The team's Pepsi-sponsored cars ran six races with Jeff Gordon as driver and Evernham as crew chief. In 1999, Brooke Gordon (then wife of Jeff Gordon) and Ray Evernham formed Gordon/Evernham Motorsports (GEM) to compete in that year's Busch Series season. History Gordon–Evernham Motorsports (1999) The team evolved from Gordon–Evernham Motorsports, which ran six races in the Busch Series in 1999. I think the biggest change right now is I think I understand what I want out of life and how I want to approach it.JG Motorsports was a NASCAR Busch Series race team co-owned by Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendrick, which attempted 20 races in the year 2000. I certainly feel like I matured a lot more than the first time I did that and know more what I want and who I am. Things are really good right now, balanced right now, and I'm not even thinking about that. "I certainly don't have time for that kind of relationship and I'm not really interested in that right now," Gordon said. I want to work hard at it, but at the same time when I'm not racing I'm able to have good friends to hang out with and enjoy, look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas, going skiing somewhere or going to the islands somewhere." But after a few years of reorganizing his priorities, Gordon said he is finding what he wants. That life has changed greatly since his marriage to Brooke Gordon collapsed into a messy and very public divorce in 2002. But at the same time, you can tell that he has really come to enjoy his private time." You can tell he really enjoys being on Saturday Night Live and all the other things his success has allowed him to do. "He has the quality Richard Petty had in that you can tell he's really tickled by being around the fans. "Jeff works it, whatever he's doing," Hunter said. NASCAR vice president of corporate communications Jim Hunter has watched Gordon grow. I wouldn't be surprised at all if that came to be." That one's not very successful, but having someone like Jeff, who's met so many people in the world and impacted them in a variety of ways, I think it would be fun. "I think either a sitcom that was about NASCAR where he played himself or a show like John McEnroe's. "We certainly wouldn't shy away from his own TV show," Bickford said. I think I've relaxed a little so I can enjoy it, but it's nothing I want to do when I'm not racing."īickford, however, has had a head full of plans since Gordon was a child, and they have gotten more grand now that he's a multi-million-dollar industry. But I've also learned to have fun with it and enjoy it. I want to be a race car driver and a good race car driver and because of that, opportunities come along. Still, Gordon emphasizes he is a driver first: "This stuff has only come along because of racing. Now he's 33 and he can wear a zebra uniform and everyone gets a laugh out of it." "At his first NASCAR banquet, he had a real tough time with it. "He struggled at banquets and things when he was 16," Bickford said. Nothing."īickford had aspirations for his stepson even 26 years ago, and he knew this bashful side was going to be a problem, no matter how he developed as a racer. We can make him talk.' I said, "Okay ' Not a word uttered. They said, "We interview kids all the time. "We knew he was shy, but we didn't know how shy until that day," Bickford said. Just the shot of the tiny kid with big bangs _ that would be Gordon _ hiding behind Bickford so he did not have to kiss the trophy girl. A crew spent a day with him at a quartermidgets track outside Sacramento, Calif., and got little to show for it. When Gordon was 7, CBS focused on him for a story about racing children. "I'm in front of people and cameras all the time, so it's not something I hunger for, but I did get used to it." I think that really got me more comfortable and come out of my shell. "From a very young age, my parents had me in front of the camera, whether it be kid shows that focused on racing. "There's a lot of guys out here who are great race car drivers who don't want to be in front of the camera," Gordon said. Winners get on television, land commercials, play with the stars. Gordon initially did not aspire to a life in front of the camera, but it became his reality when he was guided at a young age into a career as a racer. That he is comfortable enough to excel in these situations speaks to how far he has come from a 7-year-old too shy to speak. That Gordon gets the chance to cut up with celebrities, stand astride the green at the Masters, judge the Miss USA pageant and host Live with Regis and Kelly speaks to his fame and popularity. "Was that not cool?" said Gordon's stepfather and business manager, John Bickford. Harvey smiled, but Gordon had gotten the last laugh.
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