Though the Indianapolis 500 grandstands have been packed to capacity every year in recent memory, this year was the earliest sellout date in the history of the Speedway, and Jeff Gordon is the reason why. With the open-wheel legend announcing plans to retire from the cockpit after the 2015 season, the world has known since January that this year’s Indy 500 will be his last as a driver.
“Jeff Gordon came up from USAC at a time in which all the rest of the rising Indycar talent was coming from road racing series. Jeff’s rookie year, in 1993, was also the year that Nigel Mansell came over to race in America. Before him we had Emerson (Fittipaldi), and a boatload of other drivers coming over from Europe, mainly from Formula 1. Hiring a driver with an extensive road racing background was seen as the safe choice, and team owners wanted to play it safe. Put simply, Jeff changed people’s opinions about hiring young American drivers. His first three years in Indycar showed people right away that kids from the sprint and midget series could jump in and be competitive, if given the right opportunity. Jeff’s success made more team owners willing to take a chance.” - Tony George, former Indycar Series President and Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO
“Before Jeff Gordon, sponsors considering a driver wanted to stick their brand on well-known names: Andretti, Unser, Rahal, Fittipaldi. Jeff comes along at a point in time when most of the teams in the Indycar garage are asking rookies how much money they can bring. But here you have this personable, well-spoken young man from California who looks like a movie star. He didn’t have a famous name, not back then, but he was always a sponsor’s dream. And I think the sponsorship that a charismatic guy like Jeff can bring makes teams more forgiving of mistakes. You hire a rookie, you accept that once in a while you’ll get a torn up racecar. When you have the money to wheel out another one right away, that’s not such a big deal.” - H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, former Charlotte Motor Speedway president and event promoter
“What Gordon did for open-wheel racing can’t be understated. Not just Indycars, but making Formula 1 more popular in the United States, even though his F1 career was relatively short. It’s not just his accomplishments on the track, it’s the entire new generation of U.S. open-wheel stars that his success helped usher in. All these talented young Americans with limited financial backing might not be here, or if they do get a shot in Indycars, they don’t get nearly the quality of equipment and sponsor support.” –John Oreovicz, ESPN motorsports correspondent
“If Jeff doesn’t make it in open-wheel racing, you might not have ever seen Tony Stewart in Indycars. You might not have ever seen Kasey Kahne or Ryan Newman ever turn a lap at Indy. You might not have seen Sam Hornish Jr. or A.J. Allmendinger or Sarah Fisher. You might not have seen Joey Logano or Kyle Larson. It may seem surprising given all the doors that are open for aspiring open-wheel racers today, but in the early part of Jeff’s career, most of the opportunities were coming in stock cars. In 1990, when Jeff was just starting to make a big name for himself in USAC, anything was possible. Several teams in NASCAR were looking at him, and he definitely had some serious offers to race there. I think it was only a few influential voices early on in his career that prevented him from taking that path.” - Robin Miller, former Indianapolis Star and Racer Magazine reporter