On November 15th, 1992, one of the closest, most
exciting, NASCAR point races was reaching it's conclusion when Alan Kulwicki
edged out Bill Elliott. Richard Petty ended his incredible driving career at
that same afternoon at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. It's kind of a footnote
now, but a young driver made his debut in the Winston Cup Series. It would be
the start of what has been an outstanding run of excellence. That young
driver, was Jeff Gordon. Since then, NASCAR has never the same.
After running midgets and sprint cars growing up,
he turned to stock cars in 1990, making his debut in the Busch Series. In
1991, he ran the Busch Series full time and in 1993, he jumped into full time
Winston Cup Series racing. He won his Gatorade Twin 125 race that year and
won the Rookie of the Year. He would win his first points race at the Coca
Cola 600 in '94 and took the checkered at the first Brickyard 400. Starting
in 1995, he would go on a dominating run.
Gordon won his first Winston Cup in 1995 and won
back to back titles in 1997 and 1998. Jeff won seven races in '95 and ten in
'97. Also in '97, he became the youngest winner of the Daytona 500 at age
25. His season in 1998 is one of the most incredible by one driver ever. He
tied the modern era (started in 1972) with 13 wins, 26 top-fives and 28
top-tens in 33 races. His fourth championship came in 2001.
This season, Jeff made even more history. At
Phoenix, he tied Dale Earnhardt for sixth on the all time Winston/Nextel Cup
wins list with 76 victories. He passed "The Intimidator" the next week at
Talladega with his 77th career win and #78 came at Darlington. This has
prompted many to really try and figure out where he belongs in the ranks of
the greats of NASCAR history.
So where does Jeff Gordon rank? Right now, it may
be a little tough to nail that answer down. Simply because considering he's
35 years old. He still, in all likelihood, has quite a few years of racing
left. Look at what he's done up to this point: This is his 15th full season
racing on NASCAR's highest level. He's won four championships. Only the
seven for Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt are more. Only five other drivers
have more wins than Jeff's 78 career victories.
What about the future? Is seven championships
possible? With the parity the sport is seeing now, that may be a bit tough.
But five or six is possible. In all time wins, he's not going to catch
Petty's 200 victories. NASCAR is quite different today as compared to the
1950's and 1960's when there were more races. David Pearson's 105 wins might
be too tough to reach as well. The three right ahead of him, Jeff will very
likely surpass. Considering Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip have 84 and
Cale Yarborough have 83, Jeff could very well pass that trio before the end of
next year.
Many fans love him. Many can't stand him. But
this is certain: Jeff Gordon's legacy in NASCAR is secure, as is his spot as
one of the greatest drivers of all time.
By CrimsonCowboy