Another Gordon beginning rise through NASCAR ranks
08-10-03





Commentary by LARY WOODY
Senior Writer

Move over Jeff, there's another Gordon blazing her way through NASCAR.
Well, maybe not exactly blazing — Tina Gordon has yet to win — but if grit and ambition count, then she's well on her way.
''I'm very determined,'' Gordon said. ''I'm going to make it.''
Gordon is the only female driver in any of NASCAR's top three touring series. She runs a limited schedule in the Craftsman Truck Series, and finished a respectable 13th Friday in the Federated Auto Parts 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Gordon, 34, whose husband and 12-year-old son are back home in Cedar Bluff, Ala., was bitten by the racing bug several years ago.
''My husband did some racing on a little dirt track near Gadsden and I used to go watch him,'' Gordon said. ''One night they held a Powder Puff race for women only. I entered it and I won. I began racing a little more and a little more, and the more I raced the more I enjoyed it.''
She was also successful at it. Gordon advanced into the men's divisions at the dirt track, then on to bigger and tougher asphalt ovals around Alabama.
She entered the ARCA Series and did well. Talented and personable, Gordon began to attract national attention.
Then in May of 2002 she suffered a setback. She crashed at Charlotte and shattered her left leg. Today she has a metal rod in that leg from knee to heel.
Despite the ordeal, Gordon maintained a sense of humor. ''I can tell when it's going to rain,'' she said. ''My leg tingles.''
Gordon occasionally crossed ARCA paths with Deborah Renshaw, a former Fairgrounds Speedway racer. Renshaw, like Gordon, was injured in a crash last season and her racing career is in limbo.
Gordon said she has never been subjected to the type of petty harassment Renshaw faced from some male drivers at the Fairgrounds last year.
''All the guys back on my home track made me feel welcome,'' Gordon said. ''It was the same in ARCA. I always felt comfortable, and in the truck series the guys couldn't be nicer. A lot of them, like Robert Pressley and Brendan Gaughan, have really gone out of their way to assist me.
''I read about some of the bad experiences Deborah went through, but I've never encountered anything like that.''
Gordon said it's not easy being a wife, mother and race driver.
''Our son Seth played baseball this summer and is playing football this fall,'' she said. ''I try to attend as many of his activities as possible, but on weeks when we race it's very difficult.
''That's the only drawback to the sport — it's so time-demanding. But it's like anything else that's worth doing, at times you have to make some sacrifices.''



Larry Woody writes about auto racing for The Tennessean. He can be reached at lwoody@tennessean.com or (615) 259-8019.




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