Cecil Gordon (June 21, 1941 – September 19, 2012) was an American

stock car Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

racing driver. A competitor in the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

between 1968 and 1985, he competed in 449 events without winning a race.

NASCAR

Career as driver

Gordon drove in the NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series for 17 years and drove in a total of 449 races. He never won and never got a pole, he did not even finish a race on the lead lap, but got 29 top fives and 111 top tens.Cecil Gordon's Driver's Statistics at racing-reference.info
/ref> He finished third in points in 1971 and 1973. He completed 112,908 laps and only led 23 of them. By the end of his career, he had earned $940,000. His average finish for his entire career was 17.3.

Racing Champions Round 2 is an American manufacturing company which produces scale models including die-cast, plastic, slot cars, and other hobby products. The company is based in South Bend, Indiana. The company was founded in 2005 by Thomas E. Lowe who previousl ...

released a replica of 1969 Mercury Cyclone in 1992 and later in 1998 in honor of NASCAR's 50th anniversary.

Career as owner

He started racing in

Henley Gray Clarence Henley Gray Jr. (born January 12, 1933) is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver whose career spanned from 1964 to 1977. Career Out of the 76045 laps committed in his career, Gray only led two of them. Gray's total career earnings ...

and

Bill Seifert William John Seifert (born July 2, 1939 - Skyland, North Carolina) is a retired NASCAR Sprint Cup Series who raced from 1966 to 1979.Cecil Gordon's Owner's Statistics at racing-reference.info
/ref> He had a few other racers make an occasional start for him. He raced GM products (mostly Chevrolet vehicles) until the end of 1982 when he crashed out his Buick Regal. He purchased a Chrysler Imperial at the beginning of 1983 from the defunct Negre Bros. Racing team and managed to qualify for eight races during that season, though he only finished five of them. His best finish was 15th that year in the Imperial. He also had Jim VanDiver drive the car in two races. At the end of that year he sold the Imperial to

Buddy Arrington Buddy Rogers Arrington (July 26, 1938 – August 2, 2022) was an American NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. Racing career Arrington has the second-most starts without a win, and finished in the top 10 of NASCAR points twice; in 1 ...

. Gordon returned for one more race in 1985 for the family-owned team of

Greg Sacks Greg Sacks (born November 3, 1952) is an American former stock car racing driver. He is married and has three children. He lives in Ormond Beach, Florida. He and his sons are partners in Grand Touring Vodka. Sacks has spent most of his career as ...

Career as crewman

Following the end of his career as a driver and owner, Gordon worked for other racing teams as a crewman, first for

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard ...

, and then later for

Travis Carter Enterprises Travis Carter Enterprises (later known as Haas-Carter Motorsports, K Mart Racing, BelCar Motorsports and Richardson-Haas Motorsports) was a NASCAR and USAR Pro Cup team. It was mostly owned by former crew chief Travis Carter and Carl Haas. The ...

Personal life

Gordon is not related to four-time

champion

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

, yet, coincidentally, they both drove the 24 car. Gordon, who was married with four children, Charlene (who died in 2006), Douglas, Stefanie and Jonathon. Gordon died on September 19, 2012 in

Lexington, North Carolina Lexington is the county seat of Davidson County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 18,931. It is located in central North Carolina, south of Winston-Salem. Major highways include I-85, I-85B, U ...

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Grand National Series

Winston Cup Series

=Daytona 500

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Cecil 1941 births 2012 deaths People from Henderson County, North Carolina Racing drivers from North Carolina NASCAR drivers NASCAR team owners