Jeff Gordon a 4 time Nascar Sprint Cup Champion achieved his success at a very early age.  He just recently (Aug 4th, 2009) turned 38 years old and was the first driver to reach $100 million in winnings in the Cup Series alone.  That does not include all of his endorsement deals nor his percentage of ownership in both his car, the No.24 DuPont Chevrolet or the half ownership in 3 time Nascar Cup Champion, Jimmie Johnson’s Lowes car.  I can only image what that man makes each season.  Most drivers and organizations are closed mouth about contract contents and sponsor contracts.  
 Seasons in the Nascar Cup Series last for 36 point races and an All-Star race held at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina.  The All-Star race currently pays $1 Million dollars to the winner. Which is kind of misleading as most of the winnings for any race including the All Star Race goes to the owner of the race team and a percentage goes directly to the team.  (good thing Jeff Gordon is part owner also in two of the cars).   The outcome of the All Star race does not affect the normal series point standings.   It is a race for bragging rights and a million dollars.

A little history, Jeff Gordon has been racing in one form or another since he was 5.  He started out racing in quarter midgets.  A quarter midget is one quarter of the size of a midget car (of course that is obvious)  and race between 30 and 70 mph.  Driver’s ages usually range between 5 and 16.  At age 6 Jeff had already won 35 main events and had set track records at 5 tracks, by the age of 6.  At 6 I was still playing with Barbie’s and making mud pies.  If you have children, can you see your child driving a car that goes between 30 and 70mph?  Not me. 

Jeff Gordon worked his way up through the various racing series including The Midget Series, The Nationwide (was the Busch Series) Series, Nascar Sprint Cup (was  The Winston Cup) Series.  He has been listed at one of the Nascar’s 50 Greatest Drivers, he was also inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame. Also it was recently announced that he would receive the Silver Buffalo Award, the Boy Scouts highest award for his works as a Boy Scout Recruiter and for his humanitarian work.  He also started the Jeff Gordon Foundation in 1999 which supports children battling cancer by funding to improve their quality of life, treatment programs and pediatric medical research.  And his foundation also lends support to the Jeff Gordon’s Children’s Hospital in Concord, North Carolina.  Most Nascar drivers have some sort of foundation and make an effort to give back both in money and time donated to help raise money.  It is one of the many reasons I follow the sport.  It is a family oriented sport and the stars actually give back.

Jeff has had 82 wins so far in his career and 349 (make that 350 as of today’s race in Michigan) top ten finishes and that is just in the Cup Series. The man can drive any type of racecar you put him in. He has participated in several off road competitions including a win with TEAM USA at the 2002 Race of Champions. He has competed in the Rolex 24 hour race in Daytona. That is a race that usually has between 3 and 5 drivers driving the same car that runs for 24 hours straight, with drivers switching out every few hours.Jeff has been with Hendrick Motorsports since 1992 and has a lifetime contract.  I guess so.  I wouldn’t let the man out of his Contract, his is golden and almost always has been.  He is a smart racecar driver and a great spokesman for the sport.  Most sponsors change drivers, teams, manufacturers etc but not the sponsors that are in contract with Jeff Gordon.  Why would they when he has been a proven winner and a true champion, even if he isn’t winning.  He mentions his sponsors when he is interviewed without it seeming like it is forced, very naturally inserting their name into the conversation.  Some other drivers just start listing their sponsors like they are trying to remember who they are.  

He has been on numerous magazine covers and has co-hosted Live with Regis and Kelly ten times, when Regis is not available.  And even has been rumored to take over for Regis when Jeff quits driving and Regis retires.  Both not likely to happen anytime in the near future!

He also was the first Nascar driver to be the host of Saturday Night Live.

He is well spoken and has a great on air personality plus his is easy on the eyes.  He has had the same sponsor since the beginning, DuPont Paint  and Pepsi since 1997.  For 7 years (1993 through 2000) he had the rainbow theme that got his crew the nickname of The Rainbow Warriors.  The rainbow scheme changed to flames in 2001, I personally am a fan of having flames on a racecar, doesn’t matter where, but on the side of the car makes it look fast.  The flames on the #24 car changed color this year to red and orange on a black base, it is a preferable color and looks really good.  The car looks scary fast on the racetrack. 

There have been fan issues with Jeff over the years due to his rivalry with the legendary Dale Earnhardt Sr. When Jeff Gordon surpassed Dale Earnhardt Sr. in wins, fans were throwing beer cans and coolers over the fence at the racetrack at Jeff’s car.  That just isn’t right, I don’t care who you root for and who you don’t particularly care for.  I don’t care for Kyle Busch, I even have my own nicknames for him, but I would never be so disrespectful as to throw something at him.    It gives the rest of us fans a bad name when some drunken “fans” have to react poorly to Jeff Gordon winning another race.