CONCORD, N.C. – Friday morning, before Jeff Gordon took the stage to officially be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, his children – Ella and Leo – shared a special message to their father.
Both children wrote a letter to their “Papa,” sharing their memories of growing up around the racetrack and relaying just how proud they are of his accomplishments.
Then, that evening, they stepped on stage to help present Gordon with his Hall of Fame ring. It was a priceless moment for Gordon, and he was surprised just how much it seemed to mean to his children as well.
“I didn’t know tonight would impact them the way that it did,” the Hall of Famer said. “But it had a huge impact to see their father up there on that stage with these other inductees, looking around the room, seeing the banners and other Hall of Famers being introduced. I don’t know, dad might be just a slight bit cooler than he was coming into the night.”
Smiling, Leo agreed with that assessment.
“Yeah, it was really cool,” the 8-year-old said. “I was really happy and I cried when I got to hug him after he did his speech.”
“It was really amazing to see how much he’s accomplished and it was really cool to see him get inducted into the Hall of Fame,” added Ella, who is 11 years old.
Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick, who laughed that Gordon looked a lot like Leo when he first met him, said it was obvious right away how much it meant to the four-time champion to have his children so involved in the induction ceremony.
“I saw it in him how special it was,” Hendrick said. “To watch his kids so proud of him and when they’d see themselves on the screen, they would point. That, to me, is one of the most special things that happened here.”
For Gordon, it amounted to one more indelible memory he could provide his children through racing.
Creating those moments, he said, is part of what kept him so motivated late into his career.
“The thing that was so important to me with them and honestly probably kept me racing a little bit longer because Leo was younger and he wasn’t able to fully appreciate some of the moments, and even the wins weren’t coming as often, we didn’t win the championships, Ella was starting to get to the age where she understood it if it was a good day or a bad day,” he explained. “So, I was striving for more.”
The driver credited his crew chief from 2011-15, Alan Gustafson, for helping him create those moments and memories.
“He’s a phenomenal crew chief and he was pushing me to get more out of myself and work harder at it in the closing years,” he said. “So, because of that and the cars that we had, these guys were able to see some victories, especially that one in Martinsville, they’ll never forget. And as a parent, that’s the most rewarding thing that you can be a part of it and give to them.”
The weekend’s Hall of Fame festivities only added to those shared connections through NASCAR.
“I hope that the things I can teach them and these experiences that we get to have together will catapult them into whatever they’re passionate about, that they want to strive for,” Gordon said, “and understand the hard work that comes along with it.”