Fans pay to hang with hero Gordon
CONCORD, N.C. In a sport known for accessible athletes, Jeff Gordon stands out.
If you happen to spot him at a racetrack, he’s usually signing an autograph — on the way to his car, his team’s hauler, even the bathroom.
Some fans always want more. Especially now that the clock is ticking on time with the fourtime Sprint Cup champion as an active driver on NASCAR’s premier circuit. This is his final fulltime season in the No. 24.
Before he practices Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway in preparation for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, where in 1994 he
scored the first of his 92 wins that helped launch a 23-year career and introduce the sport to legions of fans — Gordon will spend time with a group of fans who shelled out big bucks.
The Jeff Gordon VIP experience, in its second year, gives fans who pay $624 a person a guaranteed opportunity to hang with Gordon at the track. Organized through a company called One Live, it gives fewer than two dozen people an up-close look at Gordon each race week. Packages for the rest of the season already have sold out.
“Even though I don’t think it’s impossible to get a chance to see me or meet me — because I see fans all the time — we still get a lot of fans that say, ‘Other than through your sponsors, how can I get a chance to see you?’ ” Gordon told USA TODAY Sports. “One Live came to us with an idea, and we’re like, ‘You know, there are a lot of fans who are asking for some type of experience like this.’ We tried it out, and they love it.”
Before the first practice, which usually falls a day or two before the race, Gordon participates in a meet-and-greet.
Gordon emerged from his motor home, an area off-limits to the general public, at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday wearing a black T-shirt, jeans, an Axalta hat and a few days’ worth of gray stubble.
“Hi guys!” Gordon said as the faces of 13 fans lit up. “Welcome. We’ve got some nice quiet time to spend here today. I love to interact with some of the fans who have supported me throughout the years.”
Clutching items for Gordon to sign, the fans formed a semicircle around the driver for a Q&A. They were so focused on their hero that few noticed six-time champion and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson return from a workout and duck into the motor home parked next to Gordon’s.
They asked Gordon about the Sprint All-Star Race, whether he really wanted the No. 24 to continue without him (he did), his favorite track and whether he or wife Ingrid Vandebosch drives the family car (Gordon said he prefers to be behind the wheel).
“I love seeing my most loyal and avid fans,” Gordon said later. “That doesn’t mean they have to be in this, but you know if they’re a part of this they’re huge fans.”
Afterward, some were still shaking with excitement over the experience.
“My mind just went blank,” said Stacee Miller, a fan from Alabama who attended the event with her husband, Mark. “I couldn’t believe I was standing that close to him.”
“You see him on TV or in photos, but there he is,” said another fan, Michelle White. “He’s so much better looking in person.”
Gordon has seen some fans dozens of times and can recognize them by face; others have to jog his memory.
“There was a gentleman out there who I thought I recognized, and he brought a collage of pictures with him,” Gordon said. “When I saw the pictures, I remembered. … At these events, it’s really been interesting because there are people I saw 15 or 20 years ago that I haven’t seen since. They’ll have a picture or a story about it, and that’s really cool.”
Dan Guffey, Gordon’s director of social media and online business, has seen fans react that way over and over as guests have come from nearly every state and from as far as Australia, Indonesia, Argentina and Germany.
At Michigan International Speedway last August, Brad Palubicki bought the package for himself and 15-year-old daughter Brooke. She told Gordon she would be sitting in Turn 4 and asked the driver to do a burnout for her if he won. That’s exactly what happened.
Guffey said he received a letter soon after from Brad Palubicki, who said they cried in the stands.
“It’s been gratifying,” Guffey said of the program. More than 100 buyers from last year pur- chased packages for 2015, he said.
Gordon emphasized the VIP program didn’t alter his routine of signing autographs along the fence at a racetrack.
And he’s still apt to roll down a window and give a thumbs up to a fan with a No. 24 sticker on the bumper.
“It’s hard for me, because I see it from my side,” Gordon said. “I’m not that avid fan, and I don’t have that kind of connection for (another celebrity) I’d do that for. But I’m sure glad we do.
“Our fans are such an important part of our sport, you’re always trying to give them a better experience, give back as much as you can to them. ... This has become a good way to do it.”