meeting for drivers and chapel services. "You learn a lot of things you shouldn't do -- like doing too many things," Rusty Wallace said of what happens to many athletes after they experience sudden popularity. "But he seems to have good people to manage his time."
Gordon fell in love with Daytona International Speedway the first time he arrived, as a rookie on the Busch Grand National circuit in 1991. Like golfers at Augusta National for the Masters, he remains thrilled with the history and tradition here, entering the track off a street named for Richard Petty.
In the sort of storybook fashion that has marked his career, Gordon met his future wife, Brooke, a former Miss Winston, after winning one of the 125-mile qualifying races here in 1993.
That was his first Winston Cup season -- and his toughest.
"Full of so much pressure," he said. "I'd come to an established team, a top-rated sponsor and had everything you need to win races. Plus being touted as the next Dale Earnhardt or Richard Petty or whatever." That first year, Gordon set some goals, short- and long-term. He said he wanted "to progress from nobody to upstart, from upstart to contender, from contender to winner, from winner to champion, from champion to dynasty."
Only the last part has not been achieved, so far. "I don't think there's ever enough," he said. "I've accomplished more than I ever dreamed, but so much more is possible."
