On February 1, 2019, racing legend Jeff Gordon was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Needless to say, it was a well-deserved honor for one of the greatest drivers in the history of American professional auto racing.
But, Gordon has been earning what he's been owed for quite some time now. At least monetarily, anyway. With a net worth of around $200 million, he is one of the richest NASCAR drivers in history. Here, we'll take a brief look at exactly what Wonder Boy has done to earn all that money, and a peek into what he's up to these days.
Racing Career
As the first driver to make over $100 million in career earnings from the NASCAR Cup Series, Jeff Gordon has raked in a good chunk of his money from his stock car racing career.
Over the course of his career, the Vallejo, California native earned $140 million on track winnings, and when it comes to career achievements, Gordon has them in spades. With 93 career wins (making him third on the all-time wins list from 1972-present) and four Winston Cup Series titles, he is the youngest driver to win the Daytona 500 and the only driver to win the Brickyard 400 four times.
As far as other accolades go, Jeff Gordon was named the Busch Series Rookie of the Year in 1991, the NASCAR Rookie of the Year in 1993, won the Sprint Cup Series All-Star race three times, and gained his spot on NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers list in 1998, just to name a few. And, of course, most recently, he's earned his induction into the 2019 NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Gordon has also found success as an owner as well as a driver. Along with Rick Hendrick, he co-owned the No. 48 Chevrolet when it was driven by now-retired driver Jimmie Johnson, who won seven Cup championships during his illustrious career.
Gordon also has an equity stake in the No. 24 team. A team he's pretty well familiar with, considering he drove Hendrick Motorsports' No. 24 Chevrolet for 23 seasons.
Endorsements and Other Business Ventures
Of Gordon's yearly racing salary of around $30 million, about $20 million of that came from endorsements. Probably his most famous sponsorship deal was with Pepsi, but did you know that he was sponsored by Coca-Cola before that? He ended up making the switch to Pepsi because he thought the company offered more visibility, and the rest is history.
Jeff Gordon has also been sponsored by Edy's, Frito-Lay, Kellogg Company, and Ray-Ban. As the owner of JG Motorsports, Gordon receives a good chunk of money from licensed products. In 1998 alone, these items racked up a whopping $112 million.
When it comes to other business ventures, Gordon owns a dealership — Jeff Gordon Chevrolet — in Wilmington, North Carolina and also partnered with Bob Lutz in 2005 to open the Jeff Gordon Racing School. That same year, he partnered with Briggs & Sons Winemaking Co. to open his own line of wine, which has won a number of gold medals, proving that the race track isn't the only place where Wonder Boy has been a winner.
Jeff Gordon's Net Worth
Unfortunately, calculating the exact figure for Jeff Gordon net worth isn't as simple as moving a few decimal points.
In 2002, he and ex-wife Brooke Sealey went through a rather messy divorce, with the Miss Winston Cup model alleging "marital misconduct" on Gordon's behalf. While she received an estimated $30 million in alimony and assets, the racer set his sights on moving forward.
Jeff Gordon married second wife Ingrid Vandebosch in 2006, and the two have two children: Ella Sofia Gordon and Leo Benjamin Gordon. Becoming a father has clearly had an impact on Gordon, given that he has set up the Jeff Gordon Children's Foundation in 1999, which benefits families deal with pediatric cancer, and the Jeff Gordon Children's Hospital in Concord, North Carolina in 2006. Along with fellow greats Andre Agassi, Tony Hawk, and Cal Ripken, Jr, he participates in Athletes For Hope, which involves professional athletes in charitable causes.
Then, of course, there's Gordon's broadcasting career. On April 10, 2015, he made his broadcasting debut on Fox Sports 1 for the O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Today, the former race car driver appears regularly as an announcer on Fox NASCAR. Having been named #10 on ESPN's list of the "25 Greatest Drivers Ever," he has the type of insight only a professional stock car racing driver can have, making him worth the $20-30 million salary Fox reportedly pays him.
What sort of venture will Jeff Gordon delve into next? Only time will tell.
This post was originally published on August 28, 2018.
