CONCORD, N.C. – The Hendrick Motorsports campus is peppered with teammates who have worked alongside Jeff Gordon and the No. 24 team over the years.
Former No. 24 pit crew members alone aren’t hard to find.
There’s Michael Landis, now a team manager in the Nos. 48 and 88 race shop. There’s Andy Papathanassiou, now the organization’s human performance director. There’s Chad Knaus, now a six-time champion crew chief for the No. 48 team.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
“There are a few of us here sprinkled throughout the complex that were on Jeff’s pit crew at one time or another,” Landis said.
Landis’ office is across the hall from Knaus’ desk, and both men acknowledged that from time to time they reminisce about the moments they shared as part of Gordon’s team.
“There have been a lot of people that have touched that 24 car and Jeff has touched a lot of lives in a lot of different ways – from maybe he has just given somebody trophies and opportunities to win races, maybe he had befriended other people, maybe his foundation has helped with different people,” Knaus said. “He has been a pillar in this sport for so long it is almost going to be tough to realize that when we show up for the Daytona 500 next year he is not going to be there.”
Landis came to Hendrick Motorsports in 1992, and said that ever since he has “enjoyed many great years of success as a small part of a bigger picture.”
From competing on the No. 24 pit crew to serving as Gordon’s spotter to now working as a team manager, he has watched the driver’s career from many different angles.
“Jeff Gordon didn’t need a lot of guidance,” he recalled of his time as the driver’s spotter. “When you have a driver and a crew chief and a team that runs up front and your driver is choosing what lane he wants to be in and creating the side-by-side scenarios, it makes it a lot easier.
“In fact, my first race spotting, we won.”
Knaus, meanwhile, came to Hendrick Motorsports in the spring of 1993, Gordon’s rookie season. He started out working in the body shop and eventually transitioned to the No. 24 pit crew.
He recalled the 1994 season fondly, when Gordon won both the Charlotte 600 and the Brickyard 400 – the first two wins of his career. The following year, the No. 24 team won its first championship.
“It was neat to see Jeff learn and grow and become the great driver that he is,” Knaus said. “He was already older, by today’s standards, you would say. Although he was a kid, he was 21 years old when he started in Cup and now we have guys starting when they are 18. But at that point in time he was the young guy, and to watch his grow from a young man to a man and win a championship and go through the learning curves of life was pretty awesome.”
Both Landis and Knaus maintained that working with Gordon in those early years was rewarding, and believe that the experiences played a large part in their future careers within the sport.
Knaus said that Gordon has “been a block in my foundation for quite some time.”
It has made it all the more surreal that this weekend will mark the driver’s final time behind the wheel of the No. 24 Chevrolet SS.
“I don’t think it’s hit me yet that Sunday is his last race,” Landis said. “But I also don’t know of a driver that’s ever gotten to retire and go out as the champion. So that would be pretty cool.”
Knaus’ focus on Sunday at Homestead will be on the No. 48 team, but acknowledged “it is going to be crazy” knowing Gordon is making his final laps.
“Jeff’s birthday is Aug. 4, mine is Aug. 5, we were both born in 1971, he gets to retire and I have to keep working – I don’t know how that works!” he joked. “But it is awesome for him. I am very proud of him and I am glad that he is doing what it is that he is doing because he deserves it. He is a true gentleman, he is a great guy, a great friend and I love him dearly.”