THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510220164
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Attention Jeff Gordon: Do not read this column.
You probably don't have time to read the newspaper anyway. But if you do, stop right now. You wouldn't like it.
The discussion today is longevity and burnout in NASCAR racing careers. And we were wondering how long Gordon will be able to continue to be a star in NASCAR's Winston Cup series.
It's hardly a fair topic. After all, we're still a few ticks of the clock short of Gordon's first Winston Cup championship. And he's still only 24.
But we wanted to get some insights on the impact of winning as a youngster from Richard Petty, NASCAR's greatest winner and most enduring personality. Petty had some sobering thoughts.
``I would advise him to take every advantage of everything that comes down now, because all you have to do is have one wreck and he's outta here,'' the King said. ``He's been lucky so far that he's not been hurt. He could be the one that gets hurt and it rattles him and he'll never do nothin' again. . . . It's happened to a lot of good drivers.''
Ouch.
OK, what impact will winning the championship have on the career of a driver who is so young?
``It'll shorten it,'' Petty said without a blink. ``He'll burn out. It'll be like a Michael Jordan situation. You just done so good so young and made all that money. And you say, ``Why do it need to do this?' He loses interest because it's too easy.
``When I first started (in 1958 at 21 years old) was when Lynda and I got married, and I said, ``Racing comes first, and if you work real hard, you can be No. 2.' And there wasn't no No. 3. That's all I lived for. I didn't give a darn if the sun was shining or if it was raining or if they was having a war somewhere, as long as I had enough money . . . to go racing.
``But over a period of time, I had to start doing other things. I had a family, had to buy a car, had to buy a house, had to start doing other things. Even though racing was still No. 1, the No. 1 was diminished.
``You gotta figure, he's been doing this since he's been 8 or 10 years old. It doesn't matter who you are, you've got only so much a span of time. Gordon is 24, but he's got the experience of a 34-year-old as far as racing. You're just good for so long in doing what you do.''
Petty looks at Darrell Waltrip and he sees a driver who is beginning to go through what he went through.
``He's used up his 20 years or whatever,'' Petty said of Waltrip. ``And I always felt that in my deal, the good Lord gave me 25 good years and he said, `That's enough.' And I tried to stretch it into 35 . . . because I loved to drive so much.''
Ah, but there is good news from the King regarding the soon-to-be champ. Petty believes Gordon will never have trouble with all the pressure and publicity of being a top dog in NASCAR.
``He's a 24-year-old kid with 30 years' worth of being interviewed and being the center of attraction,'' Petty said. ``So it's nothing new to him. He seems to be pretty good with it, and I think that's because he's been under the microscope for a long time.''
Petty also thinks there is a clear reason why Gordon is so successful at such a young age in the country's most competitive racing series.
``He's a winner and he knows how to handle winning,'' Petty said. ``Everybody has got a destiny and some people's destiny is to be better achievers than others.
``All 40 drivers are good drivers or they wouldn't be here. But there's five or six of them that are winners. And they're going to dominate. A lot of them cats has got the desire, but they ain't got the ability.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS
Jeff Gordon, right, chats with Richard Petty. ``He's a winner and he
knows how to handle winning,'' Petty, NASCAR's winningest driver,
said of the Winston Cup points leader.
Jeff Gordon, left, talks with crew chief Ray Evernham while
preparing for today's AC Delco 400 at North Carolina Motor Speedway
in Rockingham.
by CNB