Monday, February 21, 2005 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Ask Barry Waddell, lead instructor at the Road America SBRS three-day in 1990 that 19-year-old Jeff Gordon enrolled in, if he saw the huge talent that was ready to blossom. Well, in that school’s “dirt,” Waddell wrote: ”Get this guy into our pro series a.s.a.p.!” (Barry almost never uses exclamation points.)

Gordon, of course, had other plans: That same year, he became the youngest USAC National Midget champion in history. A year later, he won the USAC dirt title to become the youngest Silver Crown winner ever.

In 1991, Jeff told his stepfather to ”sell everything. We’re going stock car racing.” The rest is (still ongoing) history.

Gordon won three Busch Series races in 1992 before jumping to Cup racing, where he won rookie of the year honors in 1993 and the first of his four titles in 1995. Gordon also took top honors in ’97, ’98 and 2001.

Below are where all Skip Barber graduates finished in the 2005 Daytona 500…

Skip Barber ”Results” of the Daytona 500:

1) Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, 203 laps
5) Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, 203
13) Super Joe Nemechek, No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet, 203
17) Kyle Petty, No. 45 Georgia-Pacific Dodge, 203
22) Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 203
23) Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 203
27) Boris Said, No. 36 Centrix Chevrolet, 199
29) Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Chevrolet, 194
31) John Andretti, No. 14 VB/APlus Ford, 187, wreck
36) Jason Leffler, No. 11 FedEx Chevrolet, 168, wreck
39) Ken Schrader, No. 49 Schwan’s Dodge, 120, engine
41) Mike Wallace, No. 4 Lucas Oil Chevrolet, 35, overheating
43) Bobby Labonte, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, 14, engine

Skip Barber Racing congratulates Jeff Gordon on taking his third Daytona 500 win.

Rick Roso