Jeff Gordon. These days, it’s a name that stands on its own. Jimmie Johnson might have more championships, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. might be more popular, but when all is said and done, neither of those men, legends though they may become, will be the very definition of the era they drove in. Johnson comes close, but at the end of the day, the man who became the face of the second half of NASCAR’s modern era is the one who taught Johnson how it was done.
There aren’t many drivers with more wins than Gordon, who spent the late 1990s winning everything and everywhere. Once he retires from full-time competition, after the checkered flag at Homestead this year Gordon’s numbers will cement his place among the sport’s elite. His 92 wins are good for third all-time, with only Richard Petty and David Pearson, arguably the two greatest drivers the sport has ever seen, tallying more. Of the three, only Gordon claims all his wins in the sport’s modern era, a time where cherry-picking races with less competition became virtually extinct. His 13 victories, captured in 33 races in 1998 is the highest one-season total since the mid-1970s.
Gordon was a terror in the late 1990s, and while many fans disliked, even loathed him for winning so much, so early, the impact he had on the sport was impossible to deny, even before his career was a decade old. No driver in the history of the sport reached 50 wins faster than Gordon, who eclipsed that mark in 2000, after just 232 starts. He was the driver the fans loved to hate, fueled in part by his boy-next-door demeanor and more so by his dominance, coming of age as Dale Earnhardt was aging. Gordon was the antithesis of Earnhardt – the young, clean-cut speed demon to Earnhardt’s old-school, blue-collar aggressor. They respected each other immensely, though their fans rarely shared that sentiment.
What Gordon has become since isn’t just about statistics or even rivalries. Yes, his win total marks him as the greatest driver in the last two decades, maybe in the modern era as a whole. The fact that he could win anywhere made him a threat every week, and while the championship road ended in 2001 (a year that began with Earnhardt as the heavy title favorite, only to see his legend come to an abrupt end with his death in a Daytona 500 crash) Gordon still remained a thorn in the side of the competition. Many speculate that, had the Chase not come into play, Gordon may have equaled Earnhardt and Petty with seven Cup titles.
Speculation aside, Gordon’s lofty stats make him a certain first-ballot Hall of Famer. He’ll be missed for his on-track accomplishments as both a driver and a car owner (Rick Hendrick may foot the bills, but it was Gordon who, along with Hendrick’s son Ricky, saw something in a young driver that nobody else saw. As a car co-owner, Gordon became a six-time Cup champion with Jimmie Johnson.). But, to many, Gordon represents much more than numbers in a dusty volume of historical notes. He’s the last link to simpler days for NASCAR, days when there was no Chase, no eight-car alliances, before the words “aerodynamic dependence” were a part of some fans’ vocabulary.
Among the current slate of full-time drivers, climbing into their rides next month at Daytona only Gordon raced against two seven-time champions. Gordon’s first race was Richard Petty’s last, a small but significant overlap of two of the finest drivers NASCAR has produced its nearly 70-year history. But it was the rivalry that bloomed between Gordon and Earnhardt that fueled fans in the ’90s, one that will be a lasting legacy and an important building block in both men’s storied careers.
After the death of Davey Allison, Earnhardt’s heir apparent was unclear… that is, until Gordon came along. It took the young Californian a year to settle in a Cup car. He hit everything and then some in that rookie season of 1993… and he learned from it all, roaring to his first wins as a sophomore, a list that included the first Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Earnhardt nicknamed him “Wonder Boy” and Gordon responded by toasting Earnhardt’s 1994 title with a champagne flute full of milk. A year later, the roles were reversed; quickly, as the sport gained national attention, Gordon launched to the forefront, winning three titles from 1995-98 as Earnhardt slipped back. For the drivers, the rivalry was mostly friendly, built on respect. But for their fans, it was often a bitter bone of contention.
Every sport needs a great rivalry; for the legions of fans, ones who sat up and paid attention to NASCAR for the first time in that boom era, Earnhardt and Gordon were it. It was the blue-collar, tough-as-a-boot veteran versus the seemingly made-for-TV, sensitive-type “young gun.” The more Gordon won, the more he supplanted Earnhardt as the best of his day. Hatred, particularly among the Earnhardt fans kept growing, along with Earnhardt’s private respect.
It was, perhaps, appropriate that when Earnhardt died at the beginning of what many felt would be a resurgent 2001 season, Gordon was the one who won the title. At the time, it seemed impossible that the trophy would be his last, but NASCAR changed the game, and the one it became was never one Gordon could master. Like Earnhardt, Gordon raced with the single-minded goal of winning races. The rest generally fell into place, and if it didn’t, well, there was always next year. There was no other game to play, no system to figure out. The mentality that made Earnhardt and Gordon great was also the one that became Gordon’s Achilles’ heel in the Chase era. Gordon’s struggles highlighted everything Earnhardt would have hated about the sport’s playoff system.
NASCAR post-Earnhardt changed, but Gordon didn’t. At age 43, he races with the same hunger he had as Wonder Boy. His prodigy became his biggest rival, but it wasn’t the same as those halcyon summers when Gordon-Earnhardt was the rivalry. It was the last great one the sport has seen, perhaps the last it ever will see. There have been other, smaller faceoffs over the years, but they lacked the passion and intensity of that late ’90s battle royale.
When Gordon hangs up his helmet at the end of this season, the sport is losing more than the greatest driver of the last two decades. It loses the last strong link to the sport’s golden days, the last viable tie to the Earnhardt era. Others may have raced with Earnhardt (though they’re becoming scarce as well; among the full-timers, only Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Ron Hornaday, Jr. and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. raced with Earnhardt for a full season or more) but it was Gordon whose career is inextricably linked with the Intimidator.
The sport’s last great rivalry ended with Earnhardt’s death, but Gordon was still racing, still winning, still reminding fans of the days when so many first noticed the formerly regional sport. For a generation of fans, 2016 will be the first season they have ever seen without Jeff Gordon in that No. 24. Gordon’s departure marks the end of an era. It also severs the last tie with a simpler, golden time for NASCAR, one that fades a little further into the distance with each passing year.
About the author
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.
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Well written Amy and historically apt to the higher meaning of Jeff’s retirement. Although a few others were around, realistically, he is the last link to Winston Cup days before television and big money changed the sport (for the worse in many fans’ eyes).
Personally, I have been both hoping for and dreading this announcement for about the last 5 years. My loyalty to JG was the only reason I was compelled to watch every race live each week. While I am sad that this marks the end of an era (and makes me feel old) it also gives me a chance to FINALLY PAYBACK Brian France FOR RUINING THE SPORT THAT I LOVED.
I will no longer feel compelled plan my weekends around NASCAR. I will never align myself with another driver and therefore never feel the need to spend significant money on t-shirts, jackets and die-casts. I may still watch races, read articles and make comments but I think the DVR will now be my preferred method for watching a race. Now, when the race ends and the champion is determined by some contrived crapshoot methodology, I won’t feel like a schmuck for spending 4 hours watching a sport turned into a reality television show.
I still might make my yearly pilgrimage to Dover since it’s a good time with friends that transcends the event itself but I will never again be the diehard fan that I have been for the last 20 years.
Once the 2015 season ends I will be…..
Free at last. Free at last. Free at last.
I will be there are a great many fans like Bill B, who are Jeff Gordon fans. They may even take it further in that they aren’t NASCAR fans and they’re probably not even race fans and don’t really like cars that much. The machine had better wring them for all it can in this farewell tour, because the ratings and the coffers will feel their absence come 2016.
Very nice article, as a long time Gordon fan, who remembers how much fun it was to watch Jeff race every week in the 90’s and how seriously the fans took that rivalry between Earnhardt & Gordon. Even though I took heat for my choice of drivers pretty much everywhere I went during those years, the racing and the excitement was really fun – much more so than it is now.
Like Bill B, I had been both expecting this and dreading it, too, since for me, for the past few years, the ONLY reason I have continued to pay any attention to NASCAR was because Gordon was on the track. Also, like Bill, once 2015 ends and Gordon is no longer on the track every race, well, I won’t be in front of the tv every week either. I can stop being aggravated and frustrated with NASCAR and what I’ve always considered to be an idiotic and unfair system to determine a “champion” otherwise known as the chase. One of the things that NASCAR doesn’t seem to understand is that most fans support a driver and doesn’t change who they cheer for whether or not they made the “chase” or not. TV needs to catch a clue on that, too.
I don’t plan to choose another driver to support, I simply don’t care enough about NASCAR as it currently exists to invest the emotion and effort in it that I always felt for cheering for Gordon.
Here’s wishing Jeff great luck and safety this year. It was great fun and I’ll echo Bill’s last statement that after Homestead, I too, will be free at last
Man, I absolutely hated Jeff Gordon in the 90’s. My whole gang of racing buddies did. We had a cut-out of Jeff’s head we always put in our rented porta-john in the Charlotte turn 2 infield. We laughed at his peach-fuzz mustache. We cheered when the wheel came off of his car in the 1995 World 600. We didn’t allow anyone to bet on him in our race pool. We flat-out hated him.
It’s 2015 and I wish more drivers were like Jeff Gordon. And that’s coming from a Brad Keselowski fan.
Carl, now THAT is one fine tribute to Jeff!
I have to wonder how much the way 2014 ended took the wind out of Jeff’s sails and contributed to this decision. To look at the final standings and see him 6th, knowing the season he had is so absurd that no words can do it justice.
I’ve been follwing NASCAR since the late 70’s, and this article nails it! Particularly regarding the rivalry aspect. JG truly is a link to an era of racing tht we will never see again! Thanks Amy!