Final Jeff Gordon Chicago Race

On Sunday, I went with my son, Jim, who lives in Chicago, to the final Race for Jeff Gordon at the Chicago Speedway. 

I’ve followed Jeff’s career since his first year in NASCAR. Before that, I had been a fan of Indy racing

Jeff has broken multiple racing records over his career and this season will be his last.

Though I’ve seen him race at Michigan, Daytona, and Chicago, multiple times, he’s never won while I was at those tracks.

During this race in Chicago, he was out front for over thirty laps. But during the final re-start, he spun his tires, fell back, and couldn’t recover.

Even so, it was great to have the opportunity to see him race one more time. After this season, I suspect my interest in NASCAR will greatly diminish since I never picked an alternate driver to follow. That’s kind of the way it is with racing. We each pick a favorite and follow them exclusively during each race.

A few years ago, my middle grade adventure & mystery writing for kids took me to one of my publishers in Charlotte, NC. That's the home of Hendrick Motorsports; the owner if Gordon's team. Following are a few pictures from that visit.

First, my wife and I toured the shop where all the teams' cars are prepared for each race.

Next, we went to the museum where we saw lots of Jeff's cars from previous races, along with others from the team.

Before leaving, we discovered that the receptionist was previously from Rockford, IL, where we live. She was kind enough to give me three race-used lug nuts from one of Jeff's cars. What a treasure!