Advertisement

A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here.

Share

What: “One in a Million: Jeff Gordon’s

1997 Championship Season” (ESPN Video)

Price: $14.99, at retail outlets.

In this, its 50th anniversary season, NASCAR is flooding the market with videos portraying its history and its personalities.

For fans who consider Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon one in a million, this 60-minute review of his remarkable year is a must. But it’s not for those who think Gordon is too young, too successful, too handsome, too rich, etc.

The 1997 season was indeed, one in a million for the 26-year-old Californian, who won 10 races, the Daytona 500, the Winston Million and his second championship. Gordon comments on each race, recalling his thoughts and emotions, telling what it took to win, or what brought on defeat.

Advertisement

Many race fans, who don’t know that Brooke Shields is married to tennis star Andre Agassi, think that Gordon’s wife, Brooke, is really Shields. The video tells us that as Brooke Sealy, she was Miss Winston in 1993.

Also revealing was that Gordon, Dale Jarrett and Mark Martin--who figured in the closest three-driver finish in NASCAR history--met the night before the final race at Atlanta for a private prayer session.

The intense work of crew chief Ray Evernham, who has been with Gordon from the start, and the Rainbow Warriors crew is well documented.

Advertisement