When a NASCAR Cup Series champion is strapped into a World Rally Championship car along with the two-time champion Marcus Grönholm, the expected outcome is definitely not flipping over three times, right? Well, back in the 2002 Race of Champions at Gran Canaria, that is exactly what happened to one of stock car racing’s all-time greats Jeff Gordon.
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Grönholm took Gordon for a ride in his Peugeot 206 WRC during the Nations Cup and not long after the car hit a berm and flipped over three and a half times before landing on its roof.
November 29, 2002: At the Race of Champions, Jeff Gordon got in a rally car and rode along with WRC champion Marcus Gronholm. They clipped a turn wrong and flipped three and a half times. pic.twitter.com/fW3BuKJA0f
— nascarman (@nascarman_rr) November 29, 2023
Now, in such a situation, anyone else would be scared to death, but not Gordon. The four-time Cup Series champion, on the contrary, was seen giggling and yelling like a kid at a carnival.
Following the flip, the two remained in the car, as fans rushed to the car and helped to push it back onto its wheels. Gordon later got out of the car, celebrating and jumping around as if he just checked off a wish on his bucket list.
Jeff Gordon later went on to win the Nations Cup with the USA team
The 2002 Race of Champions, saw Gordon along with Jimmie Johnson and Colin Edwards participate in the Nations Cup for Team USA, which they ended up winning the event over team Italy in the finals. Entry into the main Race of Champions was mainly determined by the best times in the Nations Cup, with a few exceptions to this rule.
One such example was Jimmie Johnson, who received a ‘wild-card’ entry to the main event. Thereby taking the place of his Nations Cup teammate Jeff Gordon, who was unable to participate due to food poisoning. Additionally, Colin Edwards, despite posting the best time among motorcyclists in the Nations’ Cup, did not take part in the main race.
The final Race of Champions individual event was won by Grönholm over nine WRC champions and legend, Sébastien Loeb. The Finnish rally master also raced against Johnson in that stage but managed to win and knock him out in the quarter-finals.
