Gordon reveals favorite number, Breakdancing roots

As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Sonoma Raceway, Jeff Gordon prepares to make his final start as a full-time driver at his home track. In addition to visiting Rio Linda, Califonia, where he got behind the wheel of his first race car, Gordon returned to his old middle school in Vallejo, answering questions from current students.

Over 23 years in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Jeff Gordon made the No. 24 iconic. But it’s not his favorite number.

“When I was racing when I was younger, one of the cars that I had was No. 16,” Gordon said. “I loved that car and won a lot of races. It was one of the first cars that I ever had. That number has always stuck with me. When I started racing sprint cars, we put 16 on that car.

“I wanted to be 16 in NASCAR to be honest, but it wasn’t available. That number was already taken so Rick Hendrick went with 24, and it’s worked out pretty good. So I do like 24, but 16 is actually probably my favorite number. 24 is my number. That’s what I’m associated with, and I love it. But 16 is my favorite number.”

In 1992 — the year Gordon made his premier series debut — Wally Dallenbach Jr. became Jack Roush’s second premier series driver, joining Mark Martin, and he drove the No. 16 for two seasons before Ted Musgrave drove it for Roush from 1994 through the first 20 races of 1998 withKevin Lepage driving the balance of the season through 2000. Greg Biffle drove it for a race in 2002 before taking over the ride full time in 2003.

It’s not the first time this year that another number was bandied about for Gordon. In January, former crew chief Ray Evernham revealed that Gordon could have piloted the No. 46 car.

Another student asked Gordon for his favorite NASCAR race, and he recalled two events from his adopted home track of Indianapolis. A 14-year-old Gordon moved to Pittsboro, Indiana, to pursue his racing dreams.

“Last year, I won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, and I made a good restart which is really not common for me and it couldn’t come at a better time at a big event,” Gordon said. “My family was there; we got to kiss the bricks so that’s certainly the one that stands out in my mind currently. And I guess I would probably even go back to the first Brickyard 400 that I won in 1994 before you guys were born. Long before and won that very first race there. It was a very special race, but I think my performance was pretty good that day, too.”

Before he left Vallejo, though, Gordon learned how to breakdance, which he said was his favorite memory of growing up in the town that’s a 20-minute drive from Sonoma.

“I used to break dance so some of my favorite memories are times when I was just hanging out with some friends and breakdancing and learning like a new move,” Gordon said. “It was like a big challenge to try something different and the skill that it took to figure out how to do it.

“I can remember showing up here one day for school. My buddy, we were trying to learn how — we called it the gyro — and he got it before I did. I was so upset, but he taught me the few little things I was missing. To do that and pull that off and then go show it off at the dances after that was pretty cool.”

The students, who may or may not have seen his breakdancing at the 2012 NASCAR After the Lap in Las Vegas, chanted for Gordon to turn back the clock three decades and bust a move.

“I’m going to be 44 years old this year,” Gordon said. “If you want to see an old man break his back trying to bust a move, I’m sorry. Thank you though.”

These days, Gordon practices a new off-track obsession with his kids.

“Just recently we’ve been doing something that’s been a lot of fun and sort of my new favorite thing to do,” Gordon said. “They ride scooters, and I have an adult scooter so I love to ride scooters with them. My son is almost five so he’s already practicing the skills and is like ‘Look at this move’ as he pops his wheel up.