"EVERYONE CONCEDES THEY'RE
CHASING GORDON AT BRICKYARD"

Published in the Johnson County (Ind.) Daily Journal, Aug 1, 1998 ©

         The cat the good ol' boys of NASCAR have to try to skin today has more of an All-American name and résumé -- Jeff Gordon.

         Boyish of face and heavy of right foot, Gordon, who grew up within tobacco-spittin' distance of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, clearly is the driver to beat when the fifth annual Brickyard 400 comes back to life like a napping swamp alligator at 12:15 p.m. today.

         Even his fiercest competitors have to admit that the highest profile American stock car driver since slow-drawling Richard Petty will be the top dog on the Brickyard's front porch. And, they also acknowledge that, in the parlance of the grits and NASCAR racing crowd, that Northern dog surely will hunt, given that he comes into the Winston Cup series' second biggest race as the reigning series champion, current leader of the point standings and convincing winner of the Pocono 500 last weekend in his all-too-familiar rainbow-colored No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet.

         And, oh yes, he starts third on the race grid, the same spot he had when he won the inaugural Brickyard 400 four years ago. You don't even have to be Southern to know this 'possum will be hard to tree.

         "Sure, you've got to think that he's a favorite," concedes Bobby Labonte, who will start 10th today in his Interstate Pontiac, "and he's a hometown hero and does run good here.

         "But it's also a deal where there are going to be a bunch of other guys trying to make sure it doesn't happen."

         "But, if was a bettin' man and wasn't racing," Labonte, a Texan who has won twice this season himself, adds with a dirt-road-wide smile, "I might bet on him."

         Certainly, a bet on Gordon is a million-times better investment than a Powerball ticket. He has already won five Winston Cup events this year, more than any other driver, as well as a total of 34 in his six seasons in Winston Cup racing.

         Even his own teammate -- and Bobby Labonte's brother -- Terry Labonte recognizes that the rest of the 43-car field probably will be chasing Gordon's Chevrolet today.

         "Oh yeah," says the elder of the racing Labonte brothers, "he always seems to be running first or second every weekend. He and his crew are doing a great job."

         And Terry Labonte, whose No. 5 Kellogg's Chevy starts directly in front of Bobby in the two-abreast lineup this afternoon, admits he would be tempted to join his brother in the imaginary betting line. "I don't bet," he notes, with a smile that resembles his brother's -- if Bobby only had a mustache, "but, if I did, I'd bet on him right now."

         Even the driver no one could beat during qualifying Thursday, pole-sitter Ernie Irvan, knows who will probably show up in his rear-view mirror early and often today.

         "Right now, anything Jeff sits in he's been running good," Irvan observes from his Brickyard catbird's seat in the No. 36 Skittles Pontiac.

         "Obviously, he's going to be tough here. They've figured out something to make that Monte Carlo run better than all the other Monte Carlos and better than almost all the other Fords and Pontiacs, too. They've hit on something.

         "Jeff's a great race driver, and Ray Evernham's a great crew chief," Irvan adds, a sly smile starting to spring across his lips like a fox along a hollow log. "So, the only way I know we can beat 'em is maybe get Ray to come over and work on our stuff, but I'm not sure we can get him to do that."

         The other front-row starter, Dale Jarrett, with two wins of his own this year, compares Gordon's apparent invincibility with athletes in other sports who are said to be "in a zone."

         "He's pretty much in one right now," admits the driver of the No. 88 Quality Care Ford. "He's an exceptional talent with a really strong team. I mean, it's like the rest of the NBA trying to stop Michael Jordan."

         And, similarly, trying to defend Gordon's jump-shot has proved frustrating to both the other drivers and many NASCAR fans at speedways outside of California, where Gordon was born, and Indiana, where he was reared in the small town of Pittsboro. The more he has won, the louder the boos have grown elsewhere -- and the deeper the frustration has gone with those who compete against him.

         "Sure, it's a little bit frustrating," concedes former Winston Cup champion Rusty Wallace, who tips off in the 14th slot in his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, "but everybody goes through a stage where they're the dominant car.

         "I did that in '88 and '89, and everybody was aggravated and frustrated with me because we had such a good team. That's what is going on with him right now.

         "They've set a standard out there, and it's up to the rest of us to outrun him and beat him right now."

         "The only person who doesn't put the 26-year-old "rainbow warrior" above and beyond the rest of the list of favorites seems to be Gordon himself. When asked about his perceived role as odds-on favorite, the soft-spoken Gordon starts ticking off the names of the people he thinks of as at least co-favorites -- Wallace, Jarrett, Mark Martin and Wallace's teammate, Jeremy Mayfield.

         "I hope we're one of them, of course," he does add, "and I feel like we should be. We've come back with a little better package, and the confidence and momentum coming from Pocono should help a little bit also."

         And Gordon also takes heart from the fact that, when the speedway gates creak open like Boo Radley's front door at 6 a.m. today and the 250,000 spectators start filing in, many of them will be Hoosiers who will root for him, not against him.

         "It is nice to come back here to Indiana and have a lot of people cheering for you," the dark-haired young driver acknowledges. "Between here and California, it is different than most of the places we go to."

         And, if the other NASCAR drivers don't have enough to worry about in trying to reel in this elusive catfish who now lives in North Carolina, the old up-home crowd may give Gordon still another edge, the racing equivalent of home-field advantage.

         "I'm going to enjoy it all I can," he says of the prospect of a Gordon-friendly crowd for a whole afternoon today. "Hopefully, that will give me a little extra enthusiasm and spark, and a little added incentive."

----------

 Copyright 1998 by Jerry Miller ©

 Color photo courtesy of NASCAR

 Return to Writings page