[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by PettyBlue

I still see no link,proof or anything else that states all this hearsay crap ever happened.Help me out here people or is this as Bart Simpson would say,"nobody saw it and you can't proove it".

As I previously stated, intelligent people can agree to disagree.

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

Ask and ye shall receive. From Jeff Gordon's biography, no less. While it doesn't specifically say they had a handshake, or a verbal agreement, it does say Davis expected Gordon to drive for him in 1993.

It was also written up by Dick Berggren in a 1993 issue od Stock car Racing Magazine. I could look that up for quotes from Dr. Dick if you wish.

I don't think it's any kind of a stretch at all to believe that, at a bare minimum, Jeff and Bill Davis had a verbal agreement but knowing Bill Davis's history a bit, my bet is that, at a minimum they shook hands on the deal.

But, situational ethics bit BDR (and Ford) right in the exhaust pipe.

Petty Blue I am much like you. I do not trust much if any of what the media reports, but in this case I will accept it if it is in Jeff's biography. If he said it himself then I might have a greater trust in it rather than Jeff Hammond telling me about it.

Also from the GTG end of stories such as this our very own underpaid Bob Tanner is usually pretty good about spreading the truth.

[jks812]

His breakthrough year was probably 1991 when he won the coveted USAC Silver Crown title and, in a year of frenzied racing, moved up to Busch Grand National competition driving the #1 Carolina Ford owned by Bill Davis and won rookie of the year honors. The car was sponsored by Baby Ruth in 1992 in Busch racing and Jeff captured a NASCAR record 11 pole positions that year. Winston Cup car owner Rick Hendrick noticed Gordon driving an extremely loose race car around Atlanta Motor Speedway that year. He waited for the driver to lose control and wreck but the driver went on the win the race. Hendrick immediately asked who the driver was and was told that it was "that Gordon kid." Hendrick told his general manager, Jimmy Johnson, to sign the kid to a Winston Cup contract, whatever it took. In 1992, he signed with Hendrick Motorsports to drive for car owner Rick Hendrick. However, car owner Bill Davis expected Jeff to drive for him when his team moved up to Winston Cup. Rather than jump to Winston Cup competiton with an average team that might not be strong enough to qualify every weekend owned by Bill Davis, Jeff signed the deal of a lifetime putting him into the elite circle of NASCAR teams.

Jeff Gordon Biographical Information


Gordon was being recruited by many car owners at that time. His Busch car owner, Bill Davis, did not have him under contract but he assumed that Gordon would be his driver when his team made the jump up to the Winston Cup ranks. Nevertheless, nothing was signed with Davis.
Jeff Gordon 1992 BGN Statistics

[wingkey1]

Originally Posted by LSC9901

Petty Blue I am much like you. I do not trust much if any of what the media reports, but in this case I will accept it if it is in Jeff's biography. If he said it himself then I might have a greater trust in it rather than Jeff Hammond telling me about it.

An autobiography would be directly from the subject. Pretty much anyone can write a biography without even one iota of contribution, verification, etc. from the subject. Interesting too the biography excerpt states there quite possibly was no handshake or verbal agreement - "While it doesn't specifically say they had a handshake, or a verbal agreement" - pretty much indicates there may well have been something, and equally on the other side, there may well have been nothing. Seems author could not verify either. Believe some of the added info in this thread indicated there was no contract between Davis and Gordon (Gotta believe this refers to Cup driving contract and not the Busch contract). Lord, if there was no written contract, and possibly no verbal or even a handshake - ahhhh - if I'm a driver one take on this is there is noone in hot pursuit of me. If I'm an owner and the driver gets away, I beat myself forever over what I'd see as a self inflicted wound. Now all of this is just more story telling ---

Gotta go back to our earlier post - no one really knows.

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by jks812

Gordon was being recruited by many car owners at that time. His Busch car owner, Bill Davis, did not have him under contract but he assumed that Gordon would be his driver when his team made the jump up to the Winston Cup ranks. Nevertheless, nothing was signed with Davis.
Jeff Gordon 1992 BGN Statistics

Very poor assumption

Originally Posted by wingkey1

An autobiography would be directly from the subject. Pretty much anyone can write a biography without even one iota of contribution, verification, etc. from the subject. Interesting too the biography excerpt states there quite possibly was no handshake or verbal agreement - "While it doesn't specifically say they had a handshake, or a verbal agreement" - pretty much indicates there may well have been something, and equally on the other side, there may well have been nothing. Seems author could not verify either. Believe some of the added info in this thread indicated there was no contract between Davis and Gordon (Gotta believe this refers to Cup driving contract and not the Busch contract). Lord, if there was no written contract, and possibly no verbal or even a handshake - ahhhh - if I'm a driver one take on this is there is no one in hot pursuit of me. If I'm an owner and the driver gets away, I beat myself forever over what I'd see as a self inflicted wound. Now all of this is just more story telling ---

Gotta go back to our earlier post - no one really knows.

There ya go .... no one really knows. I'd expect BDR to tell the story no different than what he does. Why should he admit that he made a colossal error

[PettyBlue]

Only two people know for sure,Gordon and Davis.Ask either and see what reaction you get.lol.

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by PettyBlue

Only two people know for sure,Gordon and Davis.Ask either and see what reaction you get.lol.

I'm guessing that the two stories told in total would be similar but very different.