J. Gordon Wants Drivers To Be Themselves

[Neil22]

Jeff!

[Fish_Flake]

I don't think drivers can be themselves in this day and age. Most of the drivers in NASCAR started racing karts or quarter-midgets while their age still numbered in the single digits. From the beginning of their careers, they've been taught to keep a respectful appearance in public view and thank their sponsors any time a microphone is nearby.

The old guard of stock car racing didn't learn the ropes in an atmosphere of commercialism and media awareness. But as the generation of drivers born in the 1950s who have been the face of stock car racing for the last quarter-century have faded into retirement, their successors -- products of the prosperity ushered in by those who came before them -- can't relate to the experiences that made those racers who they were. The old guard thanked their sponsors because they knew the threadbare existence of living on prize money from race to race or taking out mortgages to buy a new equipment an old car was written off in a wreck. That sponsor was a godsend, and they didn't know when someone else would come around to foot the bill. When the new guard of drivers thank their sponsors, the gesture is but a mere formality, an institution for the sake of image-consciousness.

[dbltop]

Jeff Gordon wants drivers to be themselves? Explain then why when he was married to Brook he had to thank God for everything whenever a microphone was put into his face. She left and took a pile of money with her, and the big G no longer has any thing to do with finishing first. Don't get me wrong, I am not a religious man, but I have no time for hypocrites.

[Fish_Flake]

Originally Posted by dbltop

Jeff Gordon wants drivers to be themselves? Explain then why when he was married to Brook he had to thank God for everything whenever a microphone was put into his face. She left and took a pile of money with her, and the big G no longer has any thing to do with finishing first. Don't get me wrong, I am not a religious man, but I have no time for hypocrites.

I wouldn't mark that under hypocrisy as much as I would mark that under not being whipped by a controlling stage wife. Jeff's first wife was a pageant queen who had a very calculated image that she wanted her and Jeff to project to the media, and Jeff pretty much went along with it. Think Ricky Bobby's wife in the movie "Talladega Nights." After the divorce, and with a current wife with much less tendency to insert herself into every situation, Jeff has revealed a much more candid personality than he did earlier in his career. He might not invoke the name of God as often as he once did, but he's not reading off of Brooke's script anymore. There are a lot of other things he doesn't mention as much.

[Sparky7]

Ingrid has no need to be in Jeff's spotlight since she's been there in her own right. Brooke was nothing but another dime-a-dozen pretty face without Jeff. It does make a difference in my opinion.

[SpeedRacer5]

Jeff Gordon is a great driver. what hes doing is that it'll allow the sport to get even more attention.