In 1986, the Gordon family and 15-year-old Jeff packed their bags and moved to Indiana from California. The decision was made to put the teen’s dreams of being a professional race car driver ahead of much else and Indiana was going to facilitate that. Nearly four decades since that day, Jeff Gordon looks back at the transition and has little regrets.
He spoke about the two places he grew up in – Vallejo, California, and Pittsboro, Indiana – in an interview with veteran reporter Jeff Gluck. He said that the Californian town was responsible for shaping his character as a child. “It taught me a lot of life lessons, like how to be tough,” he said. “I had to hold my own because I was a little guy. So it taught me how to do that.”
Despite the benefits it had, California was no place for a young and budding racer with its multiple rules and regulations surrounding racing. For Gordon’s dream to be realized he needed to go elsewhere. Indiana. Once his family moved there he got to attend a school that was close to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and race without any bars holding him.
He continued to Gluck, “California was holding me back from that because I was so young. All I kept hearing is, “You can’t,” and “You’re not allowed to,” and “The laws or the rules don’t allow you to.” So I was happy to get out of California for that reason and come to Indiana and it was like, “I can go race and drive anywhere basically I want to.”
The strong effects of moving from California to Indianapolis
The same year that his family shifted its roots to Indiana, Gordon accumulated three sprint car race wins in 60 features. He was granted the USAC license in 1987, at age 16, the youngest driver to obtain it. It was around this time that his stepfather, John Bickford, built him a sprint car at an expense of $25,000. He would go on to race in Australia and New Zealand in the years leading up to the 90s.
By the time he was 21, Gordon had won over 600 races in different types of cars and found himself a seat with Bill Davis Racing in the Busch Series. What followed was one of the most iconic displays of career progression and legacy formation. Today, Gordon is regarded as one of the greatest race car drivers in the history of motorsports, which can all be attributed to that decision in 1986.
