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Are the best of times ahead for Gordon?
Relationship has changed four-time champ for better
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
July 14, 2006
08:35 AM EDT (12:35 GMT)
JOLIET, Ill. -- It's March of 2004 and Jeff Gordon is sitting in the back of his No. 24 hauler at Darlington Raceway when asked if he plans to remarry in the near future.
"I'm pretty sure it'll be after my last championship," he said with a laugh.
It's July of 2006 and Gordon is sitting in the back of his hauler at Chicagoland Speedway when asked about his recent engagement to Belgian model Ingrid Vandebosch.
Gordon laughs again.
The four-time Nextel Cup champion knows why he made the first comment. His much-publicized divorce from his former wife, Brooke, left him scarred. He wanted to focus on getting his life in order and winning races.
He didn't think there was room for romance -- much less marriage -- and didn't think he'd marry again until after his racing career.
Now he's talking about being a father.
So what happened?
"Obviously, the person has changed my mind," Gordon said of Vandebosch. "I was probably being a little bit naïve at the time saying that [in 2004]. I don't know.
"Maybe I need to postpone the wedding until sometime in December."
Gordon, 34, laughed again.
He laughs a lot these days. He's won two of the past three races and is back in the top 10 in points as he attempts a return to the Chase for the Nextel Cup he missed a year ago.
After collecting his 75th win last week at Chicagoland he's also only one victory from tying the late Dale Earnhardt for sixth on NASCAR's all-time win list.
More importantly, his life is balanced, which could spell trouble for Gordon's peers. Fifty-six of his wins came when he was settled in his first relationship.
"When you meet somebody like I have it obviously changes your opinion about a lot of things, about marriage, about life, about racing," said Gordon, who got his two wins this season after going public with his engagement.
"Right now I'm committed to racing, but I'm also thrilled that I've met somebody that I want to get married to and spend that much time with."
Those that know the Hendrick Motorsports driver aren't surprised by his change of heart. They've watched him mature into a more confident and happy person in the years since Brooke filed for divorce in March of 2002.
They say Vandebosch allows Gordon to be himself, and Gordon isn't afraid to be himself around her, which wasn't always the case in his marriage to the former Miss Winston.
Former crew chief Robbie Loomis knew Gordon and Vandebosch were headed for the altar soon after they met.
"It probably confused him because he had this plan of not falling in love until he got through with racing," said Loomis, who left Hendrick Motorsports after last season to join Petty Enterprises. "But love is a funny thing."
Longtime friend Jack Mills says Gordon and Vandebosch are a perfect match. He wouldn't be surprised if they one day arrived at the track married instead of planning a big wedding.
"They seem to have a way of just being together and shutting out the world," Mills said. "You see them hold hands and hug and do things away from the racetrack, the things you see in a good relationship."
The Gordon buzz
Loomis almost fell over backwards when Gordon arrived at the track with a buzz haircut shortly after his divorce became public.
"I'd always seen him as everything perfect, tailored, buttoned up and in place," he said. "Then for a while he started coming in and eating a sandwich in the truck out of the refrigerator.
"I never saw him do that when he was with Brooke."
Gordon and Brooke were the "Ken and Barbie" of the NASCAR world, from their salon hairstyles to their $9 million, 24,000-square-foot home in Florida.
They said and did, at least publicly, all the right things.
"I was taught at a young age as long as she's happy, you're happy," said Gordon, who married Brooke in November of 1994. "That's not true. You both have to compromise and you have to argue and have fun. But it's got to be more of a balance."
Gordon didn't realize it at first, but he felt smothered in his first marriage. He was afraid to do simple things, such as get a buzz cut, for fear it wouldn't portray the image he and Brooke had worked so hard to build.
"When I first came into the sport, which was also about the same time I met Brooke, it was a time I was trying to fit in," Gordon said. "I wanted to be successful. I wanted to win. I wanted to be a champion and all of those things.
"I felt like I was under a microscope and I wanted to do everything right. I was just naïve to think that was possible, but I tried."
And not just at the track.
"I did that same thing in my relationship," he said. "I was constantly trying to make her happy, happy, happy all the time and would not really speak what was on my mind. I started to see myself kind of go into a shell."
It wasn't all bad. Gordon won all of his championships and 75 percent of his races while married.
"Shoot, some of the best years I've had in this series were when I was married and happy," Gordon said. "Maybe I was a little blind to some things, but I was in a very comfortable place and that only made me a better driver."
Gordon's stepfather and business manager, John Bickford, says the so-called "new" Gordon will be tougher to beat on the track.
"It's unfortunate what took place with Brooke had to occur," he said. "Some relationships are so much work and you can't be who you are and that's typically what breaks them down.
"What you see here is a relationship where Jeff is being Jeff. He's older, he's more mature, he knows who he is, what he wants to be. He's not in the midst of trying to prove himself to the NASCAR fan base that he's worthy of being there."
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