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If anyone can find a good reason to hate Jeff Gordon, direct message me
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00:21Hi everybody, I'm Brian Kenney and welcome to ESPN Classics Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame.
00:26Jeff Gordon not only has more wins than any active driver in NASCAR, he also has captured
00:31four series championships. Only Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt have won more. Despite these
00:36stunning achievements, Gordon is not among the most beloved drivers among NASCAR's diehard fans.
00:41Is this contempt justified? In this show, we'll give you the top five reasons you can't blame
00:46hardcore NASCAR fans for hating Jeff Gordon. Reasons that range from a historical document
00:52to a beauty queen. But first, let's examine the evidence against the sports rowdy fan base.
01:02Here comes Jeff Gordon to take the lead. But Jeff Gordon holds off the challenge.
01:09Holy cow. Jeff Gordon, winner of the inaugural Brickyard 400.
01:15NASCAR is historically rooted deep in the moonlit back roads of the south.
01:20There goes kale as the green flag waves. More than any other sport, it is defined by speed
01:26and raw courage. The first time I saw him, I didn't even know who it was. And I said,
01:33man, who is that? And they said, it's that Gordon kid.
01:38Not since Earnhardt himself had I ever seen a guy walk into that garage and drive out on that track
01:46like, I own this place, bub. He's strong. He's aggressive. He's intense. And he wants it.
01:53They drop that green flag and he's qualified. I never laugh.
01:57In 1995 and only his third full year on NASCAR's main circuit, Gordon captured his first championship.
02:05Then, in each of the next three seasons, he won at least 10 races, dominating in 1998 with 13 victories.
02:15Definitely look up to a guy that can accomplish all the things that he has in the sport, for sure.
02:18Jeff is not cocky. He's not arrogant. He's one of the most humble guys, one of the most giving people.
02:24He's won races. He's won polls. He's led a lot of laps. He's never bragged about it. He's never boasted
02:29about it.
02:30He's done it.
02:31He's going to do it. Jeff Gordon wins.
02:33He could possibly be the best driver that ever drove a NASCAR stock car, period.
02:40While Gordon was winning, NASCAR was rapidly ascending new heights of national popularity.
02:46Together, the driver and the sport flourished.
02:50People know who Jeff Gordon is, whether they're a race fan or whether they're a movie fan or a TV
02:55fan or whatever.
02:56They know him. They know his face.
02:58If people don't understand and just get the simple fact that that brought a huge amount of attention to the
03:05sport, they weren't watching really close.
03:08But despite NASCAR's surge to the top of America's sports agenda, Gordon suffered the disdain of the hardcore stock car
03:16fan.
03:18In a word, he just wasn't country.
03:22That's the man right there.
03:24The hell with Gordon.
03:26They're the only fans I've ever run around where you know where every single one of them stands.
03:31Every race.
03:32They either like you or they hate you.
03:34There's no compromise.
03:38Everybody has their favorite driver.
03:40And their second favorite driver is whoever can take the victory away from Jeff Gordon if my guy's not going
03:46to win.
03:49Here's Jeff Gordon, dropped right in their lap, and it's genuine and it's perfect.
03:54Well, they do.
03:54They boo him.
03:56No, I don't want that.
03:57Don't like it.
03:58No, he's too clean.
04:00He didn't deserve any of the criticism he got at that time.
04:03He was just out doing a good job.
04:05And all of a sudden, he's winning a lot of money.
04:07And he's got a beautiful wife and he's got a dadgum Learjet.
04:12Look at that motor coach.
04:13And he's driving a Corvette.
04:14Why, I don't think I like this guy.
04:17If Gordon was too polite, rich, and pretty for the predominantly male NASCAR base,
04:23he'd developed a passionate following among a growing segment of racing fans for precisely those attributes.
04:29Ten years ago, when you ask a female, who is your favorite driver?
04:33Every time, every time they said Jeff Gordon, they were enormously annoyed and jealous that their girlfriends and wives were
04:45smitten with this young punk from California.
04:48And it got worse and it got worse and it got worse.
04:52There were people out there to get Jeff Gordon.
04:55There were people out there making shirts up.
04:58Gordon sucks.
04:59There were people out there just planting rumors.
05:01Once you reach sort of the critical mass of hatred, then there's not going to be any limit to the
05:06kind of mud that will be slung, no matter how slanderous it may be.
05:10And the rumor mill wasn't done turning out unfounded information on Gordon.
05:16Jeff told me, Earnhardt even came up to me one day and asked if I was gay.
05:20Well, I printed the quote.
05:22Whew, I have no idea where that one came from.
05:25That one pretty much came out of left field.
05:27I think that was definitely below the belt.
05:30By God, if my man Earnhardt's questioning his sexual preference, then I better question it.
05:35Honey, it ain't no use to be dreaming about him anymore.
05:37Instead of just laughing about it, people were going, Is this true?
05:42With many of the hardcore loving it, a shadow of hate lengthened across the path of one of the most
05:47successful people in sports.
05:49After winning his third championship in 1998, Gordon seemed more pariah than superstar.
05:56I hear the booze in the background.
06:01I can see it bothered him when he was introduced and he got some booze and it was loud.
06:07The booze, I was like, okay, you know, why are they booing?
06:11What's the big deal with that?
06:12I don't understand why people would find him so repulsive that they would have to stand up and boo him.
06:19I mean, lustily boo this guy because he's pretty much...
06:22Jeff Gordon, I've watched his documentary.
06:25He's not even like a trash talker.
06:29He just does good stuff on the racetrack.
06:34He just happens to look good.
06:37He doesn't do stuff or brag on himself.
06:42Very humble guy.
06:45I guess that's not good enough.
06:49That's the closest thing to Earnhardt that this sport has now.
06:53Look at the damage on Jackson.
06:55Just listen to the crowd.
06:58He could give a million dollars to the biggest charity in the country, but they hate him and that's just
07:04the way it is.
07:05Jeff Gordon got his first one of the season Sunday at the Aarons $4.99 at Talladega.
07:09He also got pelted with beer cans and trash.
07:12Fans not happy with Gordon winning under caution or beating their favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr.
07:18My God, week after week, these guys are just booing my pants off.
07:22You just kept waiting for them to snap.
07:23I considered shaking my fist at these people thinking, what are you doing?
07:28You know, why are you booing this guy who is a great person?
07:32That can't be easy, to be punished for being good.
07:38Now you've seen the case against NASCAR's hardcore fans for their disdain of Gordon.
07:43Before we present the top five reasons you can't blame them for their negative sentiments,
07:47here are two that didn't make our list.
07:49We call them the best of the rest.
07:54He was an easy target.
07:56When Gordon joined the circuit, he tried too hard to look like one of the guys.
08:01When I met him, he was 18 years old with a little mustache to try to pretend that he was
08:06older.
08:07He was the only guy that seemed to have more trouble growing a mustache than I did.
08:10A silly high school caliber mustache.
08:13That absolutely ridiculous looking peach fuzz mustache.
08:19If a razor fixed Gordon's facial impression...
08:22I grew better hair than that at 16.
08:25But that's the style.
08:27...no Blade could erase his unintended insult to Chicago Cubs fans.
08:32He referred to it as Wrigley Stadium, I believe, didn't he?
08:35Great to be here at Wrigley Stadium.
08:36You guys ready to do this?
08:38Yeah, it's great to be here at Wrigley Stadium.
08:40Great.
08:46Our other best of the rest, Jimmy Johnson.
08:49As fellow Californian and heir apparent to Gordon's throne,
08:53Johnson has received no better treatment by the down-home boys of NASCAR.
08:58I think Jimmy Johnson calls him.
08:59He's got all the wrecks out there this weekend.
09:01I mean, he called everybody morons after the race.
09:03If there's one idiot out there, it was him.
09:05Jimmy Johnson prevails.
09:07He's going to victory lane in the Daytona 500.
09:10He is Jeff Gordon responsible for Jimmy Johnson.
09:14Tutored him along the way, brought him in,
09:16had him in a Hendrick car that he owns.
09:20So, yeah, he might be a little responsible there, just looking at it.
09:24Boy, I'd love to see a picture of the light.
09:26Yes, yes!
09:29When Jimmy Johnson came in in 2002,
09:32all the equipment that Jeff Gordon used to win a championship
09:36was now at the disposal of Jimmy Johnson.
09:39How can you not win races?
09:41How can you not be competitive?
09:46The Missouri Compromise of 1820.
09:50The congressional document, which laid the groundwork for the Civil War,
09:54delineated the deep differences between the North and South.
09:57Many of those differences remain,
09:59and some are expressed in the cultural passions that drive NASCAR.
10:04Your hardcore base is in the South.
10:06I mean, there's no question.
10:07I mean, this is where the sport came from.
10:10I always think of NASCAR fans as being blue-collar folks.
10:14You come home from church, and you sit down with a big glass of iced tea
10:18and put some potato salad, and you watch NASCAR.
10:21Race car fans water.
10:24You still had the traditional NASCAR tough, redneck-looking guy driving race cars.
10:30If you looked at Richard Petty, you looked at Dale Earnhardt,
10:33and then you look at Jeff Gordon, that's not the same picture.
10:38Gordon was not exactly...
10:40It was like those guys wanted to keep NASCAR like the MLB of the late 50s and prior,
10:52that nobody went west of St. Louis.
10:55And Jeff Gordon was pretty far west of St. Louis.
11:01Exactly a good old boy.
11:03After racing midget cars in his native California,
11:06Gordon relocated to Indiana as a teenager
11:09and drove open-wheel cars before slipping under the radar
11:12into the stock car ethos of the South,
11:14where a fervent form of regionalism was a way of life.
11:18You can't blame the NASCAR fan for not liking Jeff Gordon.
11:21Oh, look at this pretty boy coming in.
11:24Where's he coming from?
11:26Rainbow Warriors, please.
11:29Jeff Gordon came from Indiana by way of California.
11:32He might as well have come from Mars.
11:36He had invaded the South and began to beat all those guys,
11:39and they just didn't want to see him come in and take over, if you will.
11:43Fans want to feel like they own a piece of you.
11:45They want to connect with you.
11:47They could look at Dale Earnhardt and say,
11:49man, that man's in his 40s.
11:50He came from nothing, ninth-grade dropout,
11:53used to work in a front-end alignment place.
11:55By God, if old Dale can make it, I can make it.
11:57They can't dream that they can be Jeff Gordon,
12:00because they're long past any hope of that.
12:02They couldn't live vicariously through them.
12:08One down, four to go.
12:10Here is reason number four.
12:13Age discrimination.
12:14Gordon hit the tracks at full throttle, winning early and often.
12:18Some thought too early and too often.
12:22You can't blame him for being a little shy about taking a liking to this kid
12:27because he was so successful relatively quickly.
12:31Jeff Gordon is about to write his name in the racing history books.
12:34That kid got on that track and it looked like he'd been driving it for 20 years.
12:39When you see somebody young come in and succeed
12:42and then have that type of dominance that quickly,
12:46I think that's frustrating.
12:48If you're not a Gordon fan, you're going to hate that guy.
13:01Gordon was Rookie of the Year in 1993.
13:05Two years later, at the age of 24,
13:08he was the youngest season champion in the sports modern era.
13:12Before turning 28, he'd won 46 NASCAR races.
13:16It seemed all too easy.
13:19He just never seemed to have anything that he had to overcome.
13:22He was able to accomplish things more quickly
13:25than the sport's legendary drivers.
13:28So the old guard paid him because of that.
13:31Running against NASCAR tradition, Gordon set a new theme.
13:35Youth, not experience, would rule the speedway.
13:39Experience, we thought, was such a huge, huge deal.
13:44But he's basically started a youth movement that hasn't stopped yet.
13:48They're barely waiting for him to turn 18 until they let him drive.
13:51So, I mean, it's definitely got younger and younger.
13:54It's the Jeff Gordon effect.
13:55Hire a young guy, put him in a car, let him run wild.
13:59The whole thing is performance.
14:02We don't care about protocol.
14:05Some of them have brought some brashness
14:06and not respect for the sport.
14:09Some days you look and go,
14:10man, if Dad was still here,
14:11he'd grab that guy by the collar and straighten him out.
14:16He stole NASCAR from the South.
14:19Gordon's cross-cultural marketing powers
14:21transcended much of stock car racing's homegrown characteristics
14:25and helped the sport migrate from Dixie to the North and West.
14:30Filling in for Regis Philbin, who is on special assignment this morning,
14:34the one and only Jeff Gordon.
14:36What really got things going is when Jeff Gordon came in,
14:41he brought the mainstream American public with him.
14:44And the Us Against the World NASCAR fan said,
14:46no, no, no, no, no.
14:48It's us against the world.
14:49We don't want Jeff Gordon bringing the world to our cult.
14:54And they resented the hell out of us.
14:56A lot of fans didn't like Jeff Gordon
14:58because Jeff Gordon enunciates.
15:00Our sponsors and everybody involved in the sport
15:03just does a tremendous job.
15:05Not a place for that kind of stuff.
15:07And NASCAR, the core NASCAR audience,
15:11they want that interview with the driver.
15:14I tell you, we run pretty good all day long.
15:16I did a babble over that push early in the race,
15:18brought her in, booger jacked some wedging,
15:19or she run like a spotted butt ape after that.
15:21But that's what we want.
15:24And Jeff doesn't give us that.
15:26You can't blame him.
15:27It's just another reason to hate him
15:29or a reason to hate him all the more than you already did.
15:35Gordon, a smooth talker from the West Coast,
15:37not only attracted a new kind of fan,
15:40but also forced his Madison Avenue appeal
15:42into places like Madison, Alabama.
15:48He was such a mainstream persona.
15:51And NASCAR was able to market him,
15:54to package him,
15:55and to sell him to America.
15:57And America bought him up.
15:58I mean, he brought in sponsors.
16:00He was on commercials.
16:01Our sport started doing things
16:04with sponsors that we weren't doing before.
16:06While the sport soared,
16:08with Gordon as its pilot,
16:09to national status,
16:11the fan that kept it alive for decades
16:13was left on the ground.
16:15NASCAR's changed for us core fans a lot.
16:18You know, even the tracks.
16:20You go away from Darlington,
16:21you start running Chicago and Miami.
16:23If you live in Rockingham, North Carolina,
16:25where you used to have two races a year,
16:27now you have none.
16:28You have to feel like
16:29that you've been deserted a little bit.
16:31If I was a longtime NASCAR fan,
16:33and I've been following the sport,
16:35supporting the followers,
16:37and then these races
16:38that I've been used to going
16:39are now in California,
16:40I would be a little ticked off.
16:46If you haven't bought into our argument yet,
16:49maybe reason number...
16:50Maybe, maybe the South should have...
16:56Forced some kids,
16:58forced some better drivers
17:00to come up and unseat Jeff Gordon
17:03if they were so...
17:06upset about that.
17:11Two will help.
17:14Brooke Gordon.
17:15After the Miss Winston beauty
17:17met her future husband in 1993,
17:20his life sped off in a new direction.
17:23I've been around racing a long time.
17:25I said, there's a little boy
17:26who married the first glamorous model
17:28that he was smitten with.
17:30He was done.
17:31He was done.
17:31He was cooked.
17:33And before you know it,
17:34he's a married man.
17:34It appeared to those in NASCAR circles
17:37that Brooke had taken the steering wheel.
17:39It was an easy picture to paint
17:41that it was Brooke pulling the strings
17:44and pushing him in certain directions.
17:48Brooke was a model by profession,
17:50and Brooke liked to get in the picture too.
17:52She's a little bit insecure
17:54and wasn't able to share him with anybody.
17:57Instead of feeling sorry for the guy,
17:59people would blame him
18:01for letting a woman run his life
18:03like she was doing.
18:05He was always in his motorhome,
18:08would never come out and hang out,
18:09you know, saying,
18:10where's Jeff?
18:11Well, he's in his motorhome,
18:12you know, can't talk to him.
18:14A lot of us felt like
18:16we never could get close to Jeff Gordon.
18:18He was just unattainable to talk to.
18:20He was being led around by her.
18:22She was the one forcing
18:23his goody two-shoes image on everyone.
18:26I don't think that she had the wisdom
18:27or the experience to direct his career.
18:30I think that many of the things
18:31that she did actually held his career back.
18:34In June of 2003,
18:36after 16 months of legal warfare,
18:38during which Gordon's winless streak
18:40reached 31,
18:41the couple divorced.
18:43Here's the kid who comes into the sport,
18:46changes the sport,
18:47marries the trophy girl.
18:49They live happily ever after.
18:51It's too good to be true.
18:52People used to call them Ken and Barbie.
18:54Well, Barbie got $17 million in split.
19:01Dale Earnhardt.
19:03To hardcore NASCAR fans,
19:05the legendary seven-time champion
19:07was the ultimate symbol
19:09of stock car racing.
19:11Earnhardt personified how his fans...
19:13That's a poor excuse,
19:14because Dale Earnhardt
19:16was,
19:17was okay with Jeff Gordon.
19:19He didn't hate Jeff Gordon.
19:22Using somebody
19:24who likes someone else
19:26as a reason to hate that someone else
19:29when the person you're a fan of
19:31actually is okay with that person
19:35is logically flawed.
19:39And saw themselves.
19:41Tough,
19:41basic,
19:43Southern.
19:44Earnhardt really
19:44created the environment
19:46into which Gordon came
19:48and capitalized.
19:50Dale,
19:51great effort, man.
19:53Don't you suppose
19:53there was a little piece of Earnhardt
19:55thinking,
19:55I'm going to show this guy.
19:57Gordon wins his first race
19:59in 1994.
20:00And he's weeping over there
20:02in victory lane.
20:02He's a kid.
20:04And Earnhardt
20:05wore that poor
20:06kid out.
20:07Earnhardt wasn't known
20:08for speaking from his heart
20:09necessarily.
20:11And,
20:11and he,
20:11he sort of,
20:12uh,
20:13didn't fancy people
20:14that did,
20:15I don't reckon.
20:17Dale marches
20:18to the inside
20:19of the racetrack.
20:20Draws even
20:20with Jeff Gordon.
20:22Come on,
20:23you know,
20:23the guy at the factory
20:24is not rooting
20:25for the striped car.
20:27You got the black car.
20:29He didn't have any choice.
20:30Gordon was going to be
20:31his rival
20:31whether Earnhardt
20:32liked it or not.
20:33When Gordon won
20:34the season title
20:35in 1995,
20:36it signaled
20:37the dawn
20:38of a new era.
20:39Dale Earnhardt
20:40would never win
20:41another championship.
20:42You certainly
20:43couldn't blame
20:43the Dale Earnhardt fans.
20:45Dale Earnhardt,
20:46the man,
20:47but he's not necessarily
20:48the man to beat anymore.
20:49Jeff Gordon's
20:49the man to beat.
20:51This was a kid
20:51that looked like
20:52he should be able
20:53to be bullied.
20:54Looked like a
20:54soft pedal
20:55ready for the picking,
20:56but Earnhardt
20:57could not crack it.
20:58He just couldn't beat him.
21:00You come into
21:01North Carolina
21:02and you beat
21:02Dale Earnhardt?
21:03I mean,
21:04you've got a justifiable
21:05riot on your hand.
21:06I don't think
21:07anybody's getting
21:07convicted on that.
21:09Gordon making a move
21:10on the inside of Earnhardt.
21:12Drop it back
21:13straight away.
21:13Dale Earnhardt
21:14is into the wall.
21:15They only had two great
21:17toe-to-toe
21:18for the heavyweight championship.
21:20Gordon won
21:20one by a knockout
21:21and one by a TKF.
21:23It was two Daytona 500s
21:24that Jeff won.
21:26Earnhardt and Gordon
21:26were not rivals,
21:27much less enemies,
21:28off the track.
21:30I always think of it
21:31as kind of like
21:32the old Warner Brothers
21:33cartoons with the coyote
21:34and the sheepdog.
21:35You know,
21:35they were trying
21:35to kill each other
21:36most of the day
21:37and then at the end
21:38of the day,
21:38they would go into
21:39the clock and punch out,
21:40you know,
21:40see you tomorrow, Ralph.
21:41Okay, Sam.
21:42I think it quickly
21:43turned into a very
21:45neat friendship
21:46between the two
21:47and admiration
21:47for each other.
21:49We could pick up
21:50the phone and call
21:51one another
21:51and talk to one another
21:52about things.
21:53The business side
21:54of the sport
21:55than anything else.
21:56Even, you know,
21:57we're partners
21:57in a couple businesses
21:58together.
21:59Earnhardt drove
22:00the black car,
22:01but it was Gordon
22:02who happily wore
22:03the black hat.
22:05Man, now we can
22:06really hate it.
22:07Jeff Gordon
22:08having himself
22:09a big old time out here.
22:11He might be trying
22:12to pull the wool
22:12over our eyes again.
22:18Dale Earnhardt
22:19once advised
22:20Jeff Gordon
22:20not to let the booze
22:21bother him.
22:22The time to be concerned,
22:23said the Intimidator,
22:24is when the fans
22:25are silent
22:26because that's when
22:27they've forgotten
22:27about you.
22:28Whether he's loved
22:29or hated,
22:30Gordon's place
22:30in NASCAR history
22:31is a matter of record.
22:33I'm Brian Kenney.
22:34Thanks for joining us.
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