Racing with Jeff Gordon: Stories from the Rainbow Warriors
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- čas přidán 24. 05. 2018
- After an iconic career that spanned more than two decades, Jeff Gordon is set to join the legends of the sport in the NASCAR Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2019. With that in mind, we asked three men who played major roles in the success of the No. 24 team, Chad Knaus, Ray Evernham and Brian Whitesell, to reminisce about the early days of the “Rainbow Warriors” and what it was like to work with a driver the likes of Gordon.
- Sport
I wish we could go back to the cars and rules of the 1990's
Amen
Exactly, early 2000s at the latest
At least we got to enjoy the best years of Nascar, nothing lasts forever.
@@arnenelson4495 you have a Nascar name 👍👌
60's, 70's 0r 80's as well great years. but there are reasons they changed. but i am with you it would be neat to return to the old style racing. i am still a fan!!
Ray and Jeff were meant to be like Chad and Jimmy. The pair simply worked as one.
He is the best nascar driver of all time. Because of his wins, and titles, and how he changed the sport. Nobody had a bigger impact on nascar than Jeff Gordon.
Let's just take the time to recognize that if the points were the same and the was no chase for the cup thing, he'd a had 7 championships. Someone did do the points from the first year of the chase to his last full cup series season. I think the statement of him being the greatest, has a definite chance of being real. The cars were more equal then when petty raced and won those hundreds of races, there wasn't really emphasis on the Busch series so Kyle Busch winning so many races in the combined series is a different state altogether I think, which, Jeff never really raced in the other series once he made it to cup. And then, how he was able to adapt to the changes of the cars over the years..... He's definitely top 3.
I remember Jeff as the kid a few years older than me that came over to with my grandma’s sister to my grandma’s house but didn’t want to play out back. He wanted to stay with his grandma. Then we started talking about racing and then he started talking about my go cart and how he is racing and about to move with his parents to Indiana to race sprint cars. I told him there is a 1/4 mile dirt track around the corner so he had his grandma take him over there to see it before he left back to Vallejo.
Then I remember seeing him on Thursday Night Thunder. I told my grandma that is her sisters grandson that came over. She remembered that.
That would be your 2nd cousin.
He's my GOAT❤👍☺ Huge thank you to Ray and the Rainbow Warriors for being huge part of the ride.❤👍☺
A Jeff Gordon fan from 30 minutes east of Columbus. Go Bucks!
His record was incredible, but what always got me (Gordon fan since 1998) was how Jeff would perform on days that the car wasn't great. Taking a 20th place car and finishing 8th with it, or taking a 10th place car and winning.
funyun39967 thats crazy thats the same year i became a gordon fan kudos to u brother man
I was never a Gordon fan...but it always amazed me that no matter how bad he ran throughout the race...it seemed like when it came down towards the end of the race, he was at the front
I wish Ray would have never left the 24 team.
rbarger71 Greed!!!
@@dannycoker6439 I disagree! I've been a Gordon fan since 92. I hated it whenever he left however, he left to start up Dodge....to make them relevant. It is what it is, as each and every one of us chooses to do what we're led to do.
Same. So sad, they were meant to be together.
@Ethan Weeter True and most would have done the same. Myself, I would have stayed put and won some more races and championships. No one was on the same level as the 24 when Ray was there and nothing to make me think differently had he stayed. So what did Ray achieve with Dodge?
Jeff would have won easily 110 race's if they would had stayed together through his career and 7 8 champiships which jeff should be a 7 time. 2004,2007,2014 missing rings
Truly one of the best to ever do it.
The fans that didn't like Jeff always said he had better equipment than other drivers. Hendrick didn't start winning championships until Gordon got there. When he was winning races and championships in the early part of his career he did't have better equipment than other drivers.
Yeah, Gordon definitely helped make Hendricks Motorsports, and subsequently Johnson, into what it is today.
he didnt have any equipment better then anyone else....even when his pit crew that was great went away he stil won races......dale earnhardt and lots of other drivers had top notch shit same horsepower....same car bodies....all the same specs...that whole line of thinking is bullshit
Chris Lane if tim richmand would have raced in 87’ i definitely believe he would have won the championship that year he was the best driver for hendrick until gordon came along
Best driver ever!
Best driving I ever saw was road course where he passed Rusty, then Mark Martin going into the inner-loop. In the sequence Mark, Rusty and Jeff were running right behind each other. Here comes the inner loop and coming out it was Jeff, Mark & Rusty in that order. Apparently, someone forgot to tell Jeff "one doesn't simply pass" in the innerloop. It was brilliant.
It's really interesting to hear their perspective on what happened back then and it makes me wonder how many guys are living that right now. I guess we'll find out in 10 or 20 years!
I always loved how either due to tire down or penalty or whatever, he'd get mad and do the impossible, get mad and dominate all the way and win. His greatness showed when he had to come from behind and do the impossible.
Nascar will never be like it was in the 80s,and 90s,Nascar got greedy
The left and their Cultural Marxism wrecked it for me...Like it wrecks everything....Thats what it's designed to do--destroy the culture.
All racing eventually gets to that point..😞 fat cats will always run a well dry..and move on to the next with no regret
xblackcatx13 Posting weird shit on CZcams comments because your wife left ya, huh?
i could listen to stories all day. love these bits your guys upload! keep them going!
Hell yeah! That's one move I remember so clearly. I couldn't believe it, boldest pass I've ever seen. This is all back when NASCAR, was still NASCAR. When Mr France died, NASCAR died with him. Quantity, and quality of wins. It was a great time. I love you guys. Honestly, today I can see that NASCAR is staging rages, creating fake drama, it's over for me. I feel like I supported it for all those years, bought the products, to support the sponsors, that were paying the teams to race, then I was stabbed in the back. It gets worse every year. Thanks NASCAR
How fun to listen to these guys talk about these things! Thanks for posting this!
Yep! Gordon and Earnhardt. That was the franchise! They put butts in the seats!!👍
Most people don't know but earnhardt and Gordon were practically teammates, they shared all information, mof ray everham and Andy petree had there own radio channel at the races and would talk throughout the races to help each other. Fact. I can prove it. I know it for fact
If Evernham didn’t leave Jeff I think that Jeff would have 1 or 2 more championships.
if he and Jeff never split I'll bet my life the first 8 time champion in nascar history
Without the chase Gordon has seven championships. Not Johnson
But he doesn't. You can't assume everyone would have the exact same approach even though it was a different format.
Jimmie has shown multiple years that they aren't at their best until the chase. That would kill his chances in the old format.
Tony Stewart won under 3 different systems so whats your point? He didnt complain. He dug deep and was not going to be denied by drivers his jr. Jeff Gordon should have had that mentality instead of wasting time and energy complaining.
Truth! Sad Nascar screwed the guy who brought nascar to mainstream!
@@andyrios2367 Tony Stewart won the title under 3 different systems. Stop the weak excuses. Gordon didnt step it up like Stewart did. Period.
Even when was so called washed up he finished in top 5 or 10. Multiple variations of cars, rules, crew chiefs. His worst years are still better than johnsons bad ones lately. Never ever would we be saying gordons best finish in 20 races was 15th. He really should get respected enough to at least be in the convo as one of the best. My opinion
Couldn't have said it any better 👍
Im a bias Gordon fan as well but if someone doesn't have them on their mount Rushmore of drivers then they're just hating.
Jeff Gordon was the best driver ever
Ray Everham /Jeff Gordon's chemistry showed by dominating the competition...
Some great racing and great memories from that era
This should be like an hour long.
When they started talking about Jeff's son and how he gets focused 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I'm from Dublin Ireland and I only started looking at NASCAR when Juan Pablo Montoya went there from F1 I wish it was still on TV over here because I only get to see it on CZcams now.
Johnny TYRRELL not gonna lie the last race this season was anticlimactic in my opinion
I'm from Dublin IRELAND and I NASCAR was on TV here up till a few year's ago I wish it was still on TV here. I started looking at NASCAR when Juan Pablo Montoya went there from F1 because he was my guy in F1 and I loved it now I only get to see little bit's on CZcams day's later
Fucking Brazilians have no business in NASCAR. I stopped watching when chicks and foreigners got involved ( no offense).
That's when I quit Nascar too- the foreigners were only there when the money got big.
Thanks to those great tv shows and coverage of NASCAR weekly....I watched this little show can't remember its name now but its showed Jeff's dad teach him about race set up when he started driving to karts when he was 5 or something ever since that show I said in the future I'm gonna keep and eye on this kid if he show up and starts racing somewhere,knowing nothing about him...I think I may have a couple times seen Jeff drive a midget on asphalt may be twice at that point...
The hardest I’ve ever seen Jeff run was 2014 brickyard with about 10 to go. Watch the in car shots of him you can see how hard he is driving that car
That first story wasn't at Atlanta, but at Charlotte with 15 laps to go in the Coke 600 for 3rd, not the lead lol. Funny how memory works sometimes.
Yep, and for anyone looking for it, you can watch it here: czcams.com/video/78jeFGaLSVY/video.html
great stories wow!!
Great video
Earnhardt was NASCAR but when Ray and Jeff came along they revolutionized NASCAR.
Talks about the 1994 Brickyard 400, shows pictures from 1995.
I have been to the place where they're doing this interview. If you've never been to the Hendrick Museum I suggest you go.
My dad had one of his cars at his shop once in Reno for a paint promotion.
If Ray would've stayed with Jeff the 24 team would've had 7 or more championships . It would be like "Jimmy who"?
The goat period
All you had to do was follow Jeff on Thursday Night Thunder and you knew he was gonna be great.
Remember the 'anybody but Gordon' contingent? You *KNOW* you're good, then!
Good times...
I think Gordon should give Tony a run for his money in the SRX series.
Is there a link the to the race or final laps at ATL that Ray was talking about in the beginning??
Yup Yup I think Ray was over exaggerating about it.
Yeah , I think he took the lead with like 5 or 6 to go. But he pulled away pretty quick nonetheless
It was 7 to go. And then he pulled away to a .739 lead. Almost a second. Pretty impressive.
I just had to go back and check. Lol
how do spell class ? JEFF GORDON
I was never a fan of the 24 a die hard 3 fan but now I am better late then never plus mr H is just a cool guy
Does anyone know about the bobby jeff and terry photo seen in the video whereit was taken and why they are wearing medals? BOBBY LABONTE FAN!!!!!!
They finished 1,2,3 in the 95 spring Atlanta race. It's just a podium picture after the race.
1997 Daytona 500
@@kingjersey1581 no look at the driver suits Pepsi sponsored Gordon in 97 ,Gordon doesn't have the 95 past championship on the suit or Terry for 96, puralator sponsored the Atlanta spring race in 95 , they finished 123 in that race. Also if you watched the video ray and Chad were talking about the start of the 95 season when the clip popped up.
You cold hearted bastard Rick Hendrick!!!!!!!!!
Ray the best ever crew chief
All I have to say is 7 !! ( real fans know exactly what I mean).
"Jeff would have won 500 races and 15 championships if Ray hadn't left." - everyone
Facts 💯
That Chromalusion car behind them is “BLACKER “ Ray knows, JMG loved Blacker
People that isnt jeff that is ray that you say is aging
If ray never left to start his own team, jeff would have had 7 championships.
Jeff Gordon won 7 Championships the exact same way Earnhardt and Petty did. Some are still bitter towards Gordon cause they hate how much he won.
In this video he looks so old!
That’s not him 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
He's not in his video though...
Don't mind us .. just having a casual conversation in front of a Trex
Jeff Gordon's only failure was that mustache. Lol.
Leaving his wife was his worst mistake. He never won another title without Brook Gordon. Her lasting impression will be his lack of titles without her by his side. In the end it looks like Brook Gordon got the last laugh. Sorry Jeff....
I thought the mustache was his greatest accomplishment it goes...
1. Mustache
2. Everything else but his first wife.
@@naturewisdom677 Brook, how do you really feel?
@@jakeneal7355 sometimes, you just gotta rock the pornstache
The mustache with the Gargoyles glasses was too much
Gordon served a silver spoon whn he got in Cup?
Wtf
24# was a new, start up team in ‘93.. hms had how many wins b4 jg signed??
I’ll wait...
Brian Hawkins Yeah Hendrick motorsports wasn’t like it was today the best driver he had before gordon was tim richmond in the 25
I count 34 in cup.
Bodine, DW, Rudd, Richmond, Schroeder
Imagine, The King, SFox, DW, SR driving without carbon monoxide.
Best raw talent: Sr, SFox, DW, JG. Not counting the guys from 40's, 50's.
Best crew chiefs: Ray, Maurice, Hammond, Junior J.
Best Eq: 60s & 70's The king
80s DW, late 80s Sr.
90s, onward 24, 48.
When he was tempted away from Roush I said, "now we'll see him fall on his face for 2-3 years until he REALLY learns to drive." Boy was I wrong. My only issue with Gordon is this: I wish that after a couple of championships he would have taken his skills to those blowhards in F1 and showed them what an American driver could do. He would have driven circles around a lot of those drivers.
Lil' Wayne's guitar teacher what happened was he was signed to ford in 1992 and Roush was going to put him in the 16 car an replace Wally Dallenbach due to performance issues but the catch was Jeff Gordon wouldn’t sign with Roush without Ray Evernham but Roush basically told Jeff Gordon that Roush chooses the crew chief not Jeff Gordon so that was a deal breaker but Rick Hendrick said if he signed with him he could have whatever crew chief he wanted and that’s the story of how Rick Hendrick signed Jeff Gordon away from ford and the rest is history
0:13 Jeff Looks very Old.
King Snowman that’s not Jeff that’s his old crew chief Ray
So without Jeff's knowledge and help the 48 would have not been successful it sounds like. Quit watching NASCAR in 2012 as they screwed it up with the points changes. I don't even turn in to see who's winning or who the drivers are anymore. Jeff was my driver and in Chevy. Jeff and Earnhardt had a special relationship.
Back than If you drove against the 3 you're an enemy to me
I think when Johnson came in with Hendrick, that killed Jeff's chances of winning championships anymore. That's what i think!
I feel the same way.
Matthew Lasecki Jeff won 7 being part owner of the 48 win win
@@jethronb True!
Whenever your teammate won 4 championships and 93 races and you win 7 championships and 80 something races and your teammate is still classified as better than you.
JIMMIE JOHNSON 48
KHarvick Fan1 hmmmm new format helped jj and every champ since the chase
Might as well run local dirt track features... max 50 lap features with no pit stops
These guys today couldn’t last 500 mile races no more..
Brian Hawkins, I do agree and tbh I don’t like Jimmie but it still is an impressive feat to win 7 championships but all records will be broken one day, well of course not petty’s 200 wins but... u know.
@@jakeneal7355 Been a Gordon fan all the way and, tbh, I've never liked jj, lol. I'll take Happy any day over jj.
Nita Onstad, Oh yeah any day any time any where
@@jakeneal7355 😄👍
I could have been a nascar driver but I passed the opportunity I decide to become a welder instead and make some real heat.
Mark Adams lol sure
it does suck that they changed the format....
Under the same point system that petty and dale won 7 titles, he would have done the same. Johnson would have 1. Johnson is overrated...
Mmm dmm Petty actually had a different system for 2 of his championship but yeah I agree Jimmie is overrated by nascar.
Then why is Junior the best liked driver?
Because of his daddy thats it
Ray Evernham and Jeff Gordon are just multiverse copies of the same person; one version knows how to build the cars and the other knows how to drive them. Kind of how Bruce Wayne is Batman OR the Joker, depend on the universe.
Change my mind.
You know NASCAR is money when everyone has fake teeth. *Sparkle smile*
I made a lot of money 💰 betin on Jeff
Ray....Hair....No
Gordon is aging quickly
AJ Reynolds lol Jeff didn't flip his car every week! 🙄
AJ Reynolds you said "Upside down every week"
Lmao you're the idoit that's not Gordon anyways!jokes on you fuckface....
AJ Reynolds I was commenting on the guy in the middle that looks like Gordon and second I was just joking on saying he's aging quickly..then you come along all serious and asking question after question...have some humor damn!!
you sound like you are missing some chromosomes
I was looking forward to watching this until they started laughing about cheating. I had forgotten what kind of character they had.
I mean, every good team cheats. I've come to that conclusion lol. You need a great driver with even better inspection-beating engineers.
If NASCAR teams didn't push the boundaries, it wouldn't be NASCAR. Trying to skirt rules is so much a part of the sport that I don't think you can even call it cheating. It's just creative engineering.
@@ericynot I think it is actually called creative interpretation of the rules. ;
You're a cry baby stop it dude.
Literally every successful driver has "cheated(I prefer to call it creativity)"
This frustrates me so much! Jeff Gordon should and actually DOES have 7 titles under the old system! A system that required and rewarded consistency! One of nascars fundamentals for how many decades was consistency! You dont have to win a lot to be the champion but just be consistent and thats why Earnhardt has 7 titles! Earnhardt has a lot of wins but compared to other drivers who have a lot like gordon, jimmie, waltrip he trails them but he has a way better top 5 and top 10 percentage than jimmie and so does gordon! Jimmie top 5 is 34% top 10 is 54% and average finish of 13.22
Earnhardt top 5 42% top 10 63% and average finish of 11.06! This is very comparable to seems how dale has 676 starts and Johnson has 689! Johnson isnt consistent enough to have 7 titles. The point sytem is so broken! Gordon was 312 points ahead of 2nd place tony Stewart in 2007 before the reset! That a huge lead even with 10 races to go! After the reset gordon is 3rd and Johnson is 1st because at the time johnson had 1 more win than gordon! Wtf! So what! The 312 points proves without a doubt jeff was the most consistent driver! Johnson is 'rewarded' for having one more win but jeff is punsihed for having a 312 point lead! Wow! Johsons 7 is a joke! Gordon should be the greatest of all time and to me he is! To me hes a 7 time champion! Even though Earnhardt is the greatest because gordon doesn't have 7 physical titles, i think gordon is the best driver of all time!
Stupid switch to new points format....
Under the same rules that Petty and Earnhardt won 7 titles, Jeff would have won 6...and maybe that 7th.
Sorry JJ fans, but JJ was never in his league....just luckier under ridiculous point system
The real seven time champion not Jimmie. Jimmie is only good at chase time and when you have chad and the best car and all you have to do is be good at the chase tracks it’s not that hard to win. Jeff and dale are probably the 2 best drivers in nascar. That and Davey and probably Kyle Busch. Say what you want about Kyle but he’s really good. Jimmies never impressive. Jimmie once in a bad car and I’ve been saying it for years he won’t be able to do shit and look at him now. I think Jimmie is top 7 of all time but being successful doesn’t mean your a great driver. Racing cars is different than any other sport. Look at Davey he was a super start got killed but is probably one of the best drivers ever. I hate when nascar just uses success and number of wins to see who is the best cause you can’t do that in car racing. That’s why yeah Richard Petty on paper looks like the best driver by far but do some research and look at the cars and the time and once you realize he stopped winning right when the competition got even and never won since 1984 till the time he quit in 1992. Chad doesn’t get enough credit at all for Jimmies success cause he is the main reason the cars were fast. Same thing with ray. Ray was with chad in the best crew chiefs. Ray made Jeff car super. Once ray left Jeff way still good but wasn’t the same cause ray was just so good at thinking outside the box and new stuff. Jimmie is like that but way more of an extreme that benefited of chad. Once he lost chad he is just horrible.
Sure Jeff is great but the first man to win Indy was dale Earnhardt
In which series? First cup series win in 94 and that was Jeff.
Now nascar sucks
8:30
Chad 'an Atlas is for directions' Knaus
You dummy.
Here we have the two most cheaters in the NASCAR modern era. Both still work with HMS, the most cheating NASCAR team in the modern era.
You guys should have double flipped dale off , back.