Power Rankings: Jeff Gordon's gifts throughout the 2015 season
Welcome to a special edition of Power Rankings! The soon-to-be-retiring Jeff Gordon has received a bunch of gifts over the course of season from Sprint Cup Series tracks so we've decided to rank them.
Please note, this isn't a complete list, rather one of tangible, public gifts. Many tracks did tributes to Gordon (Charlotte did promotions leading up to the race) and other tracks chose to give him gifts privately. This is a list of the public gifts Gordon received in his final season as a NASCAR driver.
Pocono and Richmond: Pocono hosted a poker tournament to benefit Gordon's foundation and the NASCAR foundation and raised $58,000. Richmond made a donation to the Richmond Children's Hospital of toys in a toy box shaped like Gordon's car. It also hosted a fundraiser. While we're admittedly a sucker for charitable causes, we feel both of these gifts had more of an impact than any others. Gordon won over $150 million in his Sprint Cup Series career. He's an incredibly fortunate guy.
Indianapolis: Pittsboro, Indiana, Gordon's hometown, hosted Jeff Gordon Day before the Brickyard 400. He also got the Sagamore of the Wabash Award, the highest award in the state of Indiana. Pittsboro also had a parade for Gordon. We all want to have a parade in our honor, right?
Bristol:
The track announced in August that one of its sections of grandstands would be named "Jeff Gordon Terrace." We assume Gordon gets to pick wherever he'd want to sit in that grandstand for life, though he won't ever need a ticket. He'll always have special access. And he can always have fun with people when he pretends to be offended if they didn't get tickets in the section named after him.
Phoenix: The track renamed itself "Jeff Gordon Raceway" on November 15. Perhaps Mother Nature didn't approve given the rain that plagued most of the day and cut the race 93 laps short. We kid about that part, but having a track named after you, even for a day, is fun even if it's a bit hokey, right? It would have been cool if Gordon would have been put in charge of the race operations for the day too. He was already qualified for Homestead so he had nothing else to worry about.
Texas: TMS gave Gordon two shetland ponies for his kids. We didn't expect anything less from Texas, the most outlandish promotional track on the circuit. Per the track, the ponies are still in Texas and are awaiting transportation logistics to be worked out before they are shipped to North Carolina. Maybe Gordon should start pony racing next.
Kansas and Atlanta: Atlanta gave Gordon a Bandolero car with his number on the car and his son Leo's name above the door. Kansas gave Gordon a replica of his first quarter midget car, a car he's been looking for. The Bandolero may end up being raced if Leo wants to imitate his father, and if Gordon can't ever find the quarter midget, having a replica is certainly better than nothing at all.
Martinsville:
Gordon got a model train set from the track on the Friday before the race. The train has a car for each of Gordon's then-eight wins at the track. He then went out and won the race on November 1 to add another car to the train. If you're wondering why Gordon got a train, there are train tracks that run behind the backstretch at Martinsville and trains frequently go by on race weekends.
Kentucky: The only track Gordon hasn't won at gave him a special batch of bourbon. Kentucky presented him with four sets of 24 bottles from differing Kentucky manufacturers. Hopefully Gordon really likes bourbon. If he doesn't, perhaps this should be further down the list. And on the Kentucky theme, media members presented Gordon with a trophy from Kentucky while at Phoenix last weekend. Well done, fellow media members.
Sonoma: The track in California wine country started the alcohol theme by giving Gordon a giant bottle of wine. The 18-liter bottle was custom painted to reflect Gordon's five wins at the track. We'd like to know how many people it would take to drink an 18-liter bottle of wine.
Dover:
The track presented Gordon with 90 Miles Monster trophies, one for every member of the shared Hendrick Motorsports shop of Gordon's team and Kasey Kahne's team. If one of them shows up on eBay, we know there was an ungrateful crew member.
Las Vegas: Gordon was presented with a custom blackjack table. Is he ever going to use it at home? Don't get us wrong, we wouldn't want to turn down anything that's on this list, but does it get a spot in Gordon's house?
Fontana: Auto Club Speedway gave Gordon a helmet commemorating his win at the track in 1997, the first Sprint Cup Series race there. It's a cool gift, especially considering Gordon's relevance to the track, but how many helmets do you think Gordon has from over the years?
Michigan: Gordon got four nights at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island from Michigan. Hey, we'll gladly take the vacation, but Gordon can afford any type of vacation he wants. We do give Michigan president Roger Curtis credit for the rocking chair symbolism, however. When presenting Gordon with the gift, Curtis joked that instead of giving the four-time champion a rocking chair, they'd just give his family a vacation at a hotel with a really long porch full of them.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
