By all measures, four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon is NASCAR royalty. He is one of the biggest stars the sport has seen and catapulted it to new heights globally. After spending over two decades with Hendrick Motorsports as a driver, he retired at the end of the 2015 season. Currently 52 years old, could he be ready for a return to the race track? Gordon recently answered the question himself.
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In a recent interview with Jeff Gluck, Gordon revealed why he couldn’t get into the race car again. The biggest reason he gave is that racing is something that comes out of habit. He said, “So first, it’s out of respect for the people who do it well and work so hard at it and are tied into their team and tied into the vehicle on a weekly basis. It’s so hard to compete with that — I don’t care how talented you are.”
He believes that no driver, as legendary as they may be, is good enough to keep their sharpness and edge after having been away for a long time. He brought forward the example of Kevin Harvick who replaced Kyle Larson in the All-Star race practice this year. Harvick had said that he was finding it hard to compete against the others despite being out for only six months.
Despite all the reasons to not, Gordon did try his hand at racing again when he climbed into a Porsche Carrera for a race a few years back. The lessons he learned from it are strong. He continued, “The other thing I experienced in that race was just the physicality of it. I was exhausted. Realized how good of shape I was in driving race cars. I mean, of course, I look at myself in the mirror and I see I’ve gained weight. I don’t look the same way.”
Gordon admits to losing the desire to put the race car on the “edge”
One of the factors that made Gordon the icon he is is the killer attitude that he displayed on the race track. There was nothing else on the driver’s mind except going for the win. But now, he might not be the same way. Even if his physicality cooperates, his mind would not.
He said about it, “Honestly, I went up into the booth with Fox and I watched and I said, “Those guys are crazy! There’s no way I used to do that.” Now I could push myself to a pace that I’m comfortable with, and that pace would not be good enough to put the car at the speed it needs to be.”
Even if he never climbs into a car to compete again, the streets will never forget the records Gordon set in NASCAR.
