If you go to a Winston Cup event, you'll notice two constants. 1) There are
more people in the stands wearing Jeff Gordon shirts and caps than those of
any other driver-- a lot more. And 2) On the rare occasion when number 24
retires before the race is finished, there are louder boos and more cat
calls than when any other driver departs early. Seems like an oxymoron.
In fact such fan behavior is so bazaar that it deserves examination.
Is there a cultural difference between the people that root for Gordon and
the other drivers? Is there a concerted effort by some fans to "gang up" on
the "kid" who beats them more often than anyone else? Or is there just
plain hatred and jealousy for a soft spoken midwesterner who happens to be
the best race driver in the world? The answer to all those questions is yes.
Jeff Gordon represents a new generation of drivers. He
understands a racer is a car and not a person, although Freudian
slips often cause him to stumble. He knows a stock car driver is someone
who drives to the supermarket, and he knows the term race car driver is
grammatically incorrect, as cars are the only thing commonly driven in the
year 2001. He has no southern drawl. And worse yet his forefathers were
probably "damn Yankees."
Not since the days of Fred Lorenzen has anyone dared to march
through the south to defeat so many of Dixie's native sons.
You see stock car racing is a southern sport. Oh the sport has grown to
gain national exposure, and there are tracks throughout the country today.
But make no mistake about it, the heart and soul of NASCAR is in the south.
The old south. And the old south is resistant to change,
and not too partial to anyone from "up north" coming down here to upset
the order of things. After all there are plenty
of talented drivers from the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, Florida,
Tennessee, and Alabama to win all the races anyone would want to see.
Besides, who wants to see a Yankee race anyway? But why such resentment of
Gordon?
Does this "ganging up" by fans of other teams hinge solely on geography?
Probably not. You see, Jeff Gordon is one of perhaps 15 or so pros in
the history of racing that understands how to drive a race car, and
how to plan a 500 mile race.
To begin with, the goal of any driver before an event should be to lead one
lap. The last one. And if his car is not fast enough to lead that lap, then
finish the car as high as possible.
Sounds simple enough, but simple is frequently not common.
When ask in the 1970's to name the greatest drivers in stock car
racing, Richard Petty named five. Not fifty. Not twenty-five.
Ever wonder why? Certainly there were more than five drivers with
comparable physical skill. But physical skill is only one component of
greatness. To win at the level Jeff Gordon wins at takes physical skill,
planning, emotional stability, ingenuity, and the uncanny ability to know
when to apply each of those skills. It's not just about nerve and reflexes.
That's why Jeff Gordon is alone. Alone in the sense that Bobby Fisher was
alone. Alone in the sense that Napoleon, Shakespeare, and Mozart were
alone. He is not only the best of his era, he is in a different league than
his competitors.
There have been a handful of drivers in NASCAR history with the same
talent level. Some of them competing against each other in earlier times.
But with the passing of Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon is by all accounts of
rational people the "King" of stock car racing.
The gap between Gordon and NASCAR's second best driver, perhaps
Rusty Wallace, is huge.
If supplied with competitive cars, the will to continue to compete, and the
failure of another superstar to emerge, Gordon will rewrite the record books.
The only unknown is, how far does he want to go?
I don't know the answer to that, but I will give you some predictions.
Winston Cup championship number four will come this year.
If he races another 15 years, you will see the
Petty/Earnhardt record of seven Winston Cup titles broken. You may even
see a 10 time champion, if he competes to age 50.
The sad thing is everyone does not appreciate the greatness of Jeff Gordon.
Of course there were people who did not appreciate Fulton's steamboat or
Edison's lightbulb. But that's understandable. The masses often have
difficulty accepting new and exciting things. And to be sure the same type
of people who stood on the shore and chanted, "you'll never get it started"
to Robert Fulton, are cheering when Jeff hits the wall. It's the way things
have always been, and the way things will always be.
As John Bartlett tells us, those who achieve "are cherished by sages, but
often feared by the common man."
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