Jeff Gordon opens up about impact of Dale Earnhardt on his career

Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Sr. were rivals on the track during the peak of NASCAR’s popularity, but the respect the two had for one another never wavered.

During an appearance on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Gordon opened up about the impact Earnhardt had on his Cup Series career, and how learning from one of the all-time greats cultivated his success story for decades.

“I probably didn’t recognize it at the time, but looking back on it, it was huge,” Gordon said, regarding Earnhardt’s impact. “Trying to think of, I don’t know if I remember the very first time that I — we used to do these test sessions at Daytona in the winter time, like three day test sessions, which (had) a lot of downtime. I know I met him briefly in Xfinity. He would come and race those Xfinity races every once in a while. So I met him, but I didn’t really get to know him until I got into Cup. I don’t think that we really got to spend quality time together until maybe year two.

“I remember at Daytona, we were testing and he came over to my car and we were just chatting. He talked to Ray [Evernham] more than he talked to me, but we would because he was wanting to set up stuff. … I think he had a lot of respect for Ray. I think he had a lot of respect for Hendrick, because he almost was a Hendrick driver. … So he and I would chat. I think that I went over to his car asking him about something that was happening probably racing wise. I’m sure it was on the track. I saw his seat and how he was sitting in the car. I was just like, ‘What is this?’ So that was the first thing, was him trying to explain to me why he needed to sit in the car that way. I sat in it. … I never drove it, but I sat in it. So I think that kind of clicked first.”

While Gordon and Earnhardt would chat and exchange information, the former Hendrick Motorsports wheelman’s popularity began to his a new level after his victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and that’s when the duo’s relationship truly took off.

“After I won the Brickyard, that was sort of, you know, he really wanted to win the Brickyard. Even though he was mad, I think it still was sort of this thing that started bringing us a little bit closer together,” Gordon added. “My popularity started going up. His popularity was obviously huge. So the souvenir business was something he was very involved in, very focused on. As he saw my popularity starting to grow, he started talking to me about business. I don’t know why, I always look back and go, ‘Was there something in it for him? There was with Action Performance, when that went public. But I think he genuinely was like, ‘Rivalries are good for the sport. There needs to be other personalities that rise in the sport, and that’s good.’

“I think he thought Rusty Wallace was good. He thought Mark Martin was good, and Jeff Gordon and all these other guys, but he wanted to be No. 1, of course. And then in ’95, we raced against one another for a championship. So there’s a lot of the jabs going back and forth in the media. I didn’t like him at that time, because I was like, ‘Whoa, whoa.’ This guy went from being my hero that I respect so much, to now he’s trying to get in my head, and he’s messing with me on the track and off the track. So it was a love-hate relationship there for a little while.”

While the on-track rivalry may have spilled over for a bit, fraying their relationship, it wasn’t long until Earnhardt was taking Gordon under his wing once again, and teaching the young wheelman how to navigate through the NASCAR world.

“Towards probably five, six years after that, all of a sudden we’re owning property together, and we’re benefiting from business together, and we’re talking a lot about the business. Shoot, we even went fishing together,” Gordon explained. “You know, like, there was just things. He would invite me over to his boat, and just what I think, where he changed for me, is he showed me not only the business side, he showed me a different side of the lifestyle, right? … He kind of took me under his wing, because he knew I was fresh and new and a curious kind of, not rival, but just, I looked up to him, I respected him, but at the same time we were competitors, but he knew that I wanted to learn from him, if he was willing, and he was.

“… It made me want to look beyond racing and you know, how to enjoy racing, work hard at it, but enjoy the fruits of your labor. I saw that through him, and I don’t know if a lot of people knew how high end he lived. I mean, he did it right, but he didn’t bring that out in public.”

Jeff Gordon knew a side of Dale Earnhardt not many were lucky enough to see, and it helped mold him as a driver, and as a person. He’s better now for the lessons learned from the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, and it’s fair to say Dale Earnhardt would be proud of everything Jeff Gordon has accomplished, on and off the track.