Getting to know Jeff Gordon By Kyle Larson
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Getting to know Jeff Gordon
Oct. 28, 2015
By Kyle Larson
NASCAR Wire Service
I guess I was first aware of Jeff when I was younger, before I started racing—four, five, six years old. I just remember my parents telling me about this kid who grew up in Vallejo, California, who raced at the same sprint car tracks I had gone to as a spectator, as a kid.
I remember doing car rides to races up and down the West Coast. We’d pop in a VHS tape, and my parents had recorded all the old “Thursday Night Thunder” videos, and Jeff was on a handful of those. That was probably the start of me becoming a fan of Jeff Gordon.
Then, obviously, I followed NASCAR a lot, and he really opened the doors for a lot of new guys outside of the South to make it to the Sprint Cup Series. I’ve always been a Jeff Gordon fan, and it’s pretty cool to see all the things he’s done for our sport and, obviously, it’s pretty cool to be here racing with him now.
I probably met Jeff for the first time when I was too young to hold my head up—my mom probably has a picture somewhere. I think the first time I actually met him when he knew who I was, it was at the end of 2011. I had a breakout season in USAC, and I had just signed with Spire (a sports and entertainment management company), and I was going around to meet a lot of teams.
One of the stops was Hendrick, and I talked to Jeff Gordon quite a bit. That was definitely cool, and I was a little star-struck, I guess, because it was Jeff Gordon. At that point, I had never met anyone really famous.
Since I’ve been in Cup, he’s given me some advice as far as how to approach things off the track, with my personal life, and business-wise, which has helped a lot. He’s really opened my eyes to some things.
More recently, I’ve gotten closer to Jeff away from NASCAR, because he’s sponsored some sprint car races for our team—Larson Marks Racing and Shane Stewart—and he’s been out to Knoxville (Iowa, for the Knoxville Nationals), where he’s a lot of fun. Out of the office, he’s a fun kid. So it’s been cool to get to know him better off the track.
Next year, I don’t think it will be too different (when he retires). The 24 car will still be out there with Chase Elliott. And you’re probably going to see Jeff more than you do now since he’ll be on TV a lot (in the Fox Sports booth). He’s brought a lot to this sport, and I’m sure he’ll continue to make contributions.
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