My Name Is Carol
11-11-2006, 09:59 AM
Gordon's wedding proof NASCAR is Hollywood
Off-track news often more popular (and juicier) than on-track
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
November 10, 2006
10:55 PM EST (03:55 GMT)
AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Jeff Gordon signs a deal with US Weekly to publish the pictures and details of his secret midweek Mexico wedding to Belgian model Ingrid Vandebosch.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes the Las Vegas Review-Journal for winning third place at a recent Halloween costume party at a Las Vegas event attended by former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy.
A 911 tape is released from a witness who reportedly told Daytona Beach, Fla., police that NASCAR chairman Brian France was driving recklessly and hit a tree as he sped to his riverfront condominium earlier in the week.
Next thing you know there'll be paparazzi following defending Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart to the Dairy Queen in Columbus, Ind., to see if he breaks his diet with a double-chocolate shake.
Welcome to the new world of NASCAR, where life off the track has become as newsworthy if not more as life on it.
"I'm blown away all the time with this sport and how it's grown," says Gordon, who won the pole for Sunday's race at Phoenix International Raceway.
"To see how things have changed over the last 14 years and the growth outside of just pure racing and how the drivers and fans have this relationship and the attention that the personalities get beyond racing is pretty incredible."
Gordon and Earnhardt are the poster boys for the new NASCAR.
Earnhardt has appeared in magazines from Rolling Stone to Playboy. He has a weekly radio and television show, and has appeared in several music videos.
His Spring Break trip to Florida a few years ago made the National Enquirer with alleged naked co-ed hot tub parties.
Gordon has been a guest host on the television talk show Live with Regis & Kelly and Saturday Night Live. He has judged beauty pageants and had a much-publicized divorce from his first wife, former Miss Winston Brooke Sealey.
The four-time champion will be in the ESPN booth with Tony Kornheiser and Joe Theismann during the second quarter Monday night's NFL game between the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Charlotte, N.C.
"Well, I'm certainly no Tom Cruise or like any guy in the entertainment business," Gordon says when asked about his celebrity status and lack of privacy. "But I feel like the type of celebrity we have in this sport is the best kind.
"You get to live your life for the most part, but yet that's changing constantly. The sport is getting bigger and more popular, and you do have to be somewhat guarded sometimes to maintain that privacy."
The wedding is a perfect example.
Gordon figured the best way to avoid the fanfare was to have a ceremony when least expected. A Tuesday with two weeks left in the championship Chase definitely was least expected.
It was so private that only a handful of people were given details.
Among the tight-knit group in attendance were team owner Rick Hendrick and Vandebosch's family. Not even teammate Jimmie Johnson made the trip.
Johnson understands.
"Even at my wedding photos of us leaving the church ended up in the Enquirer," he says. "It's crazy to see the attention NASCAR is getting."
That US Weekly agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to the Jeff Gordon Foundation for full rights to the wedding shows just how crazy it has gotten.
Gordon can't even discuss details of the ceremony until the article is published next week.
"You're going to have to read more about it next week in US Weekly," Gordon explains to reporters outside of his hauler. "I gave them the exclusive."
All we know for sure is Gordon made it through the wedding and honeymoon better than he did three Chase races in which he had DNFs that knocked him out of the running for a fifth title.
Well, could say more, but it's exclusive.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer
Off-track news often more popular (and juicier) than on-track
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
November 10, 2006
10:55 PM EST (03:55 GMT)
AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Jeff Gordon signs a deal with US Weekly to publish the pictures and details of his secret midweek Mexico wedding to Belgian model Ingrid Vandebosch.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes the Las Vegas Review-Journal for winning third place at a recent Halloween costume party at a Las Vegas event attended by former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy.
A 911 tape is released from a witness who reportedly told Daytona Beach, Fla., police that NASCAR chairman Brian France was driving recklessly and hit a tree as he sped to his riverfront condominium earlier in the week.
Next thing you know there'll be paparazzi following defending Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart to the Dairy Queen in Columbus, Ind., to see if he breaks his diet with a double-chocolate shake.
Welcome to the new world of NASCAR, where life off the track has become as newsworthy if not more as life on it.
"I'm blown away all the time with this sport and how it's grown," says Gordon, who won the pole for Sunday's race at Phoenix International Raceway.
"To see how things have changed over the last 14 years and the growth outside of just pure racing and how the drivers and fans have this relationship and the attention that the personalities get beyond racing is pretty incredible."
Gordon and Earnhardt are the poster boys for the new NASCAR.
Earnhardt has appeared in magazines from Rolling Stone to Playboy. He has a weekly radio and television show, and has appeared in several music videos.
His Spring Break trip to Florida a few years ago made the National Enquirer with alleged naked co-ed hot tub parties.
Gordon has been a guest host on the television talk show Live with Regis & Kelly and Saturday Night Live. He has judged beauty pageants and had a much-publicized divorce from his first wife, former Miss Winston Brooke Sealey.
The four-time champion will be in the ESPN booth with Tony Kornheiser and Joe Theismann during the second quarter Monday night's NFL game between the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Charlotte, N.C.
"Well, I'm certainly no Tom Cruise or like any guy in the entertainment business," Gordon says when asked about his celebrity status and lack of privacy. "But I feel like the type of celebrity we have in this sport is the best kind.
"You get to live your life for the most part, but yet that's changing constantly. The sport is getting bigger and more popular, and you do have to be somewhat guarded sometimes to maintain that privacy."
The wedding is a perfect example.
Gordon figured the best way to avoid the fanfare was to have a ceremony when least expected. A Tuesday with two weeks left in the championship Chase definitely was least expected.
It was so private that only a handful of people were given details.
Among the tight-knit group in attendance were team owner Rick Hendrick and Vandebosch's family. Not even teammate Jimmie Johnson made the trip.
Johnson understands.
"Even at my wedding photos of us leaving the church ended up in the Enquirer," he says. "It's crazy to see the attention NASCAR is getting."
That US Weekly agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to the Jeff Gordon Foundation for full rights to the wedding shows just how crazy it has gotten.
Gordon can't even discuss details of the ceremony until the article is published next week.
"You're going to have to read more about it next week in US Weekly," Gordon explains to reporters outside of his hauler. "I gave them the exclusive."
All we know for sure is Gordon made it through the wedding and honeymoon better than he did three Chase races in which he had DNFs that knocked him out of the running for a fifth title.
Well, could say more, but it's exclusive.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer