pandr
10-13-2011, 10:34 AM
Winning isn't everything now, but don't doubt Gordon's desire
THATSRACIN.COM OPINION
By Tom Sorensen
Jeff Gordon was running in the top five late last week in Kansas City. It was like the old days. He was Jeff Gordon again.
Then came a poor restart that knocked him out of the top 10. Then his car began to fill with smoke and his temperature gauge took off as if propelled and with two laps remaining his engine blew and so did the opportunity to win a championship.
When the race began, Gordon was 19 points of the lead. When it ended, he was 47 points back.
How would you react if you were Gordon? Slam the steering wheel, check your contacts and find somebody to blame, look up in the sky and shout, "Why me?"
“Had I never won a championship maybe I’d react that way,” Gordon says Wednesday as he leans over a rail at Victory Lane Karting. “But when you’ve won four championships and the number of races (85 Cup victories) I’ve won and you’ve got a great team, you don’t react that way. At least I don’t.
“I believe that when it’s meant to happen it’s going to happen. It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen for us this year.”
So you don’t get angry when you lose?
“Listen, I was upset when I had the bad restart,” says Gordon. “I did yell out on the radio. I was not happy. I have my moments. Sometimes they’re with myself, sometimes family, sometimes close friends, sometimes with Alan (Gustafson, his crew chief) and the team. It happens.
“It’s important for everybody to know how much it matters, how much it means to be competitive and have a shot at it. But at the same time you’ve got to contain yourself so you can refocus and get back where you need to be and win another race.”
Gordon’s cars are stock. His answers are not.
He’s at the go-kart track because his Children’s Foundation hosts a fundraiser here. Contributions from sponsors and spectators, many of whom race against him, enable kids to access cancer treatment and enable researchers to search for better treatment.
Cancer is unfair no matter how old you are. But it’s especially unfair when it affixes itself to the young. The foundation is how Gordon fights back.
Gordon is 40, has a wife and two children and an array of interests. He’s won more Cup races than anybody but Richard Petty and David Pearson. His career has been brilliant. Can winning mean as much as it once did?
“Absolutely,” he says. “Even though coming in I thought this was our year, maybe it’s just a way for us to learn and be even better prepared and next year it will be our year.”
His most recent year was 2001. He last won a championship 10 years ago. He talks about life, and how he’s achieved so much more than he expected, and how even the bad days are not so bad.
Leaning against the rail, watching the last of the kids drive around the track, Gordon doesn’t look like some faded version of who he was. After failing to win in 2010, he won three races this season.
“I want to win more today than I ever did I think because I have a greater appreciation for how hard it is,” he says. “I know that those moments haven’t come as often in recent years. So when they do come I try to take every second to enjoy it and savor it and spent the time with those that matter most and reminisce about it and just truly take in the full moment.
“Because it is an amazing moment. And it goes by quick.”
C/P thats racin
THATSRACIN.COM OPINION
By Tom Sorensen
Jeff Gordon was running in the top five late last week in Kansas City. It was like the old days. He was Jeff Gordon again.
Then came a poor restart that knocked him out of the top 10. Then his car began to fill with smoke and his temperature gauge took off as if propelled and with two laps remaining his engine blew and so did the opportunity to win a championship.
When the race began, Gordon was 19 points of the lead. When it ended, he was 47 points back.
How would you react if you were Gordon? Slam the steering wheel, check your contacts and find somebody to blame, look up in the sky and shout, "Why me?"
“Had I never won a championship maybe I’d react that way,” Gordon says Wednesday as he leans over a rail at Victory Lane Karting. “But when you’ve won four championships and the number of races (85 Cup victories) I’ve won and you’ve got a great team, you don’t react that way. At least I don’t.
“I believe that when it’s meant to happen it’s going to happen. It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen for us this year.”
So you don’t get angry when you lose?
“Listen, I was upset when I had the bad restart,” says Gordon. “I did yell out on the radio. I was not happy. I have my moments. Sometimes they’re with myself, sometimes family, sometimes close friends, sometimes with Alan (Gustafson, his crew chief) and the team. It happens.
“It’s important for everybody to know how much it matters, how much it means to be competitive and have a shot at it. But at the same time you’ve got to contain yourself so you can refocus and get back where you need to be and win another race.”
Gordon’s cars are stock. His answers are not.
He’s at the go-kart track because his Children’s Foundation hosts a fundraiser here. Contributions from sponsors and spectators, many of whom race against him, enable kids to access cancer treatment and enable researchers to search for better treatment.
Cancer is unfair no matter how old you are. But it’s especially unfair when it affixes itself to the young. The foundation is how Gordon fights back.
Gordon is 40, has a wife and two children and an array of interests. He’s won more Cup races than anybody but Richard Petty and David Pearson. His career has been brilliant. Can winning mean as much as it once did?
“Absolutely,” he says. “Even though coming in I thought this was our year, maybe it’s just a way for us to learn and be even better prepared and next year it will be our year.”
His most recent year was 2001. He last won a championship 10 years ago. He talks about life, and how he’s achieved so much more than he expected, and how even the bad days are not so bad.
Leaning against the rail, watching the last of the kids drive around the track, Gordon doesn’t look like some faded version of who he was. After failing to win in 2010, he won three races this season.
“I want to win more today than I ever did I think because I have a greater appreciation for how hard it is,” he says. “I know that those moments haven’t come as often in recent years. So when they do come I try to take every second to enjoy it and savor it and spent the time with those that matter most and reminisce about it and just truly take in the full moment.
“Because it is an amazing moment. And it goes by quick.”
C/P thats racin