Jeff Gordon could retire over back woes

FLRacingFan

FLRacingFan

Team Owner
Joined
Feb 9, 2013
Messages
40,246
Points
1,033
Location
Florida
http://news.yahoo.com/nascars-jeff-gordon-could-retire-over-back-woes-212846330--spt.html

DOVER, Del. (AP) — Four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon said Friday he will have to retire if he continues to suffer the same, excruciating back pain that he did before last weekend's Coca-Cola 600.

The 42-year-old Gordon is in no hurry to slow down. But he said he hopes he has found some solutions to the back woes that nearly forced him out of NASCAR's longest race. Gordon cut short his practice runs last week because of back spasms and there was some concern whether or not he would be able to race.

Regan Smith was on standby and Gordon needed treatment after the practice session. But he wound up in his familiar seat behind the wheel of the No. 24 and finished seventh, his ninth top-10 finish in 12 races this season.

Gordon knows consistent, shooting pain like he suffered at Charlotte Motor Speedway could drive him toward an early retirement.

"I can tell you, if that happens many more times, I won't have a choice," Gordon said Friday at Dover Motor Speedway.

Gordon had soreness Monday and Tuesday, though that didn't deviate too much from how he would feel after driving 600 grueling miles. He said his back is not at 100 percent, and probably never will be behind the wheel.

At Daytona this year, Gordon insisted he was serious about considering retirement should he win a fifth championship. He looks every bit a title contender — he has a win and holds the points lead — and gutting out Charlotte proved to his Hendrick Motorsports team "it's going to take a lot to get us down."

Gordon suffered serious issues years ago in his back, specifically his lower spine, and needed anti-inflammatory medication and workouts with a trainer to return to full strength. He drove in pain during a winless 2008 season and briefly contemplated retirement.

For all his back woes, Gordon said he never felt the stabbing pain there like he did last weekend.

Gordon said he'll make adjustments to his race weekend routine to keep his back loose to withstand hours crunched in a stock car. He needs to stay active and not sit during lengthy breaks in practice and qualifying. Gordon sat more than three hours last week between practice and qualifying, a gap that left he believed led his creaky back to a breakdown.

"Once that happened, there was nothing that was going to fix it until I had those injections on Saturday," he said.

Gordon has no standby driver at Dover. He felt fine on Friday. But once inside the No. 24, all bets are off.

"It's just something I continue to learn and push through," he said. "It's no big deal."
Click to expand...
 
Yep, he's retireing after this year championship or not.

I knew this wasn't good news when it came back. I just hope he gets it this year. I know how badly he wants a Sprint Cup.
 
reck said:
Yep, he's retireing after this year championship or not.

I knew this wasn't good news when it came back. I just hope he gets it this year. I know how badly he wants a Sprint Cup.
Click to expand...

It doesn't sound to me as if it's a done deal. Depends on whether his back pain gets better or not:

http://news.yahoo.com/nascars-jeff-gordon-could-retire-over-back-woes-212846330--spt.html

I never liked the guy that much but I don't dislike him either. I hope he stays around for a few more years. NASCAR needs to keep some veterans around (we just lost Mark Martin and Bobby Labonte for example). New blood is good but I don't want to see NASCAR's driver pool turn into just a bunch of pimply faced kids who've barely started shaving.
 
Remember after Dario's crash? Major back pains and he retired.

It would be a great shame to see him retire prematurely... I don't believe it and honestly I don't want to. Last if a generation if he does
 
Gordon has had a great career. If he has to retire after this year, it will suck since he can't go out on his own terms. At the same time, I would want him to retire near the top then struggle with back issues and go out with a wimper. If he feels like this will be recurring problem going into next year and not an isolated issue, it's probably best to retire.
 
Stewart Fan said:
If he does have to retire, he had a hell of a career. One of the best ever.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Not a Gordon fan here, but there's no denying his accomplishments: 4 championships, 3 Daytona 500 wins, 4 Brickyard 400 wins, 3rd on the all-time win list, etc. He's successfully done pretty much everything there is to do in this sport.
 
Both the "If I win another title, I'll retire" and "If I have many more weeks like last week, I'll retire" sounded like throwaway lines to me. Especially this one. Context is important. Here's the full question and answer:

LAST WEEK, DID YOU HAVE ANY PHYSICAL THERAPY FOR YOUR BACK? AND HAS THIS MADE YOU THINK ANY MORE ABOUT RETIREMENT?

“The issues that I’ve had in the past never really were like what I dealt with last weekend. That’s the first time that something like that happened in the car, on qualifying day, into a race weekend. I’ve rolled out of bed and had things like that happen, and that’s just being tight and just not having the muscles with blood flow and being loose, and that’s part of just getting older. So, it was a little bit foreign to me to have that and that’s why I had to get out of the car. The treatment that I had was I had an epidural as well as another type of injection. I don’t know what they call it. It’s some type of Cortisone that’s fairly typical and common. I don’t know all the different stuff that was in there that made the pain go away and helped more of the inflammation, is I think what they were trying to accomplish. So, that’s the first time I’ve ever had to do that on a race weekend. I’ve done that before on a different part of my back that didn’t really do much for me. This one luckily did.

“I think that it really more pointed toward some things that I have to address throughout a race weekend and how I handle the downtime. I’ve been working a lot harder on my training and riding a bike and exercising and the problem with that is that it tightens everything up even more so than normal. If I don’t stay loose and ice and do other things that keep me loose when I get to the race weekend, what happened could possibly occur again. So, that’s the biggest thing I’m focused on; not thinking or focusing on anything else. I can tell you if that happens many more times, I won’t have a choice (regarding retirement).”

http://jeffgordon.com/2014-dover-in...-transcript-drive-to-end-hunger-chevrolet-ss/

So yes, last week hurt bad, and he tosses in at the very end that if it happens many more times, he'd have to retire. But it's already improving, has no relation to his previous back issues, and he's already making adjustments to prevent it from cropping up again. In the previous question, he acknowledges he's not 100%, but he feels much better and he's not sure how much of his pain is from last week's issue and how much is typical Coke 600 added wear and tear.

Don't get me wrong. He might retire after this season, and he'll have every reason to step away and enjoy looking back on a stellar career. But I'm not prepping the retirement parade because of this press conference.
 
I'd much rather see him go out after a year like this when he's running up front and contending for wins; than to retire after having a terrible year where he misses races because of his bad back and finishes 26th or something. I'd really like to see him finish his career like he ran most of it, at the top of the leader boards, not many get that opportunity.
 
Issues with his back have to suck big time after being strapped into his car and taking the pounding that comes along with it, not to mention wrecks. Back issues forced me into retirement and they never get better. Therapy and medications only mask the pain and do nothing to relieve the cause, I wish him the best and he really needs to be looking long term and not just to the next race.
 
I really wish I could see this interview as a video. There have been alot of things Gordon has said in a joking manner that reporters forget to write "said while chuckling" and it turns into this huge story.
 
I find it funny how Tony Stewart, who's 2 months older than Jeff, gets a 1/10 of the retirement heat that Jeff gets. Tony probably has more drive time (many forget his IRL days, and of course he's at a dirt track every chance he gets), took less care of his body than Jeff, and is currently performing worse out of the 2.

I still think both these guys got 5-10 years left. They have the money, they have the passion, and they have the skill.
 
SpeedPagan said:
Nah, Chase Elliot would get the 24.
Click to expand...
Say Gordon does retire after this year. There is no way they bring Elliott into a full time cup ride after 1 season in nationwide. He's only 19. Would they pull a Gibbs?
 
DUN24 said:
Funny how different writers can spin quotes so differently. Read an article on bleacher report earlier.. Same exact quotes but in a different order with a positive spin. Don't worry yet, folks. Definitely scary though.
Click to expand...
I won't be surprised either way at the end of the season.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Say Gordon does retire after this year. There is no way they bring Elliott into a full time cup ride after 1 season in nationwide. He's only 19. Would they pull a Gibbs?
Click to expand...

I dunno, but I thought Elliot was slated to race for Hendricks anyways? I just hope he doesn't run in the number 24, Austin Dillion made the mistake of using a famous number that I think came back and bit him in the ass.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JEB
A number doesn't kill your talent in the car, Austin dillion just sucks.

Honestly though, I wish they could retire numbers.. Its very unlikely someone has a better career in the 24 than Gordon. They'll just be known as the guy who drove Gordon's car.
 
SpeedPagan said:
I dunno, but I thought Elliot was slated to race for Hendricks anyways? I just hope he doesn't run in the number 24, Austin Dillion made the mistake of using a famous number that I think came back and bit him in the ass.
Click to expand...
Austin was way over hyped from the beginning, running the #3 had no effect. Everyone knows the real talent lies in Larson & Elliott. If Elliott runs the #24 he will have his own legacy in it. Numbers dont make the driver.
 
Lazyking said:
A number doesn't kill your talent in the car, Austin dillion just sucks.

Honestly though, I wish they could retire numbers.. Its very unlikely someone has a better career in the 24 than Gordon. They'll just be known as the guy who drove Gordon's car.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I agree with this. #3, #43, #24 and (in the far future) #48 should be retired.
 
Lazyking said:
Honestly though, I wish they could retire numbers.
Click to expand...
Its not like football where there are numbers 1-100 on 32 diff teams and they can afford to retire numbers. NASCAR only has 1 group of guys who run 1-100 and if you start retiring numbers you eventually run out of numbers to use.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Its not like football where there are numbers 1-100 on 32 diff teams and they can afford to retire numbers. NASCAR only has 1 group of guys who run 1-100 and if you start retiring numbers you eventually run out of numbers to use.
Click to expand...

I doubt that'll happen. There are less superstars in NASCAR than there is in Football or Basketball.
 
SpeedPagan said:
I doubt that'll happen. There are less superstars in NASCAR than there is in Football or Basketball.
Click to expand...
So we retire the #24 for Gordon, #3 for Earnhardt, #43 for Petty, #48 for Johnson, #2 for Rusty, #88 for Jarret, #18 for Lobante, #17 for DW, #20 for Stewart, #21 for Pearson, #9 for Elliott, #12 for Allison, #28 for Ervin, #11 for Yarborough

See what I mean? The list goes on for drivers of the future.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
So we retire the #24 for Gordon, #3 for Earnhardt, #43 for Petty, #48 for Johnson, #2 for Rusty, #88 for Jarret, #18 for Lobante, #17 for DW, #20 for Stewart, #21 for Pearson, #9 for Elliott, #12 for Allison, #28 for Ervin, #11 for Yarborough

See what I mean? The list goes on for drivers of the future.
Click to expand...

Yea I do. I guess that's why they started the HoF.
 
Anyway, if Elliott takes a HMS seat, Hendrick might just leave the #24 for history & break out the #25 again. Or somehow get rights to the #9. Does Evernham still have rights to that number? If so Im sure he'll give it to Hendrick no problem.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Anyway, if Elliott takes a HMS seat, Hendrick might just leave the #24 for history & break out the #25 again. Or somehow get rights to the #9. Does Evernham still have rights to that number? If so Im sure he'll give it to Hendrick no problem.
Click to expand...
I'd love to see the #9 back in cup for Elliott, idk if they could get it since Ambrose has it now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom