Jeff Gordon was born on the 4th August 1971 in the town of Vallejo, California. When he was five Jeff was racing on a makeshift track, formerly a fairground, created by himself and his stepfather, John Bickford and his natural ability was recognised by his stepfather who encouraged him to do the best he could in everything he did. He practised behind the wheel of a quarter midget and although he did not do so well in his first year of competition his competitive spirit shone through and when he was six years of age he had thirty five wins and five track records under his belt.

Jeff Gordon in August 2007 at en:Bristol Motor Speedway. (Wiki Commons)

His interest developed and at the age of thirteen this interest led him to sprint cars causing a huge problem for him as drivers had to be sixteen to drive 650 hp cars. Not to be put off by this his family fought for the chance to drive and he was eventually permitted to race in the All Star Florida Speedweeks. After his success driving sprint cars his family supported his decision to take up driving as a profession and the family moved to Pittsboro, Indiana where opportunities for young drivers were far greater. Success came easily to him and his driving abilities received nationwide attention. He won many track championships as Bloomington Speedway and a title at Eldora Speedway in open-wheel racing and when further opportunities were no longer available he turned his attention to stock car racing and declared after a few runs around the track that this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

In 1990 Jeff met Hugh Connerty, owner of some Hooters restaurants and partner in Outback Steakhouse and it was through this meeting that funding was found through Outback to secure a car which was tested in 1990 during the last of the races in Busch Grand National. Ray Evernham, unknown then in motorsports came to work with him during his debut race at Rockingham in the AC-Delco 200.

In 1991 further funding became difficult to obtain so Jeff went to tyre test the No 1 car for Bill Davis and after some discussion it was agreed for Jeff to drive for the 1991 season and in this season he won “Rookie of the Year”, going on to set a NASCAR record of eleven poles in the 1992 season and gave such a performance that he was noticed by Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports.

Jeff made his Winston Cup debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1992 in the last race of the season, driving the #24 DuPont Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. In 1993 Jeff began driving for Hendrick Motorsports full time and again winning the “Rookie of the Year” Award. Ray Evernham became his first crew chief and Jeff’s success at such a young age changed the model and allowed other young drivers to compete in NASCAR.

This was to become the start of a long and successful relationship between Hendrick Motorsports and Jeff Gordon which continues today.

Jeff has competed in other off-road racing events such as: - Team USA at the 2002 and 2005 Race of Champions and Rolex 24 Hours Daytona where his team were placed third in his first ever Rolex 24.

On a more personal note he is married to Ingrid and they have two children, Ella Sophia and Leo Benjamin.

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Jeff Gordon - Wikipedia
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