TINA GORDON - 03/14/1969
(home - Cedar Bluff, Alabama)
Gordon competed in barrel racing, rodeos, and horse shows. Gordon began racing cars in her husband Gary's short track stock car in 1995-1996 at the Green Valley Speedway. She won all six events that she entered. They bought a hobby stock car and competed at Thunder Valley Speedway during 1997. In her rookie season, she finished tenth in points with 11 Top-10 finished in 18 races. She sold her insurance agency and began racing full-time in 1998, first at Green Valley, then at Birmingham International Raceway. She moved to the NASCAR All-Pro Series in 1999; she finished 20th in touring truck series' points. Gordon debuted in ARCA on October 20, 2001 Talladega, driving the #22 Sticks 'N' Stuff Furniture Ford. She qualified 5th and finished 10th, just behind future NASCAR journeyman Casey Mears. In 2002, Gordon competed in four ARCA races, two driving the Sticks 'N' Stuff Ford and two driving the 3M Post-it Note Ford. Driving the Sticks 'N' Stuff Ford she finished 26th at Daytona International Speedway and 12th later that year back at Talladega. In the 3M Post-it Note Ford she finished eighth at Atlanta and 35th at Charlotte. She
crashed out of the Charlotte event, and suffered leg and foot injuries causing her not to race or practice until later in the year. Gordon made her Busch Series debut in September 2001 at Darlington. She drove the locally based #96 Colby Furniture Chevrolet into the field with a 42nd starting position. However, without full sponsorship, the team decided to start and park, finishing last (43rd) after only competing one lap. Her next race was her best career outing. She drove the #22 Bost Motorsports Chevy in the 2003 race at Talladega. Starting 38th, Gordon was able to avoid a massive pileup on lap four. From there, she drove home to a 10th-place finish, completing all but one lap. In 2004, Gordon made another start at Talladega. After starting
ARCA Series 2002 Atlanta
Truck series 2004 Daytona
42nd, Gordon stayed in the race and finished 28th. For the rest of 2004, with sponsorship from Yahoo!, Vassarette and Microtel, Gordon secured the #39 Jay Robinson ride for 17 races. After failing to qualify in five of her last six races, she was released. Gordon entered 2003 with the intent to run for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year. However, the team did not qualify for all its races and Gordon only completed 11 before her sponsor ended her run. However, Gordon did well in those starts. She finished 13th at Charlotte and at Nashville and finished in the top-20 three other times. In 2004, Gordon transferred over to the #13 ThorSport Racing Chevy, with sponsorship from Microtel and Vassarette. However, the deal quickly ended
and she only was able to run five races. The best run was 24th at Daytona in the season opener. In the next race, at Atlanta, Gordon's Chevy was involved in a heavy wreck with Hank Parker Jr. and Rick Crawford, leading to minor injuries to Gordon. However, she was able to race in the next race at Martinsville. Gordon retired after the 2005 season to be able to spend more time with her family. Despite no longer driving the Sticks 'N' Stuff-sponsored race car, Gordon continued to appear in the chain's television commercials announcing current specials. Gordon and her husband have founded Tina's Dream Ranch, which is a therapeutic camp for disabled children and adults. Some info from Wikipedia
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