One Helluva Ride by Liz Clarke

Author:Liz Clarke
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780345504494
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2008-02-12T00:00:00+00:00

For Gordon fans, his 1997 Daytona 500 victory was only the beginning of a glorious year. The twenty-five-year-old had set yet another NASCAR record, becoming the youngest driver to win the Daytona 500. He would go on to win nearly a third of the season’s races, pulling his No. 24 Chevy into Victory Lane ten times in thirty-two starts.

Three-time champion Darrell Waltrip said that Gordon’s dominance had NASCAR officials scared. “Why?” Waltrip said. “Because they can’t make enough rules to keep him from winning all the races!”

Others groused that NASCAR was tilting the playing field in Wonder Boy’s favor. Whether true or not, it was undeniable that Gordon and his Rainbow Warriors were improving at a scary pace.

Gordon worked hard at getting better behind the wheel. He focused on his physical conditioning so he wouldn’t tire as easily on those sweltering days when four hundred laps in the racecar felt like roasting in a Crock-Pot for four hours, leaving him mentally and physically fried. He forced himself to balance his aggression with patience so he could be around at the finish of more races. He experimented with different lines around the racetracks, searching out that elusive sweet spot where the car handled best. He paid particular attention to his entry into the corners, mindful that cornering speed was the key to a fast lap.

Most race fans, and more than a few eager racecar drivers, obsess over speed. They bring stopwatches to the track and cheer whoever runs the fastest qualifying lap. But a fast lap has more to do with how well a car corners than how fast it runs down the long straightaways. As Bobby Allison liked to say, repeating an adage that had been drilled into him as a young racer: “Every racetrack has two straightaways and four corners. So that means you’ve got to handle twice as good as you run.”

Evernham, Gordon’s crew chief, was a tremendous factor in Gordon’s success. As a mechanic, he seemed one step ahead of NASCAR’s rulebook at every turn, inventing trick features that made the car go faster by exploiting the gray areas of the rules rather than breaking them outright. And as a race-day strategist over the two-way radio, he knew how to coax Gordon’s best performance.

“I don’t think you could put Jeff with just anybody and have him go out and dominate like he’s done,” said Jimmy Johnson, general manager of Hendrick Motorsports at the time. “Ray has got a tremendous talent at keeping Jeff calm, cool, and collected. No one else can do that like Ray can.”

Evernham deflected all credit to his driver. “He is the Michael Jordan of auto racing,” he said. “He’s the Tiger Woods of our sport. Every once in a while, someone comes along who has got the gift. He pumps us up. I want to be the best crew chief because I feel he’s the best driver.”

But the more Gordon won, the more fans hated him. He had a loyal following, to be sure, but it was drowned out by the hecklers during prerace introductions.

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