TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — NASCAR Hall of Famer and Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon, will serve as Honoree of The Amelia on March 2-5, 2023.
The weekend’s events will include a lively seminar on Saturday featuring Gordon and NASCAR Hall of Fame crew chief Ray Evernham as well as opportunities to meet the legendary driver at Sunday’s concours that will showcase a class of vehicles he drove and won in during his career.
“Jeff embodies the spirit of The Amelia, often referred to as ‘the racer’s concours,’” said McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty. “His incredible success on the track has made him a household name, but Jeff is more than a legendary driver. His charitable heart is on display at Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation, where he has led the battle to find a cure for childhood cancer for more than two decades.”
Gordon joins a long line of racing royalty honorees including Sir Stirling Moss (1996 & 2015), Richard Petty (2010), Roger Penske (2020) and Chip Ganassi (2022). Gordon’s former crew chief, Ray Evernham, is an Amelia regular. This year he will lead a discussion on Gordon’s incredible career at Saturday’s seminar “Jeff Gordon: The Hendrick Motorsports Years.” It’s an invitation to relive a few of the duo’s greatest moments.
“Ray and I have talked about me attending The Amelia for years,” Gordon said. “It’s an honor to be recognized at such an incredible event that blends car culture, car enthusiasts, beautiful cars and high-performance vehicles. And for us to be able to showcase cars that have been such a huge part of my career will make the weekend that much more memorable for me.”
Gordon was one of the most versatile drivers of his era and is credited with helping take NASCAR mainstream in the 1990s. He changed the face of the sport by breaking stereotypes and drawing legions of new fans with his talent, poise and approachability. From 1992-2015, Gordon drove for Hendrick Motorsports, winning four NASCAR Cup Series championships (‘95, ’97, ’98 and ’01), 93 races and 81 pole positions while scoring 325 top-five finishes and 475 top-10s. With his first title in 1995, he became the youngest champion in NASCAR’s modern era.
Gordon is NASCAR’s winningest driver on road courses (nine wins) and restrictor-plate tracks (12). In January 2017, he became the first NASCAR Cup Series champion to win overall at the 24 Hours of Daytona (Fla.) joining A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti and Jamie McMurray as the only drivers to win the prestigious sports car race and the Daytona 500. In February 2019, Gordon was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.