Jeff Gordon Has New Perspective on Success

As this racing year winds down to the finale in Homestead, Fla., this weekend, it appears that Jeff Gordon will most likely be watching his protégé Jimmie Johnson take home his third Cup trophy in a row. 

While Gordon has tried his hardest to give Johnson a run for his money in the championship race, this year he has fallen well short of the mark.

In fact, Gordon did not even get to finish the most recent race in Phoenix.  He had a pretty good car too, starting seventh in the Checker O'Reilly 500. But midway through the race, Gordon detected something, most likely a valve, going south in the engine.

Gordon managed to limp around the track, finally emitting that tell-tale puff of smoke that signifies the final stages of engine failure. This was the sixth DNF for the season for Gordon, dropping him two positions to seventh place in the Chase points battle.

Jeff Gordon has also gone all race season long without one win.  In fact, he has now gone winless in 40 races, very uncharacteristic for this four-time Cup champion. This winless streak has not happened to Gordon since his rookie season in NASCAR in 1993.

But this year more than any other, it seems that Jeff Gordon may be measuring his success in a very different fashion. 

While he is doing everything he can to be competitive on the track, there also seems to be an acceptance that his life is somehow bigger now than just trophies in Victory Lane.

He credits this difference in measuring success to now being a parent himself and having his own family, Ingrid and Ella, to care for. 

But he seems to be looking at his life results as so much more than drives behind the wheel of a race car, but by the good he is able to do for others, especially children in need.

In Gordon's own words, "Although my adrenaline peaks behind the wheel, the smile of a child in need is the fastest way to warm my heart."

Jeff has become increasingly active this year with raising funds and awareness for several children's charities.  He has also taken a much more visible role in the activities of The Jeff Gordon Foundation, a charity that is all about helping children with life threatening or debilitating diseases.

Just last month, Gordon hosted "A Hero's Journey," a fund-raiser for the Hendrick Marrow Program.  The event started with a day of go-kart racing, with every racer getting the opportunity to go head to head on the track with Gordon.

The evening ended with a fancy banquet in downtown Charlotte, complete with the requisite silent auction.  Over $310,000 was raised to help increase the number of bone marrow donors, especially helping children in need of bone marrow transplants in order to survive.

After the festivities were completed, Jeff Gordon stepped up to the microphone of the ballroom.  And as a hush fell over the crowd, Gordon introduced the "hero" for the evening, young Tanner to his life-saving donor, Tom.

As the two hugged for a very long time, the tears flowed throughout the room.  And Gordon, who so often had been teased in the past by Dale Earnhardt, Sr. for his post-race Victory Lane tears, was dabbing his eyes with his handkerchief for a very different, but even more powerful kind of a victory celebration.

Gordon admits that having his own child now has changed the intensity of his commitment to helping other children in need.  The Jeff Gordon Foundation continues to work, with Gordon himself leading the charge, to raise even more funds for children who have no where else to turn for help.

So, has Gordon's perspective on what success truly means changed?  There is no doubt that Jeff Gordon lives and breathes racing and his competitive spirit endures.

But he seems to have just a little different take on what is truly important in his own life.  Success, while it may come on the race track, is also coming to Gordon in many other ways, most often through the eyes and smiles of children who would not even be in the world without his help.