DAYTONA BEACH - Growing up, Tina Gordon chased the boys and pelted them with pine cones. "I did beat up the boys, all of them," said Gordon, who grew up in Cedar Bluff, Ala. "I don't know if you'd say I was a tomboy, but yeah, I was a little rough. But I liked doing the girly stuff, too. I guess I was a tough girl.
"Right after I got married, my husband, Gary, ran into a guy who told him I used to whip him with these pine cones and they tore the whole side of his face up."
Little has changed. Gordon is still a tough girl chasing the boys around, except there aren't any pine cones to throw, just her purple Ford No. 39 race car. While Gordon, 35, doesn't want to make a fuss, she is turning heads. It began in 2001, when she qualified fifth at 182.947 mph in a Ford Thunderbird at the Food World 300ARCA/Remax series.
Gordon is the only woman to lead in points among Trucks rookies, the only woman to race in the Trucks series at Lowe's Motor Speedway and the only woman racing full time in one of NASCAR's top three series.
After racing half a season in Trucks, Gordon now is the only full-time Jay Robinson Busch driver, a long way from her "powder puff" short-track beginning.
