Q&A: Jeff Gordon Talks Wrecking, Collecting and Dancing
By Jeff Gluck - USA Today
USA TODAY Sports' Jeff Gluck will visit with a driver every week for an informal Q&A to gain insights on NASCAR stars' lives on and off the track. Our 12 question series kicks off with four-time champion Jeff Gordon from Daytona Beach, Fla.
Q: Whose driving style is most similar to yours?
A: Maybe Tony Stewart? I feel like he's aggressive when he needs to be and patient when he needs to be, and that's kind of how I am.
Q: I thought you had a reputation for driving a tight race car and he liked to drive a loose race car. Or is that not really considered "style?"
A: See, I don't think of that as "style." When I think of style, I think of how they search around the racetrack, how they think throughout the race and approach the race in certain stages as far as decision-making.
Like Tony, I feel like he drives the car straight. Maybe he likes it a little bit freer, but you don't see it. It's not like Kyle Busch where he's sliding it sideways, smoke rolling. He's keeping that car going straight all the time.
And the thing is, I have (telemetry) data on my teammates, right? If I didn't have data on my teammates, I'd probably say Kasey Kahne. But I know his data and I know the things we do differently. Just as far as the other competitors out there, I'd say Tony is who I compare to the most.
Q: Do you collect any of your own memorabilia ?
A: We do, but we save it for charity auctions -- ones we get requests from as well as ones we have ourselves with our foundations. But I rarely ever let helmets go, so I've got quite a collection of helmets and uniforms that are vacuum-sealed in several safes.
Q: So those are the things you get sentimental about?
A: I mean, it's not so much sentimental (now) -- it's things I think one day I'll be sentimental about. I think back to some of the uniforms I had when I was really little -- we loaned some cool stuff to the Hall of Fame -- and those are things that are priceless. They're great reminders of, "Wow, I've been doing this a long time, and I've done some pretty cool stuff." So I think one day there are uniforms and helmets that will be in that same category. ...
Gloves and shoes are kind of hard, because you go through so many of them. But There was a period of time where we collected every prototype of every die-cast, but the warehouse started getting too full of stuff.
Most of the stuff we've accumulated like that, we've tried to utilize it for a good cause.
Q: What percent of racing success is driver, what percent is car and what percent is luck?
A: What I love about this question is...
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