The 1992 racing season was historic for Atlanta Motor Speedway and for Jeff Gordon.
The Hooters 500 that fall is considered by many to be the most dramatic NASCAR race ever. That final race of the season was Richard Petty’s last as a driver and the culmination of one of the greatest championship battles ever.
In the end, local favorite Bill Elliott won the race but lost the points title to underdog Alan Kulwicki because Kulwicki led one more lap than Elliott.
That race also was the first Cup race for Jeff Gordon, who earlier that year got his first major NASCAR victory in the Atlanta 300 Nationwide Series race at Atlanta. Sunday’s race will be his 750th career Cup start.
Twenty-two years, 91 Cup wins and four championships later, Gordon returns to AMS not as an aging veteran looking back on the best years of his career, but as a hard-charging series points leader aggressively seeking another championship after winning three regular-season races to date.
Not surprisingly, he said Atlanta holds a special place in his racing heart.
“There have been a lot of significant moments that have occurred during my career at Atlanta — my first Nationwide win, my first Cup start, the 85th win, winning some championships there and this upcoming start.” he said in a Chevrolet release.
“In my first Cup start, I was completely unaware of what I was getting into. I had a great race car, but I did everything I possibly could do to ruin that opportunity. …
“In 1998, we won at Atlanta, and it was our 13th win to top off an incredible season. But in 1997, that race weekend was a difficult weekend for us. We were a little bit off on speed and then we had to go to a backup for the race, but we were able to get it done.”
Gordon, at age 43, most likely is entering the twilight stage of his NASCAR career, but it’s hard to be sure based on his recent performances.
His win two weeks ago at Michigan International Speedway, such as his one a few weeks back at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, came in large part because of a gutsy performance on a late-race restart, a move seen more often out of daring youngsters than seasoned veterans.
Many in the sport, including Gordon’s car owner Rick Hendrick, say Gordon is winning and running up front regularly this season not in spite of his age but because of it.
“I think what I see now with Jeff today is how smart he is,” Hendrick said in the winner’s interview at Michigan. “If someone gets in front of him or is trying to block him like they did (in the Michigan race), instead of pushing the envelope like maybe he did in the early years, he’ll just back off and let them use their stuff up, then he’ll pass them.
“You just don’t see him make any mistakes. I think all of his years of experience are paying off for him right now.”
Other great race drivers have capitalized on their experience in the latter years of their careers, but fame generally was fleeting as the drivers approached their late 40s.
Harry Gant still holds the record for the oldest Sprint Cup race winner for his victory at Michigan on Aug. 18, 1992, at age 52 years, seven months and six days. The drivers around Gordon on the career-win list — he’s third behind Richard Petty and David Pearson — all were able to win in their 40s, as Gordon is doing today. But the wins didn’t come nearly as often as earlier in their careers, but the final ones almost always come in the mid- to late-40s.
Richard Petty got his 200th and final Cup win at age 47. David Pearson got his 105th at 45. Cale Yarborough’s last victory was at age 46, Darrell Waltrip’s at 45. Bobby Allison was still going strong through his 40s, but his career was ended by a crash just weeks after he won the Daytona 500 a few days after his 50th birthday.
With any driver and team in any era of the sport, winning requires good chemistry between driver and crew chief, and the relationship between Gordon and his crew chief Alan Gustafson seems to be as good as it gets.
Gordon acknowledges the fact that he has options on the track when Gustafson prepares a race car that allows him to be patient at times then very aggressive when the race is on the line.
“Right now I feel like I’m driving smart, but also when it comes down to the restarts, I’m confident in my car enough that I can put it in places I haven’t been able to put it in the past and be a little bit more aggressive when it matters,” he said. “Certainly things are going well, no doubt about that. I’m as shocked as anybody else.”
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