Photo Credit: Alex Goodlett/Getty Images for NASCAR
DARLINGTON, S.C.— Jeff Gordon, a highly respected four-time Sprint Cup Series champion, has been awarded the NMPA Spirit Award for the fourth quarter of 2015 by the members of the National Motorsports Press Association. The award is designed to recognize character and achievement in the face of adversity, sportsmanship and contributions to motorsports.
Gordon, 44, has often contributed his time and efforts to many charitable causes over the past 25 years and has served as one of NASCAR’s greatest ambassadors. He collected 93 Sprint Cup Series wins, including three Daytona 500 in 1997, 1999 and 2005 and five Brickyard 400 victories in 1994, 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2014. He retired as a driver in Cup competition at the end of the 2015 season.
As a young child, the native of Vallejo, California and longtime resident of Pittsboro, Indiana enjoyed a very successful career driving Quarter Midgets, winning three championships. Plans of building a career in Indy Cars changed in 1990 when he discovered NASCAR’s Xfinity (then Busch) Series. A fulltime move to NASCAR’s premier Cup division in 1993 with Hendrick Motorsports set the stage for one of the most successful careers in stock car racing history.
His philanthropic efforts include pediatric cancer research and patient support through the Jeff Gordon Children’s Hospital and Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation in Concord, North Carolina.
