Gordon readies for racing return, aiming for elusive Rolex 24 victory
Jan. 6, 2017
Staff Report
NASCAR Wire Service
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Jeff Gordon doesn’t just pay attention to details.
He’s a details hound – meticulous, precise – even for a guy who’s retired.
“I never said I was retiring,” Gordon said.
That
was a big detail to remember Friday as Gordon drove a sleek, new
Cadillac prototype on a sun-drenched Daytona International Speedway.
He
turned laps on the road course in preparation for the upcoming Rolex
24, the twice-around-the-clock pinnacle of American sports car racing.
The race isn’t until Jan. 28-29,
but Gordon needs all of the track time he can get right now.
“I treat this as if I am a rookie,” said the 45-year-old Gordon, a description that’s profound, even if it’s inaccurate.
His “rookie” stripes are obscured by his numbers.
Before
he stopped racing full-time after the 2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup
Series season, Gordon won 93 races and three Daytona 500s.
And
combined with his four championships, Gordon’s resume makes him a
sure-fire, first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Famer when eligible.
But
Gordon knows that one superlative is lacking from his racing resume -- a
coveted Rolex 24 win. His only Rolex start came in 2007, when he
finished third overall as a member
of Wayne Taylor Racing. Ten years later, he’s back with Taylor,
co-driving the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R with veteran Max
Angelelli and Taylor’s sons, Ricky and Jordan.
And it’s not a joy ride for Gordon, whose full-time racing career ended after the 2015 NASCAR season.
“I’m
pushing myself to be as strong as I can possibly be,” Gordon said. “I
never like to be the weak link in an organization or a team and I have
three phenomenal drivers who
are going to push me. I’m enjoying it very much and having fun, but
this is a race I’d like to win.”
That
presents a special challenge for Gordon, who quickly learned last
November that IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship racing isn’t easy.
When he first tested the new Cadillac
at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, he was stunned by the
G-forces, the acceleration, the braking.
The
ever-fit Gordon knew he had so step up his physical fitness to meet the
challenge, so he’s now doing sessions with a personal trainer over the
internet two or three times
a week.
Every detail matters.
“You
can see why he’s found success, because he focuses on every aspect of
what goes in the race,” said Jordan Taylor, one of the IMSA’s top young
drivers and 20 years Gordon’s
junior. “He’s extremely humble. He came in with questions. We were
expecting to ask HIM questions for ideas and stuff, which we do, but he
was asking us straight away what to expect in our world of sports car
racing, how to work traffic, how to work cold tires,
cold brakes, restarts.
“Even today, we were on pit road and he was asking questions about different cars and what to expect.”
When
it comes to Jordan Taylor, Gordon knows exactly what to expect – the
unexpected. The youngest Taylor is an unabashed prankster -- the clown
prince of IMSA, if you will --
and nobody is beyond his social media tomfoolery.
Not even the winningest NASCAR driver of his generation.
On
Thursday, Jordan tried to prank Gordon by dressing up as a superfan,
resplendent in the iconic rainbow jacket, mustache and jorts.
The video was going to go viral for sure.
“I
figured he’d seen that a million times and I’d just blend into the
crowd, but he saw it coming and kind of ruined my day,” Jordan said.
“You got to watch out for that guy,” said Gordon, who appreciates how the Taylors are making this experience fun for him.
But
there’s only one kind of fun that Gordon truly loves. It’s the fun that
comes when you win the race and hoist the trophy and bask in the
voluminous confetti that covers the
victors.
“I
want to have fun, but I really am only going to be having fun and have a
smile on my face if we’re on that podium in the No. 1 position when the
race is over,” Gordon said.
That’s the most important detail of them all.
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