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By JOANNE KORTH
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 7, 2001
INDIANAPOLIS -- Jeff Gordon turned 30 Saturday, which means he should come into his racing prime in the next 15 years.
Scary thought, huh?
Gordon became the only three-time winner in the eight-year history of the Brickyard 400 Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- happy birthday to me -- making clear his intention to win a fourth Winston Cup championship.
Third this, fourth that.
This is what the next decade will be like with Gordon. With 56 career victories, a countdown to Richard Petty's record of 200 might be in order.
"I try not to think too far ahead," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet. "I live in the moment and try to be smart about the way I live. I try to enjoy all the things that have happened to me."
A quick recap: rookie of the year in 1993; Winston Cup champion in 1995 (youngest in modern era), '97 and '98; two-time Daytona 500 winner, including youngest-ever in 1997; tied Petty's modern-era record with 13 wins in 1998; first to win more than $6-million in 1997; record six consecutive road-course wins from 1997-2000; record $9.3-million in earnings in 1998.
And 2001 is his ninth full season.
"It's been such a flash," Gordon said. "I have done some things that have been incredible. I never dreamed I'd be in this position. ... If the next 10 years are as good as these last 10, I'm not going to know what to do."
As part of Gordon's week-long birthday celebration he received gifts and a cake from team members, taped a celebrity episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, saw a play in New York City and pulled away from challengers Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd in the points standings and endorsed a $428,452 winner's check.
He also got a new toy.
His wife, Brooke, got him a video game. Not the kind you download onto your computer or pop into your PlayStation. The free-standing kind, like they have at arcades.
"I'm a huge video-game nut and she got me this game that is the absolute coolest, baddest game they make in the world," Gordon said of a Ferrari game. "I was on that thing six hours the first day."
After all, he's just a kid.
TIRED OF WAITING: Sterling Marlin's runner-up finish in the No. 40 at the Brickyard was the second of the season for Dodge, matching John Andretti at Bristol in April, and Marlin's sixth top-five.
A win, he said, is overdue.
"We've been close all year," said Marlin, fifth in the standings and the only driver to stay in the top-10 all season. "It's getting frustrating for us."
BOUNCING BACK: Johnny Benson's third-place finish, his second consecutive top-five, appears to have ended a slump that saw him drop from fourth to 10th in the standings.
Benson, who drives the No. 10 Pontiac, posted seven top-10 finishes in the first 11 races and for nine consecutive weeks ranked either third or fourth in points. But, starting with a 41st at Dover in June, he had five finishes of 24th or worse in six races.
GETTING A GRIP: A harder tire may have made the 2001 Brickyard more entertaining than previous editions. Last year, there were nine lead changes among five drivers. Sunday, there were 18 among 12.
QUOTABLE: Benson, on Gordon's domination at the Brickyard: "We're getting tired of it. For us, it's terrible."
CART UPDATE: International Racing Associates chairman Michael Perry met last week with the Florida State Fair Authority, which agreed to enter negotiations for a CART race. Perry hopes to meet with CART officials this month about bringing an event to Tampa in 2003.