Posted on 01/28/2017 11:10:32 AM PST by MtnClimber
Jeff Gordon straightened his left arm to expose bruises around his elbow. They were the only ones he could show without taking off his clothes.
The four-time NASCAR champion has black-and-blue marks from the middle of his back to the back of his knees, remnants from hours of practicing driver changes before the Rolex 24 at Daytona this weekend. Gordon, who is driving in the prestigious endurance race for the first time in a decade, shared pictures of his injuries with his Wayne Taylor Racing teammates.
''They looked like war wounds,'' teammate Jordan Taylor said Friday. ''He looked like he got hit by a mortar.''
Taylor was obviously exaggerating, but Gordon made it clear the physical toll has been one of the toughest parts of getting back in a sports car for the first time since 2007.
''It looked like somebody had beaten me up pretty badly,'' Gordon said.
It's a small price to pay for what Gordon called a ''dream scenario.'' He retired from full-time racing after the 2015 season and took a less-rigorous job in the Fox Sports broadcast booth.
He didn't rule out driving select events - he subbed for former NASCAR teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. in eight races last year - and when Wayne Taylor called to gauge his interest in driving in the 24-hour race, Gordon jumped at the opportunity.
''It was a slam-dunk for me,'' said Gordon, who helped Wayne Taylor Racing to a third-place finish in 2007. ''What prevented me from doing it other years was the commitment. You really want to be in the car in December. You want to be in the car in January. You want to be in the car as much as you can, especially with this type of car being so much different than NASCAR, stock car.''
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Race starting coverage now (2:00 p.p. EST) on FOX. Gordon driving in the fastest of the four classes, the Prototype class in the brand new Cadillac Prototype.
Ford GT on the pole in the GT Le Mans class.
Probably nothing compared to the bruises he probably got from his wacko ex-wife.
I feel so bad for him...
Didn’t Gordon only get married in an attempt to quell innuendos about his friendship with Jimmy Johnson?
Gordon was married in '94. Johnson didn't get into Nascar until '02
War wounds? Really, huh.
I doubt you’d be able to ID someone that got hit by an actual mortar.
Thanks. I noticed that too.
Makes me think of the story about a Rolex GX class winner a couple years ago. He took the Special Edition Rolex he got in victory lane to a jeweler to adjust the wrist band. The jeweler told him it must be a fake because he had never seen one like it.
Still crying after all these years.
Live stream on FS-2:
Jeff Gordan can scrub off the temporary tattoo of the Rolex watch. He has a real one now. He nearly took them out early in the race when he hit a Mazda prototype coming out of pit lane, but the nose of the car was not damaged. The Taylor brothers and Max Angelelli won the race with the difficult overnight cold and rain conditions.
Good race. I was affiliated with the BFG/Busby GTP Team in the 80s, fielding 2 Porsche 956/962s, after years running a non-competitive Lola T616, and always enjoyed Daytona and Sebring, along with the other IMSA tracks.
I remember the Busby Team. I saw them race many times. I used to live in Florida and went to Daytona and Sebring every year even when the final race was a 3-hour race at Daytona. Also went to other IMSA races in Tampa, Ft Lauderdale and Miami.
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