Jeff Gordon isn’t a name that rolls out with huge connotations of Italian masculine and mysterious racecar drivers or irreverent English or Australian racing playboys, or playing race boys.
Jeff Gordon is just the current NASCAR points leader in stock car racing, having tied with Dale Earnhardt, Sr.’s sixth place ranking of 76 lifetime wins two weeks ago by winning the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
His name may sound ordinary, but the man is extraordinary.
Much shorter than I expected – but then so was Marlon Brando – Gordon “traded his stock car for a cutting board” on a recent Sunday afternoon, visiting Infineon Raceway at Highways 121 and 37 south of Sonoma to promote this year’s NASCAR NEXTEL Toyota/Save Mart 350 (that would be an auto race, not a shopping mall) that revs up Infineon June 22-24. Gordon will drive the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet in the race.
Breaking the racecar driver’s image mold in several ways, Gordon is a Vallejo native, loves good food, loves good wine so much that he has his own wine label, which is produced by August Briggs Winery in Calistoga, and talks more about the upcoming birth of his daughter than he does about cars.
The luncheon was part promotional, part baby shower for Gordon, hosted by Infineon Raceway president and general manager Steve Page, and part cooking demonstration jointly presented by Gordon and executive chef Victor Scargle, currently of Cindy Pawlcyn’s Go Fish! and formerly of Julia’s Kitchen at COPIA.
Last year Gordon announced his engagement in the Winner’s Circle at Infineon, and this year he and his wife, Ingrid Vandebosch, are expecting their first child right around Sonoma race time. Gordon said, “All I request is that I get back for the birth….I’ll be the one driving the stroller!”
Steve Page then presented Gordon with loads of girlie stuff, such as a bright pink “Girls Rule” book, “Little Mermaid,” “Strawberry Shortcake,” “Little Princess,” “Barney” and “Cinderella” videos, and a Barbie Doll, followed by Ken, of course.
Speaking of his approaching daughter, Gordon joked, “I’m sure she’ll be keeping me up with screaming the Saturday night before my races. I look forward to every moment of it!”
With a lean look and brown hair more or less parted in the middle and flopping casually to the sides over thick eyebrows, Gordon donned a white chef’s coat personalized with Infineon’s and his own wine collection names embroidered on it and, with Scargle, chatted his way through cooking lunch, a sample of what other lunch guests were about to enjoy. The rest of us dined on the same menu, but cooked by Scargle’s “pit crew” from Go Fish!
Scargle became a race fan because his big brother raced and “tinkered with stock cars in Watsonville and Aptos” when they were growing up, and “I like the adrenalin and the concentration.”
Gordon, a guest at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, admitted “I do a little bit of barbequing down at the racetrack. After this, I’m really going to impress my wife!”
Meanwhile, the pans and the heating elements under them didn’t heat as early and quickly as they were supposed to, and Gordon smoothly quipped, “Kind of like my radio at the start of the race yesterday!”
Gordon and Scargle poached Alaskan halibut and grilled Bigeye Tuna, in addition to graffiti cauliflower, baby carrots, fennel, haricots verts (green beans). Scargle once referred to the florettes as cheddar cauliflower, to which Gordon asked the obvious: “How do they get cheddar into the cauliflower?” When told by Scargle that it was named for the color, Gordon kidded, “Oh I thought cheddar grows in the ground!” Gordon helped with poaching and seasoning with salt and white pepper.
About this time Gordon’s racecar and actor buddy Patrick Dempsey strode into the room, complete with film entourage, tight jeans, black blazer, and his best Sean Penn hairdo, and managed to interrupt the whole cooking process momentarily as cameras turned to Dempsey until he sat down.
When asked how he got interested in wine, Gordon said it was “through my travels in Europe and around the world. I love food. Nothing compliments good food better than good wine. I like my racecars well balanced, with a smooth start and great finish, just like my wine.”
Speaking of what it’s like to be a wine guy in an industry with which beer is so strongly associated, the 35-year-old Gordon told stories of driving from his family home in Vallejo through the Napa and Sonoma valleys on his way to races, and how eventually he found himself racing on weekends and drinking wine during the week.
Back to the Budweiser, burgers and fries racing image: “I decided I had to be more me. I tried to portray something else for awhile, and now I hope people who follow me will like that style. I like a beer from time to time, but I also enjoy the finer things in life. I’m not trying to win over fans anymore – I’m just being me.”
Asked if he would take time off for his daughter’s birth or if his racing and sponsor contracts might get in the way of being present, Gordon cracked “It’s CONTRACTIONS I’m worried about!
“My sponsors are very understanding. We’re having a great year. The most important thing is to see the birth of my child. Life is great on and off the track, and I’m not going to miss that!
“We’re making lots of contingency plans with drivers, airplanes and helicopters. This child is costing me a lot of money!”
“If my life is good off the track, my life is good on the track. I’ve got the best of both worlds right now.”
As a person who rarely says “I” and often talks in terms of “we,” as in his racing team, the popular slang term “you know” gets shortened leaving Gordon’s lips to “y’o,” as in “y’o, we never dreamed of making it to Cup level, but we’re always going for the winner’s circle.” He did use “I” to say, “I will never be as good as Dale (Earnhardt) – I’ll never be as good as that.”
“The wins come when you least expect them (he had a drought of 25 races) and don’t come when you do. I’m a little nervous right now. It’s pretty phenomenal right now: great relationships with my wife and with my mom and dad, and I’m so glad those are back on track.”
Having conquered the race track, Gordon plans to continue that thrilling venture and looks forward to exploring another of his loves, real estate and development. That is, well after his daughter arrives and he and his wife “develop” her for awhile.
Gordon’s 2005 Jeff Gordon Carneros Chardonnay was served with the halibut to half of the guests at Infineon, while Ravenswood Zinfandel was served with the tuna to others. As official sponsor of Infineon’s pole-day qualifying on Friday, June 22, Ravenswood president Joel Peterson and his son Galen presented Gordon with a treasured magnum of Ravenswood 1999 Old Hill Ranch Zinfandel.
Before he sat down to lunch, Gordon confessed, “I’m really looking forward to a glass myself. I haven’t been able to celebrate since the race last night.” And he did.

Catch the latest wine country food and wine news at  www.sonomasun.com, click on Kathleen Hill-Epicure. “The Kathleen Hill Show” broadcasts live 4-5 p.m. Mondays on KSVY-91.3 FM or streaming at www.ksvy.org.

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