For Jeff Gordon, where does the time go

INDIANAPOLIS - The kid's going gray.

Oh, not Jay Leno gray or Taylor Hicks gray. Not even salt-and-pepper gray.

But gray nonetheless, gray-flecked ever so slightly in the sideburns and nape of the neck. Gray enough to signal the lifetime it's been since a fresh-faced Jeff Gordon came home 13 years ago and won the inaugural Brickyard 400.

"I can tell you it's been one heck of a life ever since," said Gordon, a 79-race winner, a four-time NASCAR champion, a world traveler, a part-time New Yorker and a new father.

Six days shy of his 36th birthday, Gordon has accomplished more in his sport and in his life that anyone dares to dream. And while the end of Gordon's career is nearer than the start, he is in no way coasting to the finish.

"I don't feel old; I feel comfortable," said Gordon, who arrived for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard set for Sunday as the runaway leader in the Nextel Cup Series standings.

"When I was a kid, while it was great to be the young guy coming in and doing well, I felt like I didn't really have much respect and that I was constantly just trying to prove that I belong here.

"Now that I'm more accepted, I feel more comfortable with my role in the sport and still being competitive. I don't feel old at all because we're running so awesome."

Since the first of his four Brickyard victories in 1994, Gordon has won 77 more times to climb to sixth on the all-time victory list within sight of third.

He has won more prize money than anyone else _ $86 million and change _ and made even more from endorsements.

And yet, those closest to him say, in so many ways Gordon is still the same kid who remembered to send flowers on Mother's Day, who played nice in the sandbox and who learned respect at an early age.

These days, sharing involves such events as the celebrity bowling tournament he held Thursday to benefit Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. Respect means accommodating as well as possible the throng of fans who gather on pit road for a glimpse or a photo or an autograph. . . and dealing calmly with the many thousand who boo.

"As we watched that evolution, we stayed so focused on winning the next race and then getting to the next race and winning that one, we kind of lost track of time," said John Bickford, the stepfather who guided Gordon's career.

"It's hard to step back and see (the accomplishments) sometimes."

Gordon climbed behind the wheel at 5 and moved to Pittsboro at 13 because Indiana let him race 650-horsepower sprint cars three years younger than most states. He idolized Rick Mears and imagined racing in the Indianapolis 500 but instead found opportunities in stock cars.

Gordon won 11 poles in his second year in the Busch Series, and by the end of that 1992 season he was driving a Winston Cup car for the Hendrick Motorsports powerhouse. Gordon cried when he won for the first time _ the 1994 Coca-Cola 600, held on the same day as the Indy 500 _ and squealed for joy when he won for the first time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Even with three Daytona 500s to his credit, three more in the 600 and five Southern 500s, Gordon looks at that first Brickyard has his biggest victory, far and away.

"It changed my life," Gordon said. "Literally."

In ways he couldn't imagine.

"I never knew I was going to be a race car driver, No. 1," Gordon said. "(And) in NASCAR they just don't give you a booklet that says here's all the things you need to expect:

"You're going to be extremely busy. You're going to be testing. You're going to be racing. You're going to be doing things for your sponsors, and doing things for TV and fans.

"And then, oh, yeah, by the way, in case you get popular and start winning, all of a sudden you're going to be doing autographs and photo shoots, and all these things. Then, oh, yeah, by the way, try to have a relationship with your family and get married and have kids."

Gordon's marriage to model Brooke Sealey became another life-changing event both for its Ken-and-Barbie beginning in 1994 and its tabloid-fodder finish in 2003.

He pulled away from his teammates during the marriage and then lost focus amid a divorce that cost him tens of millions of dollars.

"What happened for Jeff is for a period in time he tried to be different from who he is," Bickford said.

"Certainly he's pretty happy now in life. But he was pretty happy in `94."

In the meantime, Gordon matured behind the wheel, learning patience and calm.

He became a mentor to Jimmie Johnson, who went on to win Daytona, the Brickyard and the Nextel Cup title last year. He also emerged as one of the most respected voices in the NASCAR garage.

"That's something that I believe everybody thought (Dale) Earnhardt would have that position, and unfortunately he's not here," Johnson said of the seven-time champion who died in 2001.

"Jeff is accepting that role more and more now, and not only is he the senior wise man of the crowd, he is also winning races and fighting for the championship. He is in a great spot."

Personally as well as professionally.

Last fall Gordon remarried, and last month he and Ingrid Vandebosch became the parents of Ella Sophia, whose pictures hold a prominent place on his Web site

Gone are struggles of three or four years ago both at home and at the track. Gone is the question he asked himself: Were his best days as a racer behind him?

"I just look at life different," he said. "I'm excited about life and my place in it and my place in the sport, and I'm just having a good time, man."

That's the same Jeff Gordon who drove sprint cars at nearby Raceway Park, the same Jeff Gordon who thrilled the Hoosier faithful at the big track in 1994.

Yes, he hobnobs with celebrities. He has more money than he could ever spend, a Manhattan apartment, a private jet for European vacations and assistants to remind him to send flowers on Mother's Day. But none of that has changed Gordon's basic character any more than four Brickyard victories have.

"I'm just a regular guy that enjoys being at home with my family, with my friends," Gordon said.

"Yeah, maybe once in a while I want to swim with sharks in the Bahamas, but that's the little bit of risk taker in me. On a normal basis I'm calm, and love to watch TV and do normal things."

In other words, the old man's still a kid at heart.