Jeff Gordon feeling better than ever and has no plans to retire any time soon
LAS VEGAS – A few years ago, Jeff Gordon had a plan, and that plan didn’t include racing past the age of 40.
His back hurt, he had just gotten married, and then his daughter was born. He was settling into family life, and he just didn’t see himself driving a stock car much longer.
But now that Gordon is 38 – and with a second child on the way – he doesn’t see himself retiring anytime soon.
You see, Gordon is feeling much better these days. He’s working out and is in better shape than he was a few years ago and feels like he could race until he is …
… well, maybe not until he’s Mark Martin’s age, but at least well into his 40s.
“I don’t think I’m going to be driving at 50, but I don’t want to say that definitely,” Gordon said prior to the season. “I want to drive as long as I’m healthy and as long as [team owner] Rick [Hendrick] wants me in the car.
“I think Mark, if you had asked him [a few years ago], he probably would have said he wouldn’t be racing at 50, either. Things change, life changes.”
What has changed for Gordon is his new-found commitment to physical fitness and a workout routine that has him feeling better than he has in years.
Gordon, who will start on the front row for today’s Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, says his routine has strengthened his ailing back and helped him better withstand the pain that threatened his career a few years ago.
Gordon said Friday that his physical conditioning has prompted him to alter his plans for the future.
"At the time, five or six years ago, that's the way I felt [about retiring],” he said. “And when the back thing came up, I thought that it could be something that could hamper me.
“I wish I'd started the physical fitness training sooner because I feel like it would have helped. But I got a little lazy and won a bunch of races and got lazy and so it happens. And then you lose a bunch of races and some championships and it makes you have to dig deeper and work harder. And when the team is doing all that they are doing, I don't want to have any excuses out there.”
Gordon said prior to the season that his back injury, which required several intense treatments in lieu of surgery, prompted him to consider a physical fitness routine for the first in his career.
Unlike today’s top drivers, Gordon said he rarely worked out when he began racing in NASCAR’s top series in the mid-1990s.
“The first 10 years in the Cup series, I could count on both hands how many times I went into a gym,” he said. “Maybe I just had lucky genes or something, but you are looking at a totally different sport today than you did then.”
Today, drivers such as four-time champion Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards have rigorous fitness routines that require them to work out daily.
Martin, Gordon’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, had back problems several years ago that required surgery. He credits his regiment and years of working out with still being at the top of his game at age 51.
Now, 18 years into his career, Gordon is following suit.
“I wish I had started a fitness routine much earlier,” he says, “because now with the schedule the way it is and the cars and as intense as the competition is, and with the Chase … now you are really ramping yourself up to really be at your best for those final 10 races. That’s where your fitness comes in more than it used to.”
Gordon believes better physical conditioning has helped strengthen his back and prepare him for the type of crashes that have taken a toll on his body.
He has been involved in some vicious crashes over the years, including one at Watkins Glen last year that reminded him that he’s taken a lot of hard hits during his career.
“At Watkins Glen when I hit, I felt the area that I had been hurting really take a toll and that took a few days for that to go away and that told me right there, maybe some of those crashes I have had over the years [had taken their toll] because I can remember going through wrecks just like that and never feeling any pain,” he said.
“I’m sure it’s contributed over time. That’s why it’s no different than any other sport; it’s about preventive medicine and taking care of yourself. That’s why I’ve turned over a new leaf when it comes to physical fitness in not only trying to take care of my body because I’m getting older but to make me stronger and better in the race car to take some of these impacts, because that’s going to happen. That’s part of racing.”
Gordon said Friday that his back feels better than it has the last two years.
He bounced back from a dismal 2008 season last year to finish third in points. Now that he’s in the best shape of his career, he believes his team can return to the form it showed in 2007, when he won six races and challenged Johnson for the championship.
Crew chief Steve Letarte compares the changes Gordon has made to a major-league baseball pitcher adjusting throughout his career.
“If you are fastball pitcher at 22 and you throw 103 mph and you think that 15 years later that’s still going to strike out batters, you’re in for a short career,” Letarte said.
“I think that’s where Jeff is very, very smart. I think he understands what’s important to him. He understands what he can improve on and he expects me to understand what I can improve with the team. We’ve done that and we expect to have a much better 2010.”
Now Gordon doesn’t know how long he might race. He’s making no more promises.
“I always thought racing at 50 wouldn’t be possible for me, but maybe it is,” he said.
