JEFF GORDON IN THE COMMUNITY MOVING FOR THE DREAM By the time Jeff was 14 it was clear that he was one of the most talented young drivers in the country He regularly beat adult racers in quarter midget races and he was keen to step up to full size midget cars Jeff even wanted to drive sprint cars the next level in car racing Today Jeff is one of the most formidable drivers ever seen on a NASCAR track Here he takes a moment to prepare for the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 race at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond Philadelphia on June 6 2010 Ar
THE STORY OF JEFF GORDON Jeff's parents knew he had the talent to succeed as a professional race car driver However they also knew that very few people ever make it to the top of the sport They realized that if Jeff was to fulfill his dream he needed to experience driving adult size cars against older drivers So in 1986 Jeff's parents made the decision to move the family from California to Pittsboro Indiana close to Indianapolis the home of NASCAR racing The move turned out to be a wise one In 1987 at the age of 16 Jeff became the youngest driver ever to be awarded a license to race by the United States Auto Club USAC STAR STATS Before he turned 18 Jeff had already won three adult midget car races In 1989 he was named the USAC midget car racing Rookie of the
JEFF GORDON IN THE COMMUNITY SPRINT CAR RACER By the time he graduated from high school in 1989 Jeff Gordon had already won more than 100 races In 1990 less than 12 months after leaving school he won the USAC National Midget Series Jeff was now a full time professional driver dividing his time between midgets and sprint cars which are specially built lightweight race cars A trip to the Buck Baker Racing school in North Carolina gave him a taste for driving the stock cars used in NASCAR racing These are faster modified versions of the cars the general public can buy from dealerships STAR STATS Jeff recorded his first NASCAR Winston Cup Series race win at the 1994 Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte North Carolina IO
THE STORY OF JEFF GORDON FINISHES PEPSI GMAC 76 Jeff was nicknamed Wonder Boy by Dale Earnhardt Sr for his amazing feats at a young age Here the superstar races in his famous Number 24 DuPont Chevrolet in 1997 Jeff was expected to immediately succeed in NASCAR s equivalent of baseball s minor leagues the Nationwide Series However he struggled and dropped back down to racing sprint cars on the USAC circuit After winning the 1991 USAC National Silver Crown Series Jeff returned to the NASCAR circuit in the Winston Cup Series now called the Sprint Cup Series the pinnacle of NASCAR racing The kid they had called Wonder Boy was becoming a man II
