“The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and I need to unload the question of whether you really want to see Jeff Gordon in a Sprint Cup car next week.
In case you missed it, it was announced earlier today at a press conference at New Hampshire Motor Speedway that the now retired driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will drive the No. 88 HMS Chevrolet if Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn’t medically clear to race next week’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“As far as Jeff Gordon’s situation, certainly he’s a four-time champion with 93 wins, he’s not a bad person to think about to put in the car,” said HMS General Manager Doug Duchardt. “This week he’s in France. And obviously the way the week went, we didn’t even think we were going to need a replacement driver. We just thought we were going to need a backup driver. However, if Dale is not able to go to Indianapolis, we will put Jeff Gordon in the car.”
For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know that I was a die-hard fan of “Big Daddy” Jeff up until his final race. I practically worshipped him since I was the age of five. One of my biggest honors as a journalist was getting to interview Gordon at Bristol in April. Albeit as part of a news conference, but an interview nonetheless.
This may be a tad unprofessional to admit, but part of me does want to see him race again. On the other hand, there’s a larger part of me that doesn’t. At least not in NASCAR.
On November 1, 2015, Gordon was leading Jamie McMurray on the final lap of the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Perched atop the Turn 3 and 4 stands for the Motor Racing Network, Dave Moody made the call of the race, “The Drive for Five is still alive!” As darkness descended on Ridgeway, Virginia, Gordon scored his 93rd career victory and guaranteed that he would end his career racing for a championship.
Needless to say, the darkness didn’t damper the crowd that stuck around to watch him celebrate victory.
He didn’t win the championship with a sixth-place finish in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but he rode into the Florida sunset fighting for a championship. That’s a feat few pro athletes, let alone drivers, get to do.
It was a perfect ending to the career of arguably the greatest driver in NASCAR history.
Unfortunately, if Earnhardt’s concussion symptoms linger, that storybook ending will be totally undone.
I would much rather believe Gordon’s last race was fighting for the championship than a meaningless one-off at Indianapolis. It would be one thing if Gordon were to simply backfill for Earnhardt, meaning he’ll get in the car after Earnhardt starts the race to allow Earnhardt to get the points, but a concussion means that Earnhardt wouldn’t start the race.
Maybe it’s the paranoia talking, but I’m afraid this might lead to Gordon wanting to do more part-time rides. I’m deathly afraid of seeing someone I idolized turning into a meaningless back-marker. I’ve seen it happen too many times in NASCAR and other forms of racing. The most famous example is Michael Schumacher. He’s arguably the greatest driver in the history of Formula 1 and one of the greatest drivers in the history of auto racing. He retired from F1 in 2006 after finishing second in points for Scuderia Ferrari. He came out of retirement four years later to race for the relatively new factory Mercedes team.
Needless to say, he was a shadow of his former glory only finishing on the podium once in a three-year span. This is especially bittersweet considering he both holds the record for most podium finishes of any driver and finished every race on the podium in the 2002 season.
The bottom line is I’m not sure I want to see Gordon do a meaningless one-off, even at Indianapolis. It’s not because I don’t believe he would run well. I want Gordon’s final race to be him racing for the title at Homestead in 2015 because so few great athletes and drivers ever get to end their career as such.
Maybe I’m putting too much thought into this and feel free to explain why you think I am in the comments below, but him subbing for Earnhardt – should Earnhardt not start the race – would ruin such a great ending to his career that so few get.
My plane is about to take off, so I must be going. Until then, I’ll leave you with this fact. Scotland’s national animal is the unicorn.
