Exclusive: Gordon talks experience as Indy 500 pace car driver
Jeff Gordon enjoyed a triumphant start to his Sunday as he led the field to the green flag to start the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Driving the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 pace car, Gordon kicked off the big race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway before hopping on airplane with his family to head to Charlotte Motor Speedway and the start of the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, where he'll roll off 18th.
Gordon, who next year will become an analyst on FOX NASCAR races, was joined on the flight home by FOX pit reporter Jamie Little and FOXSports.com digital content manager Tom Jensen.
On the flight back, Gordon said he thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
"I don't think anything was going to let down my expectations," Gordon said, who visited with childhood hero Rick Mears before the race. "I expected it to be a cool experience and it was that and even more. To be standing out there on pit road on the day of the Indy 500 -- there was so much going on it was a blur, going by very fast. You want that moment to slow down, and take it all in."
From there, it was time to buckle in.
"Once I got in the car, that's when it really set in," said Gordon. "It was time to go and it really hit me that this is happening, that I'm going to do this. I felt a responsibility because I didn't want to mess it up. They were talking in my ear, so a little bit of it was work, but most of it was all fun. It was very cool."
Gordon said he didn't get a lot of direction from series officials about what to do in the pace car.
"The funny thing is, they gave me a tremendous amount of respect, I guess you'd call it, or credit," said Gordon. "Because they never even told me what I was doing. I didn't have to practice it. I didn't do anything other than I drove the car a couple of weeks ago, so I knew the car.
"This morning I kept wondering when I was going to come in contact with someone who was actually going to walk me through what I was doing," Gordon said. "I just wanted to know. I didn't think I'd have a problem with doing it, but I wanted to make sure I was doing it right."
After discussions with Verizon IndyCar Series race director Brian Barnhart and Johnny Rutherford, Gordon was all set.
"I saw Johnny Rutherford and he was, 'Aw, just, just kind of go along and you'll see what happens behind you,'" said Gordon. "He was just kind of going with it."
Everything went flawlessly, though, and Gordon said it was a memorable experience.
"The first time I came by, to hear the fans cheering -- I had the windows down -- you could hear the fans. I know they weren't cheering me -- they were cheering the field -- but just to be able to feel that, experience that and see all those fans there, that was cool."
