Editor’s note: The author is a former Times-Herald City Editor who is currently the Public Information Officer in Vacaville, where he lives.
So long, Jeff Gordon. We barely knew you.
In case you missed it (and this being Vallejo, Gordon’s hometown and all, I doubt that you did) one of the city’s favorite sons announced earlier this year that it would be his last as a driver on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit. Originally, he said he would stop driving full-time, implying he might run a few select races in 2016. But he’s backing off those comments now, and 2015 could be the last year we see Gordon behind the wheel — at least competitively. We’re pretty sure there’s a test drive or two in his future.
Hey, I get it … at the ripe old age of 43, it’s time to pull off the helmet and HANS device and ride off into the sunset. With a variety of other business interests, Gordon no longer needs to risk his life travelling 200-plus mph around a track banked in the turns anywhere from 5 to 35 degrees or more with 42 other cars and drivers.
And then there’s the wrath of Danica Patrick … but that’s another story for another day.
I remember the first time Gordon drove his Number 24 DuPont Chevrolet at Sears Point International Raceway — the 1993 Save Mart Supermarkets 300. Geoff Bodine won the race, and two things stick with me from that day: Gordon finished 11th and there was no one with a notepad (other than me) within a mile of the guy.
Something else comes to mind, in hindsight, about that weekend: Gordon was to be the first — and arguably the most successful — in a long line of next generation NASCAR drivers that now dominate the sport.
The last time I saw Jeff Gordon in an official capacity was as the Public Information Officer for the City of Vallejo. We were cobbling together our “Keep Vallejo Clean” effort and needed a photo of Gordon wearing a City of Vallejo hat for our ad campaign.
It took countless phone calls to his various handlers to finally get a short, five-minute time slot onto his schedule. Then, multiple calls to Infineon (now Sonoma) Raceway’s PR people (who were great) to set up the needed passes and access. When our time came, we rushed over to his trailer, made it through a phalanx of handlers and security, and set up our equipment. At the appointed hour, Gordon exited his trailer, put on our Vallejo hat, stood in front of the camera, and took what I call his classic “Jeff Gordon” pose — arms crossed in front, shoulders turned slightly to the right, eyes hidden behind reflective sunglasses, and that Hollywood-worthy smile of his on his face .
The hundred or so fans jammed around his trailer were miffed that we had such great access while they had to wait on the other side of a chain-link fence. We snapped a few shots and were done. The smile disappeared from his face, and the last thing he said to us before he hopped back into his hauler was “Can I keep the hat?”
My goodness: How times have changed.
Watching Sunday’s Daytona 500 was bittersweet to say the least. Gordon started on the pole, led the most laps, but crashed on the last lap, finishing 33rd. Not exactly how you want to see your favorite driver end an illustrious career at the “Super Bowl” of NASCAR events, but it certainly removed any doubt about whether the fix was in for him to not only win the pole, but the event itself.
Yes, there was a belief by more than one Vallejoan I know that Gordon “dissed” his true hometown more than a few times in his career. And maybe he did. But in hindsight, a 21-year-old Jeff Gordon was in the middle of a meteoric rise to stardom in what at the time was the fastest growing spectator sport in America. Honestly — would any of us in the same situation have done anything different? Even more honestly — would any of us even be in the same situation?
Don’t think so.
As the years passed, Gordon seemed to embrace his hometown more and more. He was more than happy to refer to Sears Point as his “home” track during interviews; he did help us with the aforementioned “Keep Vallejo Clean” campaign; and as for overall philanthropy, Gordon has done so much for so many people: the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation to help support children facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses; the Jeff Gordon Children’s Hospital at the NorthEast Medical Center in North Carolina; and along with a slew of other famous athletes, Gordon founded Athletes for Hope, a charitable organization which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and inspires millions of non-athletes to volunteer and support the community.
Maybe it’s time we considered naming something after him here in Vallejo: An elementary school? A stretch of road? A park? Something? Anything?
We are not knocking Jeff Gordon here — quite the reverse. He’s one of Vallejo’s own who went on to fame, fortune, dinner parties in The Hamptons, appearances in numerous TV shows, movies (Jeff Gorvette in “Cars 2”, to name but one) in his 23-year NASCAR career. He’s dated supermodels, movie stars, and who knows who else.
If I sound a little jealous, well, of course I am. You could have stopped at “NASCAR Sprint Cup driver” in terms of something to be jealous about. But I don’t envy his superstar lifestyle, and from what I have seen over the years, I don’t think he was all that fond of it, either. Hey … to coin a well-worn phrase, it is what it is, or more to the point, it was what it was.
Gordon’s departure is the end of an era; an era some of the good old boys would say ushered in the squeaky-clean West Coast corporate types to stock car racing and ruined the sport forever. More than once I heard one of the good old boys in the stands talk about sticking Gordon’s silver spoon in a most unpleasant place on his anatomy. Come on… a guy from California winning the Sprint Cup championship? Four times? Has the Earth spun off its axis? Has h-e-double hockey sticks frozen over?
Nah … it’s just adjusting.
Gordon, and now guys like him, has brought millions, if not billions, of dollars to NASCAR racing. His legacy is solid. He’ll go down as one of the best drivers in his era, some say one of the top five drivers ever. Is it coincidence that his age at retirement — 43 — is the same as the number on the car of the man many consider the greatest driver in history — The King, Richard Petty? You know, Petty, the same guy who drove his last race the day Gordon drove his first NASCAR race, way back in 1992 at Atlanta Motor Speedway?
We always rooted for Gordon on Sundays. We’ll continue to root for him in retirement.
Thanks for the memories, Jeff.
Mark Mazzaferro/Vacaville