Jeff Gordon quotes: former pro stock car racing driver talks winning, teamwork, business, and more.
“You’ve got to be the best person you can be in your life.”
“You are going to make choices and decisions that sometimes aren’t going to always work in your favor and they are going to upset some other people.”
“I believe that life is a very long race, one with a lot of good runs, and a few bad ones.”
“Either you focus, or you hit something really hard.”
“I think perception is important.”
“I think fear is what keeps us from going over the edge. I mean, as a race car driver, I don’t think what makes a good race car driver is a fearless person. I think it’s somebody that is comfortable being behind the wheel of something that’s somewhat out of control.”
“Sometimes it takes some beatings before you really get things turned around. It puts you in a position to make changes and get humble.”
“You learn from your mistakes.”
“You may be leading, then you might be at the back of the pack trying to work your way up. It’s just a constant reminder not to give up, and to know that God, in my mind, is really in control.”
“Yeah, it tears our confidence down a little bit and it makes us scratch our heads, and sometimes we don’t always go in the right direction. But we never stop searching for what we’ve got to do to turn it back around. Sometimes, you’ve got to take big steps to turn it around and, sometimes, it’s just right there and you’re just missing one little ingredient.”
“To pay somebody back means you’re probably going to get paid back again somewhere down the road. If you’re out there knocking guys out of your way because somebody hit you the week before, you’re going in a bad direction.”
“I’m not a fighter, trust me. But I am someone who can get angry. I have a temper at times. Sometimes it gets the best of you no matter how you manage it.”
“My career in racing started at a very young age in California.”
“I learned to love winning early in life. In fact, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t competing in something and trying to beat the guys next to me.”
“I don’t like to get beat in anything!”
“There’s no greater feeling than winning a race.”
“Once you win more than one, it definitely puts you into an elite group and you are going to be looked upon different. You win one, you are looked at differently. Win two and it takes you to another level.”
“We were riding high for a long time. It overshadowed the areas that we were weak. It doesn’t mean you’re going to make the Chase or win a championship. Take anything positive and use it for your team to work together and build confidence. It’s good for anybody, doesn’t matter who it is.”
“We’re competitors out there, and we’re going to do everything we can to get an advantage. Once it’s started, you’ve got to do it as well. You don’t have a choice.”
“Luck? I’m not a big believer in luck. I think preparation, hard work, good race cars, and a good race team make your luck.”
“Being up front is the only place to be.”
“We just want to be able to focus on our program, on our people, on what we have to do to be as strong as we can as a team to compete for wins, compete for championships, and build that together without there being too many outside distractions. If we ever say we want to go under the radar, that’s what we’re trying to do.”
“We’re focused on our program, making our stuff as good as we can make it, and then we’ll find out how we stack up against the competition.”
“Once I get focused on something that’s the only thing I focus on. That can be good or bad in life, but in racing, it’s typically pretty good.”
“There are always great opportunities and everyone wants a piece of you. You’re the champion, you feel this responsibility, you want to do these things. But then it overwhelms you.”
“I don’t feel I’m a step above anyone on this team. I’m just another link in the chain.”
“If my experience has shown me anything, it’s that good people can rise to meet any challenge.”
“I’m not a robot; I have a personality and I have emotions. I have a humorous side to me and an angry side to me.”
“My image lends itself a little bit more to the modern fan, sometimes more toward the kids, and I guess more toward the wine drinkers. I mean, I have my own wine, and fans love to pull for people they relate to.”
“I’m no social anthropologist, but, from everything I’ve heard and read, most men go through a transition in their early thirties. Some call it ‘getting comfortable in your own skin,’ and others simply refer to it as ‘maturing.’ I like to think that I’m the same person at 32 that I was at 25, only a little older, a little wiser, and hopefully, a little more comfortable with my life.”
“In our business, just getting to 40 means something. That’s why I think sometimes you have to just live in the moment. You have to enjoy life to its fullest.”
“For some reason, no matter what happens in my life, I always seem to have a piece of my heart that says everything is going to be okay.”
“Outside the race car, my passion is pediatric cancer research, and my efforts will remain focused there when I’m no longer driving.”
“There are certain times we pursue opportunities, but most of the time opportunities come from people who reach out and say, ‘What do you think about this?'”
“I’d rather be known as a great person. It’s a bonus to be known as a great driver, but I don’t think a great driver really describes who you are as a person in your life. I think if somebody says you’re a great person, I think that’s something that’s hard to achieve. It’s probably harder to achieve that than being a great driver.”
“Eventually you know you have to walk away, and if you’re lucky, you get to decide the right time to walk away.”
“I’m in a good position. I know who I am, I know my limitations, and I know the things that inspire me and motivate me to push myself.”
“So for me it’s TV, and the business side of the sport and maybe a little more focus on speaking. Axalta uses me for leadership conferences, annual meetings, internal groups, big customers… and I’ve done engagements for companies like PayPal. I really enjoy those events because racing is a lot like business: you set goals, work as a team, know your strengths and weaknesses, know how to rely on other people, know when to take smart risks and when to be patient.”
“That’s the cool thing about how all of this has come together. Ultimately racing is about making and seizing opportunities, and so is business. A lot of what I learned in racing helps me with TV, helps me with the business of racing and business in general. While I do pursue a variety of things, they actually fit together really well. Even if I didn’t plan it that way.”
“I know where I’m going, but I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to the mountains. I haven’t made any plans. I’m just going to play it by ear.”
“No matter what happens… I’ll always say that I’ve had a wonderful life.”
Also check out Danica Patrick’s popular quotes.
