Welcome to our collection of quotes by Jeff Gordon. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Jeff Gordon
Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, currently an announcer for Fox NASCAR, and a top executive for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series and Sprint Cup Series (now called NASCAR Cup Series), and also served as a substitute driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in select races during the 2016 season. He is regarded as one of the most influential drivers in NASCAR history, helping the sport reach mainstream popularity.
Gordon started his professional racing career in the Busch Series with Hugh Connerty Racing, followed by Bill Davis Racing, winning three races, and began racing full-time in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports in 1993. He is a four-time Cup Series champion, having won the title in 1995, 1997, 1998, and 2001. He was the youngest driver to win a NASCAR title, being 24 years old by the end of the 1995 season. He also won the Daytona 500 three times in 1997, 1999, and 2005. Gordon has completed three career Grand Slams and has won a total of sixteen Crown Jewel races (three Daytona 500s, four Talladega 500s, three Coca-Cola 600s, and six Southern 500s), both of which are all-time records.
He is third on the all-time Cup wins list with 93 career wins, while having the record for the most wins in NASCAR's modern era (1972–present) and the most wins in one modern era season, with 13 during the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Gordon's 81 pole positions led all active drivers and is third all-time, and also a modern era record; Gordon won at least one pole in 23 consecutive seasons, making this a NASCAR record. Other records include the most restrictor plate track wins with 12 and the most road course wins with 9, and he was the active "iron man" leader for consecutive races participated in with 797 through the 2015 season.
In 1998, NASCAR named Gordon to its 50 Greatest Drivers list. Ten years later in a 2008 article, ESPN's Terry Blount ranked him 10th in the 25 Greatest Drivers of All-Time. Foxsports.com named him as the fifth best NASCAR driver of all time. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2019. As of 2016, Gordon was considered the highest-paid NASCAR driver ever and the 18th highest-paid athlete of all-time with $515 million in career earnings, per Forbes.
Gordon, along with Rick Hendrick, co-owns the No. 48 Chevrolet previously driven by Jimmie Johnson, who won seven Cup championships from 2006 to 2010, 2013, and in 2016. Gordon also has an equity stake in the No. 24 team. Gordon also owned a Busch Series team between 1999 and 2000, Gordon/Evernham Motorsports (co-owned with Ray Evernham; later solely owned as JG Motorsports), winning twice.
I support the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society. Stem cell research is a big part of curing these diseases. I'm a big supporter of stem cell research.
You're still going to see accidents, you always will. Especially towards the closing laps of a race.
Because the sport has changed, competition is not only stronger but it's deeper throughout the field than it's ever been. It's harder to win.
I'm not a robot; I have a personality and I have emotions. I have a humorous side to me and an angry side to me.
I think we have gotten through those brain dead moments on both our parts. Now we just love to race one another hard and clean.
Our fans would never waste good beer by pouring it on us.
In our business, just getting to 40 means something...that's why I think sometimes you have to just live in the moment. You have to enjoy life to its fullest.
I thought long and hard about my future this past year and during the offseason, and I've decided 2015 will be the last time I compete for a championship.
I've been racing a long time, and I realize you go through good streaks and bad streaks.
As fast as we're going these days, especially because of the aerodynamics, we're all concerned about abusing tires. It's so fast that you're afraid of what you're going to do to the tires.
Funds raised create hope for kids with cancer. Research is our top priority for discovering a cure.
No matter what happens, I'll always say that I've had a wonderful life.
Ever since I've been racing, I've always been the young guy.
Racing is not what I like to do; it's winning.
We have to keep our fans watching not just at home on TV but here at the racetrack too. This is where you sell people on the speed and excitement of racing.
In California, especially Northern California, the fans really cheer for me.
I don't like to get beat in anything!
I think driving in New York is a great experience. A lot more racing techniques go into it than anyplace else I've ever driven. There basically are no lanes.
My career in racing started at a very young age in California.
You know, sometimes guys work with other guys because they're buddies off the track, not necessarily because they're buddies on the track. Sometimes you've got that going against you or for you.
The business model of racing is not a pretty one.
I want to race as long as I'm having fun, it's competitive and healthy, and who knows when that, you know, date comes when that's not happening anymore.
I still think we have a great shot at this championship.
I don't feel I'm a step above anyone on this team. I'm just another link in the chain.
My image lends itself a little bit more to the modern fan, sometimes more toward the kids, and I guess more toward the wine drinkers... I mean, I have my own wine, and fans love to pull for people they relate to.
I think perception is important.
There's no greater feeling than winning a race.
I'm just another link in the chain.
I want to force the other drivers to find a way past me.
You may be leading, then you might be at the back of the pack trying to work your way up. It's just a constant reminder not to give up, and to know that God, in my mind, is really in control.
I'll do a little prayer here and there if I feel the need to.
You are going to make choices and decisions that sometimes aren't going to always work in your favor and they are going to upset some other people.
I just feel rejuvenated in such a big way because of these race cars I get to drive.
You've got to be the best person you can be in your life.
As I get older, my appreciation for wine has just increased. I fell in love with wine through my travels, but knowing what the wine country is all about definitely makes it my own.
In NASCAR, you don't have to be as physically strong as in some other forms of racing. You've just got to be able to endure the heat and endurance of it.
When you've got the Daytona 500 out there at stake and everything riding on the line, guys go for it, and the guys that go for it are the ones that are either going to win or they're going to wreck.
So much of my life is spent just focused on driving race cars.
When you're in a race car, you're going through so many different emotions throughout that race.