SPARTA, Ky. — It’s hard to believe Jeff Gordon can go anywhere without being recognized.
With the possible exception of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., Gordon has the most readily identifiable face in NASCAR racing. After all, Gordon has co-hosted on television with Kelly Ripa, he has his own brand of wine and his “Q” rating reaches far beyond his accomplishments on the asphalt.
Yet Gordon can ride the train with son Leo from Manhattan to Yankee Stadium and take in a ballgame in relative anonymity, as was the case when Gordon took Leo to a New York Yankees-Texas Rangers game on Thursday.
“I saw one couple looking at me, but they didn’t say anything,” Gordon said Friday at Kentucky Speedway. “Nobody said anything to me. I would say 99 percent of the people on that train had no idea who I was.
“At the game, once I got inside, there were several people that came up to me and were really kind and everything, but it wasn’t a distraction from me and Leo being able to have a special moment.”
The ride home mirrored the trip to the stadium.
“We got back on the train, and not one single person said anything to me,” Gordon said. “And that’s one of the things I love about New York. I go through that on a day-to-day basis up there. When you do get recognized, it’s actually a moment where you’re like, ‘Wow! I can’t believe somebody recognized me in New York City!'”
Perhaps Gordon should rethink selling his 3,500-square-foot Central Park West condo, which he put on the market for $30 million in May.
After all, you can’t put a price on privacy.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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