No. 8: Gordon Races Porsche 911 GT3 on IMS Road Course
December 24, 2022 | By Curt Cavin
Note: The editorial staff at IMS.com is taking a look back at the 10 biggest moments of 2022 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in this year-end series, with one installment appearing on the site per day in countdown fashion from Dec. 22-31.
Jeff Gordon and his longtime crew chief, Ray Evernham, reunited at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during a Labor Day weekend sports car event.
The two who won NASCAR’s inaugural Brickyard 400 at IMS in 1994 and later won the event in 1998 briefly came out of retirement to compete in the IMSA-sanctioned Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by the Cayman Islands race. It was the first time the championship-winning combination had teamed together since 1999, the year after they won their third Cup Series season title.
Gordon joined an entry list of more than 30 Porsche specialists driving Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course. Fittingly, Gordon drove the No. 24 entry.
“Ray and I have always talked about running another race together, and we felt like Indy was the perfect place,” Gordon said of the second-annual Porsche Sports Car Together Fest. “It (was) a fun way to spend the holiday weekend and make some new memories.”
Gordon won 93 Cup Series races in his decorated career and is a record five-time Brickyard 400 winner at IMS. He also holds the Cup Series record for most road course victories (nine). In 2017, he won the Rolex 24 At Daytona to become one of only four drivers to have won both the Daytona 500 and the Daytona 24-hour race.
In 2003, Gordon got his first taste of the IMS road course in a famous seat swap with Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya. But until this year, Gordon had never competed on the circuit. Now he has.
Parker Thompson and Riley Dickinson drove to overall victories in the two Porsche Carrera Cup North America races. Thompson, a former Road to Indy driver, won the first 40-minute race while Dickinson won the second. Gordon finished 15th and 11th in his debut in the world’s premier one-make series featuring 500-horsepower Porsches.
“I wanted to do some fun things, make some passes,” Gordon said of his race on the second day. “I made a pass on the white flag – that made my whole weekend.”