Dear Jeff Gordon Fans

ChexOrWrex

ChexOrWrex

Ya gotta wanna
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May 19, 2013
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It has been extremly frustrating since 2001, and our driver may not even make the chase this year if he doesn't get a win under his 2013 belt. The man is long out of his prime, and retirement is obviously looming in the future. I'd honestly love to see him retire before he becomes another Dale Jarett or Bobby Labonte. Question is, after he retires who is the next best to root for? Lord knows it won't be the 48. I think Kurt Busch if he gets his act fully on track. Who is going to fill the seat of the 24 machine? Just thinking ahead a little bit.

Side note - If Jeff is to win another championship before he retires he should start his own team IMO. He's got enough connections with HMS he can take care of business.
 
His latest sponsor contract takes him through the 2016 season. I would be surprised if he drives full time after that. While I tend to not worry too much about a future favorite driver, I have thought about it. What's likely to happen is that I just become more of a fan of the actual racing yet have certain driver's that I like more than others. Or perhaps someone new will come along. For now I just plan to enjoy watching the Jeff drive that 24. The future will take care of itself.
 
I think Gordon said her would retire when he isn't competitive. I think he is still competitive but has had a lot of bad luck over the last couple of year. But I don't consider him to be picked to win any given race as he used to be.
 
KevinWI said:
Why not the 48? I was under the impress most 48 fans were converted 24 fans.
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Just the front runner fans (about 90% of JJ's fan base). I don't remember any JJ fans when he was a 20th place driver for Herzog.
 
Sidewayz said:
Just the front runner fans (about 90% of JJ's fan base). I don't remember any JJ fans when he was a 20th place driver for Herzog.
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Haha, I remember from those days when Johnson was driving the Herzog Advil car in Busch and his brakes went out at Watkins Glen and he hit the wall flat-out, then got out of the car and climbed on the roof, hahaha.
 
The years since 2007 have been awful for us Jeff Gordon fans. After Gordon, I already root for Kurt Busch almost as strongly. The transition will be swift, but the problem is Kurt will only have a few years left as well when JG retires. Choices, choices...
 
DSquad48 said:
"77% of statistics on the internet are made up on the spot." -Julius Ceasar
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Dsquad.. Just currious, Where you a fan of JJs before he came to HMS? Did Julius Ceasar have Internet access in 100 B.C.?
 
No idea really. Probably someone who's a regular in Nationwide or Truck right now.
 
Sidewayz said:
Dsquad.. Just currious, Where you a fan of JJs before he came to HMS? Did Julius Ceasar have Internet access in 100 B.C.?
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I'm fairly young compared to (I'd assume) a lot of forum members. I didn't grow up in a NASCAR watching family, I started watching it on my own when I was about 12 or 13. I didn't know who anybody was, who won a lot, who lost a lot, etc. etc. I just enjoyed watching the racing.

For Christmas, my mom bought me a NASCAR game for the good ole PS2, and that's where I started learning the names of the different drivers and the cars they were associated with. In all honesty, I became a Jimmie Johnson fan once I recognized his car (remember, I was 12). I liked the way it looked. Now obviously that's not the reason I am a fan now, but that's how I took up interest in the 48 team. I would start looking for his car during the races and whatnot, and it all began there. It was somebody that I recognized and could root for.

I'm also a huge Chad Knaus fan as well and will be upset to see him leave. The chemistry between he and JJ is so interesting to hear every week on the scanner. But I'll still be watching and listening to JJ every week no matter what car he's in, who's team he's on, who his spotter is, or how well he's doing in the standings. My reasons for initially liking him may seem silly, but I am in no way a bandwagoner or a fair-weather fan. He's been successful ever since I started watching, but his success will fade. I cannot see myself rooting for anybody as much as I've rooted for Johnson over the years, even if he isn't winning. (I am a bit of a Kurt Busch fan, though.)

And yes, Julius was ahead of his time :D
 
Your a young fan Dsquad, I'm not. I remember Richard Petty's last race. I was frankly glad to see him go. It had been years ago since he won a race or was even competitive. It was painful to watch, but that is the way it is though, father time, the big clock is always ticking and the greats have their day in the sun, but sunset comes. Nascar is one of the only sports where the greats can have long careers, 15, 20 years or sometimes more. Gordon has a lot of fans that are forty, fifty something and older because he was one of the young guns when the sport started getting nationwide TV coverage 20 years ago. Gordon has been a top ten driver around 20 years. The last three or four years he has been slipping to the high side of the top ten, but he still wins races and is competitive. The OP for some reason thinks it is "extremely frustrating since 2001", but Gordon has almost nothing but top fives and top ten season finishes since that time.
 
I definitely understand that age dictates everything. Obviously Jeff Gordon isn't in his prime anymore, but he's still competitive and has some wins left in him. I would have to agree with you though that I'd rather see my favorite drivers retire early instead of running when they obviously don't have the ability to run competitively anymore.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
It has been extremly frustrating since 2001, and our driver may not even make the chase this year if he doesn't get a win under his 2013 belt. The man is long out of his prime, and retirement is obviously looming in the future. I'd honestly love to see him retire before he becomes another Dale Jarett or Bobby Labonte. Question is, after he retires who is the next best to root for? Lord knows it won't be the 48. I think Kurt Busch if he gets his act fully on track. Who is going to fill the seat of the 24 machine? Just thinking ahead a little bit.

Side note - If Jeff is to win another championship before he retires he should start his own team IMO. He's got enough connections with HMS he can take care of business.
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I'm betting that Gordon stays put until Chase Elliott is ready.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Side note - If Jeff is to win another championship before he retires he should start his own team IMO. He's got enough connections with HMS he can take care of business.
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I think he already owns a pretty good team.
 
KevinWI said:
Haha, I remember from those days when Johnson was driving the Herzog Advil car in Busch and his brakes went out at Watkins Glen and he hit the wall flat-out, then got out of the car and climbed on the roof, hahaha.
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That was the first time I became aware of who he was. I thought that was a great attitude; it reminded me of how I used to jump and cheer when the 1st Sgt. read my name for KP...

I think Gordo is still a long, competitive way from being in Bobby Labonte or Darrell Waltrip's heat shields.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
It has been extremly frustrating since 2001, and our driver may not even make the chase this year if he doesn't get a win under his 2013 belt. The man is long out of his prime, and retirement is obviously looming in the future. I'd honestly love to see him retire before he becomes another Dale Jarett or Bobby Labonte. Question is, after he retires who is the next best to root for? Lord knows it won't be the 48. I think Kurt Busch if he gets his act fully on track. Who is going to fill the seat of the 24 machine? Just thinking ahead a little bit.

Side note - If Jeff is to win another championship before he retires he should start his own team IMO. He's got enough connections with HMS he can take care of business.
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the Jeffy fans will have to do what I did after DALE SR, any one in a bowtie keeping Jack out of victory lane. Jeffy getting older and has two kids now, I don't think he is the hard charger he was.
 
I used to hate this guy as a sworn Dale Earnhardt Sr. fan. I think it was in the bylaws or something if I remember correctly. As I've grown to like him in more recent times, I've gotta say. It's sad to see his fans slowly jumping ship or at least looking beyond his years in the sport.
 
You know how people say Jimmie wouldn't be the same without Chad Knaus? Well, I think we saw an example of something similar when Ray Evernham left Jeff Gordon. Granted, Gordon didn't entirely shrivel up without Evernham, even won a championship after he left. But, the level of domination certainly tailed off. He won more races in the 6-3/4 years they were together than in the 14 years since he left. Hard to tell what those two might have accomplished had Evernham stuck around.
 
dpkimmel2001: i'm not sure if it was jeffy or his fans that i was required to hate. but it's been kinda hard the last few years since all the bluster has left the drive for five camp. and those of you already jumping off the bandwagon should be vilified by the true jeff gordon fans. i can at least respect commitment!:D

honestly, i haven't truely had a nascar favorite since earnhardt died. i do have preferences concerning who i hope doesn't win. but no one has come along that generates the passion i felt with dale, sr.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
It has been extremly frustrating since 2001, and our driver may not even make the chase this year if he doesn't get a win under his 2013 belt. The man is long out of his prime, and retirement is obviously looming in the future. I'd honestly love to see him retire before he becomes another Dale Jarett or Bobby Labonte. Question is, after he retires who is the next best to root for? Lord knows it won't be the 48. I think Kurt Busch if he gets his act fully on track. Who is going to fill the seat of the 24 machine? Just thinking ahead a little bit.

Side note - If Jeff is to win another championship before he retires he should start his own team IMO. He's got enough connections with HMS he can take care of business.
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Why not his replacement? Which makes me think.... does Hendrick have any development drivers coming through the ranks?They would be in NNS in JRM right? Is it Brad Sweet? Regan Smith if he can somehow turn it around.. maybe they try to scoop up Larson?
 
klemmabyna said:
dpkimmel2001: i'm not sure if it was jeffy or his fans that i was required to hate.
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I'm pretty sure it was just Jeff. I've got those papers around here somewhere. I'll have to look that up. I'm not as organized as I used to be. As far as his fans go, I think the hatred for them was self induced by their self-righteous attitude.
It's a joke people......
 
If the 24 were to go on another run of wins and snag a championship it would be interesting to see how quickly the haters returned. Right now people are happy to have Jimmie, Kyle and Danica has their villains so it may end up that people would end up being happy for him. Hard to say.
 
SlicedBread22 said:
Why not his replacement? Which makes me think.... does Hendrick have any development drivers coming through the ranks?They would be in NNS in JRM right? Is it Brad Sweet? Regan Smith if he can somehow turn it around.. maybe they try to scoop up Larson?
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Chase Elliott is the heir apparent to the #24. Larson has a deal with EGR but I think he'll leave however many years out that contract runs.
 
Matthew2470 said:
If the 24 were to go on another run of wins and snag a championship it would be interesting to see how quickly the haters returned. Right now people are happy to have Jimmie, Kyle and Danica has their villains so it may end up that people would end up being happy for him. Hard to say.
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Yep , but the Junior haters got nothin to do . They gotta be goin crazy right now with Junior in the top five.
 
Gordon is one of three drivers I cheer for every week. When I took my current job my boss was an Earnhardt Sr fan and I decided to tell him I was a Gordon fan. Like dpkimmel he got over his dislike of Gordon over the years (and I got over my dislike of Earnhart during his last couple of years racing) - funny how that works out.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
It has been extremly frustrating since 2001, and our driver may not even make the chase this year if he doesn't get a win under his 2013 belt. The man is long out of his prime, and retirement is obviously looming in the future. I'd honestly love to see him retire before he becomes another Dale Jarett or Bobby Labonte. Question is, after he retires who is the next best to root for? Lord knows it won't be the 48. I think Kurt Busch if he gets his act fully on track. Who is going to fill the seat of the 24 machine? Just thinking ahead a little bit.

Side note - If Jeff is to win another championship before he retires he should start his own team IMO. He's got enough connections with HMS he can take care of business.
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I can't help myself....:D

the choice is obvious. most of you jeffy fans joined the sport when the media created a story of a talented youngster challenging the intimidating figure that brought nascar to the national networks. he was a great driver, humble, had a trophy queen at his elbow, credited his sponsors (gag me!), team, and God...... and he won a bunch of races.

now i'm gonna admit jeff gordon has always been a great driver. but as a long time nascar fan, even before earnhardt, I had serious difficulties dealing with the influx of uneducated "gordon fans" that suddenly populated message boards.

so I didn't play fair. and promptly got booted from forums. and deservedly so.

and this final comment isn't necessarily aimed at the "real Gordon fans" (those not looking to jump until the hall of famer parks it), but...

since you are already shopping for a new bandwagon, might I suggest kyle larson? I know, I know...he has as much promotional propaganda as logano did when he arrived. but the difference is talent. I believe he has skills that are comparable to what gordon had when he arrived.

jmo.

and don't take the cheap shots too seriously. I only meant to inflame the amateurs!:D
 
klemmabyna said:
dpkimmel2001: i'm not sure if it was jeffy or his fans that i was required to hate. but it's been kinda hard the last few years since all the bluster has left the drive for five camp. and those of you already jumping off the bandwagon should be vilified by the true jeff gordon fans. i can at least respect commitment!:D

honestly, i haven't truely had a nascar favorite since earnhardt died. i do have preferences concerning who i hope doesn't win. but no one has come along that generates the passion i felt with dale, sr.
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This,....
I was a fan of Wad Burton from his Busch days until he retired, but there will never be another Dale Sr. BTW Dale was less dependent on needing the best CC. He did it with Petree, Shelmerdine and Richert when Doug was 19 or something.

If you listened on the scanners then, it was always clear who ran the team.
 
Dale on the scanner was awesome when the caution came out. Richard would always give a warning before the race about what you might hear on the scanner.
 
Never been a Gordon fan myself.. Same reason I'm not really a Jimmie fan. Too corporate but I really don't think Gordon's talent has fallen that far off, its just the cars are a bit different, remmber he's gone through what three generations of cars? Also, he doesn't have the best CC like he used to have... He's still more talented then Jr. and a host of others in the field.
 
It's one reason I dislike the chase. When Gordon lost the championship, even though he acquired more points than anyone all season, it blew my interest in the chase away. Gordon should be a 6 time champ by now, so the stats say by the old system. That just puts a damper on things.
 
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