Gordon content both personally and professionally
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jeff Gordon helicoptered into the race track, escorted four friends to his motorhome and instructed them where they could find food and beer.
Then he slid into the back of a waiting SUV set to shuttle him to a full schedule of pre-race appearances. The buzzing of his cell phone interrupted his conversation, as Jeff Gordon fumbled to answer it quickly
“Hey, baby,” he cooed to his wife, Belgian model Ingrid Vandebosch, “I miss you.'”
Jeff Gordon's personal life has never been better, and his professional life is on track for a fifth NASCAR championship. With the addition of his first child – Ella Sofia was born Wednesday – Gordon now must figure out how to juggle both.
“You are now responsible for this little person that can't take care of itself,” Carol Bickford, his mother, said. “And how is he going to do that and race, too? Well you know what? We all have jobs. We all have kids, and we all find a way to work, too.
“We all do it. He'll do the same thing.”
NASCAR's newest daddy goes back to work this weekend in Sonoma, Calif., where he'll try for his fifth victory of the season. He'll leave his girls behind in New York City, the first test of how he handles being a famous race car driver and a family man.
After all, racing is no longer the most important thing in his life.
“After winning the four championships and as many races as he has, he doesn't feel like he's got anything to prove to anyone,” said car owner Rick Hendrick. “I just think the baby and Ingrid mean so much more to him than trying to prove to anybody that he's the man.”
The Nextel Cup Series has 22 fathers who are raising children while racing cars every weekend. Some had their kids before they made it big; others started their families well into their NASCAR careers.
None are as a big a star as Jeff Gordon, the four-time series champion and Madison Ave. pitchman who has been through several cycles of highs and lows during his 15 years on top of the sport.
He's racked up 79 victories – best among active drivers, sixth on the all-time list – and a NASCAR-record $85 million in winnings. He had a high-profile first marriage to Brooke Sealy, a former series model, and a much-publicized and expensive divorce seven years later.
He spent time isolated in Florida, away from the day-to-day NASCAR grind and out of the public spotlight, and distanced himself from his parents during the bulk of his first marriage.
Those who know him insist that through every twist and turn, Jeff Gordon has always been 100 percent committed to his craft.
“When he shows up in this garage, I don't think there's ever been a moment that he's not been prepared,” said crew chief Steve Letarte. “Over 15 years of knowing him, he's always shown up ready to do his job. He's always on his A-game.”
That hasn't changed since Jeff Gordon met Vandebosch in 2004. The two announced their engagement the morning of the Sonoma race last year and were married in Mexico in early November. They announced they were expecting a month later.
Although the relationship hasn't changed him, he appears to finally be content. Now 35, Jeff Gordon's mother says he's finally comfortable in his skin.
Jeff Gordon has been unstoppable this year in the best statistical start of his career. He's got four wins and 13 top-10 finishes through 15 races. He also has such a comfortable lead atop the points standings that he would have missed the first race of his career if Vandebosch had gone into labor this weekend.
It's a return to form after several lean years following his fourth title in 2001. After missing the Chase for the championship in 2004 – a shocking failure for a driver who had not been outside the top 10 in points since his 1993 rookie season – last season was the start of his comeback. He got a pair of wins and a Chase berth. But Jeff Gordon never got rolling once the postseason started, and he finished a distant sixth as teammate Jimmie Johnson won his first title.
Jeff Gordon believes this season's success is a direct correlation to the satisfaction of his personal life.
“I always had hoped that there was going to be a day in my life that things were going really good in my relationships. There is nothing better than sharing those winning moments and success with the people you care about the most, and I've never before had it all,” Jeff Gordon said. “If you go back to my first championship, I was recently married and happy. But my mom and dad, we went through our problems, and they weren't a part of it. As happy as I was, I was not happy about that situation.
“So it seems like there's always going to be something. But right now, I can't think of anything major not going well.”
It raises questions about how long Jeff Gordon plans to run the grueling 36-race schedule. He's adamant he wants to be a hands-on father and has spent the past nine months at doctor appointments, baby showers, assembling furniture and researching strollers – he wanted “sleek, lightweight, safe and cool” and settled on a pair of $900 prams.
He views raising a child as the most important job he'll ever have. Because he doesn't want to be an absentee father, Jeff Gordon plans to have Ingrid and Ella on the road with him as much as possible.
The problem is, his at-track schedule is stacked with appearances, appointments and entertaining. When he finally returns to the motorhome at the end of a long day, Jeff Gordon needs rest and relaxation, and a baby could disrupt that downtime.
“Ingrid doesn't want to do that to me while I am at the races; she knows how important those weekends are,” Jeff Gordon said. “And as much as I'd like to visit and spend time, if it's going to be disruptive, then it's not worth it.”
So for now, the two won't travel with him. The family plans to use a baby nurse to help put Ella on a schedule. When she starts coming to the race track, they'll have a new motorhome equipped with a built-in crib and playpen.
It might make other crew chiefs worry that their driver won't be focused come race day, but Letarte isn't too concerned.
“Maybe that kid keeping him up all night – he'll want to get in a race car, it will at least be quiet,” Letarte said. “But it's certainly not going to lessen his drive. Every part of his life is complete, and I think there's nothing more that he wants than to take Ingrid to New York as a champion and carry his baby around New York as the champion.
“He's at the point of his career where this is all about putting his name down as the champion at the end of this special year.”
Still, Jeff Gordon isn't sure what to expect the next few months. He doesn't know how his baby will change his life, and a part of him fears the unknown.
“Everything scares me about fatherhood, and the thing that scares me the most is failure,” he said. “I think it's the toughest job on the planet, and I am sure it's going to change me. But I hope it's going to change me in a positive way, and not a negative way.
“My career is extremely important. But I want to be a great father, and I just don't know if anything is going to be more important than my child.”
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