Jeff Gordon  Birthdate: August 4, 1971 Residence: Mooresville, NC

At age 27, most drivers are lucky if they are just beginning their NASCAR Winston Cup careers. At that age, Jeff Gordon rules the sport.

In 1998, Gordon turned in the kind of season that will go down in history as one of NASCAR's best, if not its greatest. Gordon's accomplishments in '98 stagger the imagination. His 13 victories tied Richard Petty's 1975 mark as the most by any driver in a modern era (since 1972) single season. At one point, Gordon proved to be "Mr. August" winning four events in a row -- Pocono, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen and Michigan. After a 'sub-par' 5th place effort at Bristol, Gordon then won the next two events at New Hampshire and Darlington, the latter giving Gordon an additional $1 million bonus as part of the Winston No Bull 5 incentive program.

With the championship on the line, Gordon silenced critics of his previous late season performances (read: swoon) by winning three of the last four races, including a sweep of the final two events at Rockingham and Atlanta. In all, Gordon scored 26 Top 5 finishes, including a staggering 17 in a row, and 28 Top 10 efforts in 33 races last season. His 5,328 points are a record for the modern point system initiated in 1975 and marked only the second time a driver eclipsed the 5,000 point plateau, the other coming in Cale Yarborough's (5,000 points) 1977 championship year. Gordon's three Winston Cup titles over the past four seasons also tied him with Darrell Waltrip, David Pearson, Lee Petty and Yarborough for second on the all-time NASCAR titles won list.

Gordon's accomplishments shouldn't surprise considering he has literally been racing all his life. Gordon started racing Quarter-Midget cars when he was five, winning the Western States Championship in his class that year. It was a pattern that he would repeat many times.

Jeff continued his Quarter-Midget career, driving to the national Quarter-Midget championship in 1979 at age eight; repeating that feat two years later. Moving up from Quarter-Midgets to go-karts, he again displayed an unusual level of talent, prompting some to encourage him to move up to Sprint cars.

At the young age of 13, Jeff found his racing opportunities limited in his native California, so Jeff's stepfather, John Bickford, moved the family to Indiana where Jeff could begin driving the 700 horsepower Sprint cars. What followed was a period of varied racing experiences that would shape the young driver's career, competing in winged Sprints and Midgets on pavement and dirt tracks. In 1990, at age 19, Jeff became the youngest driver to win the USAC Midget title.

During 1990, Gordon, looking for new avenues to advance his career, went to the Buck Baker driving school to try his hand in the big, heavy Stock cars, and he knew right away that he wanted to race the full-bodied Stocks. Baker, impressed with Gordon's talent, introduced him to businessman Hugh Connerty, who offered to let Jeff drive his Busch Series car. With the help of Leo Jackson (Connerty's son-in-law) and Phil Barkdoll, Jeff organized a fledgling effort that included Ray Evernham, to whom he was introduced through Jackson's crewchief Andy Petree. The modest team made its Busch Series debut late in the season at Rockingham, catching everyone's attention by qualifying on the outside pole.

Gordon made the decision to transition from open-wheeled racing to the Busch Grand National Series full-time in 1991, driving Fords for Bill Davis Racing and continuing his relationship with Evernham. He won a record 11 poles during the season, finished second on three occasions, and was crowned Rookie of the Year. The following season, Gordon picked up three wins and 15 Top 10 finishes on his way to fourth place in the Busch Series point race.

It was then, late in 1992, that Gordon received an offer from Rick Hendrick to drive Chevrolets for a third team car in the Winston Cup Series. Gordon's decision to accept the offer would surprise everyone (not the least the Ford higher-ups who hadn't secured him with a contract), and many said that his move to the team was a mistake. Crewchief Evernham accompanied Gordon to Hendrick Motorsports. Jeff made his NASCAR Winston Cup debut in the season finale at Atlanta driving for Hendrick. He finished 31st. In his first full year in Winston Cup, Gordon again demonstrated his amazing ability by winning right out of the box in his Twin 125 at Daytona at age 21 -- the youngest driver to do so since Johnny Rutherford in 1963. During the season, he collected his first pole in the fall at Charlotte and earned 1993 Rookie of the Year honors while finishing 14th in the final standings. The team got off to a quick start again in 1994 by winning the Busch Clash, followed during the season by Jeff's initial Winston Cup point wins in two of the biggest races of the year, the Coca-Cola 600 and the inaugural Brickyard 400, on the way to an eighth-place finish in the final points.

In 1995, Jeff Gordon silenced his critics and became the youngest Winston Cup Champion in NASCAR's modern era in only his third year on the tour. The team had met during the off-season and made a list of goals for 1995 that included improving on their 1994 record by winning three races, taking another pole and finishing in the Top 5 in the standings. Taking it "one race at a time," Gordon and his Evernham-led "Rainbow Warriors" wound up with seven regular-season wins plus a victory in The Winston, and fought off the challenge of Dale Earnhardt to win the championship to bring Hendrick his first title since he began fielding cars in 1984. Gordon was also named 1995 NMPA Driver of the Year.

His success continued in 1996 with 10 wins and a second-place finish in the final standings to teammate Terry Labonte, followed by another 10 win season in 1997 to become the first driver to win 10 or more races in consecutive years since Darrell Waltrip in 1981-82. The year also marked Gordon's second championship in three seasons, beating Dale Jarrett and Mark Martin in the closest three-way point battle in Winston Cup history. His 1997 milestones include his second win in the Busch Clash, a Daytona 500 victory, his first road-course win (Watkins Glen), a second victory in The Winston and a record third-consecutive win in the Southern 500 while taking the Winston Million. His season's winnings eclipsed the $6 million mark making him the first driver ever to reach that plateau.

In 1999, Gordon will return in the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for a run at another title, his third straight. Should he turn the hat trick, he will join Cale Yarborough (1976, 77, 78) as the only other driver in Winston Cup history to attain that goal. 

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