Joan Lunden Behind Closed Doors: Jeff Gordon

gentlemen unless you're scared stock while the greatest racecar driver on the planet now at age 27 Jeff Gordon has transcended the sport he dominates to become one of the most marketed athletes in the world tonight we go behind closed doors and behind the wheel after just six years on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Jeff Gordon's rewriting the record books he already has 43 career victories and three driving championships to his name but amazingly he doesn't even own the car he drives he is paid 1.5 million dollars a year by Hendrick Motorsports to put their car in the winner's circle well there's no telling what he's gonna make up this business he could be as big as Michael Jordan because Ronnie has the looks till he has the personality and three and the most important thing of all he has the opportunity just to put it in perspective in 1998 Jeff Gordon also raked in four million dollars in victory purses three million dollars from sponsors and over five and a half million dollars from sales of licensed merchandise we had an all-access pass to Jeff Gordon and his team over one week of racing it was like traveling with a rock star I talked with him behind closed doors in a special luxury box overlooking the Atlanta Motor Speedway I'm told that you've been doing this since age five yes well not quite at this level or anything like this but yeah my my stepfather my mother got me involved in racing when actually the first time I ever drove a car or I was about four four and a half car racing consumed a young Jeff Gordon but his competitive streak was tempered by a shy exterior by age eight he was already a national champion at age eleven Jeff dominated the go-kart division at 14 he started racing sprint cars I always knew that I wanted to drive a race car and I guess you know just like other kids when they start to think about career I was thinking okay do I continue on with racing or do I go to college what I do the day I graduated that night I was racing and I had one of the best races I ever had and I knew right then this is this is what I need to pursue our journey with jeff began at the Las Vegas 400 moments after his third-place finish Jeff and his wife Brooke were ferried by private helicopter to his private Learjet while Jeff and Brooke were jetting to their Florida home Jeff's team packed his million-dollar mobile garage for the next leg of NASCAR's traveling circus inside they loaded two of Jeff's racecars into the top tier of the truck below there are enough spare parts to build an entire engine within ten minutes after traveling cross-country everyone would meet up at the Atlanta Motor Speedway Jeff and Brooke arrived 72 hours before the race like most raceways Atlanta is set up like a mini city inside the one and a half mile oval race track drivers and their crews will eat sleep and live racing there is a garage area for the race cars and a restricted zone that acts as a luxury mobile home park Jeff and Brooke spend as many as thirty four weekends a year in his 45-foot million-dollar motor coach seen here for the first time on television we're in the motor coach a lot and and so it has to have all the comforts of home we have a full kitchen in there in a bedroom and satellite television so I'm able to watch all the races Jeff and Brooke are inseparable at the racetrack in fact their entire romance is a NASCAR fairy tale well we were in Daytona and it was his first Daytona 500 he was a rookie that year and we were both 21 and I was the girl that gave the trophy to who won in victory lane and it was Valentine's Day and he asked me out for lunch and we've been together ever since do you have what they say is the need for speed now my wife might answer this a different a couple corners just a little faster than the rest of us out there how am I getting a hurry every once in a while well you have to be like the ultimate backseat driver right worse I'm the worst backseat driver I mean anybody you talk to that that would you know that I've ridden with will tell you gosh every corner it doesn't matter what Lane were in there's like no switch lanes you know no pass that car get up there turn I can't help that what is it that separates Jeff from the rest of the pack he has the best car he is the best driver he does have the best crew he's got all the financing in the world so he's got everything it takes and he has a really good crew chief that crew chief is Ray Evernham he acts as the field general for a 37 man crew that keeps putting Jeff in the winner's circle ray took us behind his clothes garage doors for an inside look at Jeff's car so the car was performing well today it has a little bit of what we call a push or a tight condition when a driver says the car is tight that means he's turning the steering wheel in the car doesn't want to turn it's trying to go straight and then you'll hear him say the car is loose and that means it's turning without him turning it so this car has a little bit of a tight condition which is good because you don't really want a loose car at 200 miles an hour although Jeff's Chevy Monte Carlo cost about $125,000 it comes with no frills there's no passenger seat no speedometer no doors and the headlights are only decals the engine itself costs almost $40,000 but is engineered to last only six hours each one of Jeff's 12 identical cars is built from the ground up around a steel roll cage designed to protect the driver Friday and Saturday Jeff drove qualifying and practice runs to get the feel of the track here in Atlanta Jeff had the eight fastest qualifying time from this point on he won't drive or even seek his car again until the start of the race we come back it's race day and Jeff goes for the checkered flag race day doesn't begin with racing for Jeff rain or shine it actually begins four hours before he puts the pedal to the metal you do this every Sunday every Sunday unlike athletes in other sports Jets pre-race ritual don't focus on how to win the event instead behind closed doors he meets and greets his sponsors and their guests these obligations continue right up until race time well Jeff is mingling with his sponsors his crew fills up his car with 22 gallons of high-octane gas cost four dollars and 11 cents per gallon remember that when you're under a yellow flag next we went with Jeff behind closed doors to a mandatory meeting for all drivers simultaneously Jeff's crew was walking the car through NASCAR's inspection process since all of these race cars are virtually identical NASCAR makes sure they adhere to strict Racing limits after inspection Jeff's Monte Carlo is pushed to the starting line gasped tuned and ready finally Jeff and the other drivers attend a church service they know every time they go to work there's a chance of not coming back alive when you're out there going at those states what are you thinking about there's a little bit of fear there you know because any little problem you and it's you know you can blow a tire you can run over something on the track the car can get away from you and you know it's gonna hurt a lot when you hit that wall thirty minutes before the race I joined Jeff on his walk to pit road for driver introductions I was amazed at how calm he seems when you're going that fast or hunt that race charge trust me your minds not thinking about anything else but that starting Pittsboro Indiana driving the number 24 automotive energy surprisingly Jeff Gordon often hears as many boos from the crowd as he does Cheers I'm booed when I come out for driver introductions but I realized that those are the dedicated fans to their driver to their team in you know the enemy but yet then there are the cheers and the people that pull for me and they're very dedicated Jeff and his wife Brooke have a race day tradition for inspiration Brooke chooses a scripture from the Bible and has a crew member tape it to Jeff's steering wheel before he climbs into the car they also take a private moment for a short prayer most of Jeff's raises are 500 miles on this day with rain delays he would be behind the wheel for over four hours almost double his normal time this was my first NASCAR race I got a bird's-eye view of the action from the team's pit I'll never forget the noise and excitement of these 43 cars battling for the lead at speeds more than three times the legal limit Ray was in constant contact with Jeff through a two-way radio they discussed great strategy and how the car was handling he can see the whole picture from where he's at because he's taking time to hit my car other cars I see what's happening in that box of Steel that race bar what's in front of me behind me and that's it so I need that jet screw will go over the wall attacking the race car like Marines storming the beach they'll change four tires refuel the car with up to 22 gallons of gas and clean the windshield and they'll do it all in less than 16 seconds gray has revolutionized the pitstop while most teams have the mechanics work on the car ray flies in a specially trained crew known as the Rainbow Warriors the morning of the race the leader of the pit crew Andi Papa thana Cu has a degree in organizational behavior from Stanford and is used it's a fine tune the pitting process anytime you try to do something with seven people in 16 seconds working with 75 pounds of tires and 85 pounds of gas cans you need to know your steps and exactly what you're doing at every moment or that could easily turn into a disaster there are an average of five pit stops during a race these tires cost $400 apiece and up to 20 may be used in a single race they have no treads and are designed to stick to the track when they heat up someone asked me once what separates a good pit crew from a bad pit crew and I said honestly about half a second after 400 miles Jeff Gordon has climbed in the first place the temperature in his car can get up to 120 degrees the g-forces of over 900 left turns batter the body you have to be very sharp you have to you know really be focused and you're concentrating so hard on what's happening in front of you and what your car is doing that you could stick needles in my body and I probably wouldn't even know it wins the Cracker Barrel 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway another victory and the Rainbow Warriors it was a perfect ending to our week with Jeff Gordon I joined him in victory lane and took part in the celebration of win number 44 so what will you do tonight we'll kind of relive that for the next you know a couple days in this is my week to be able to be on top you know and once we get to the next race you go back to zero thanks for a great beginning to a major new fan we said goodbye Jeff signed a few last autographs and NASCAR's hottest young driver was off to the races again

Channel: JoanLunden

Views: 26,532

Rating: 4.8326359 out of 5

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Id: 7L3aVPwVW_U

Length: 13min 54sec (834 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 13 2016