TC Daily Pit Stop: Legendary Spotter Bob Jeffrey Passes Away; Inaugural Brickyard 400 Defined Rick Mast's Career, Launched Jeff Gordon into Superstardom; Friday's TV Schedule
TC Daily Pit Stop: Friday, July 19, 2024
Legendary NASCAR, IndyCar Spotter Bob Jeffrey Passes Away
The legendary Bob Jeffrey, who was a NASCAR Cup Series champion spotter for Dale Jarrett in 1999, Tony Stewart in 2011, as well as an IndyCar champion with Josef Newgarden and a champion in IMSA, passed away on Thursday. Fellow spotters, who were lifelong friends of Jeffrey shared their remembrance of one of the greatest to ever wear a headset and stare through a set of binoculars.
Prior to moving into a full-time role as a spotter, Jeffrey had served as a mechanic for Ed Whitaker’s race team and then later was a tire changer for the Henderson Motorsports team in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in the 1980s. Jeffrey was admittedly not a very fast tire changer, and when spotting became a viable career path, he took the plunge.
What resulted was one of the most accomplished careers of any spotter in the sport’s history.
READ MORE
Inaugural Brickyard 400 Defined the Career of Rick Mast, Launched Jeff Gordon into Superstardom
It all started with an exploratory two-day Goodyear tire test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1992. By 1994, NASCAR was racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the inaugural Brickyard 400 race provided a career-defining moment for Rick Mast, who secured the pole over Dale Earnhardt, who desperately wanted to be the first driver to achieve — literally anything — at the track in a stock car.
After Earnhardt scrubbed the wall on Lap 1 of the race, attempting to pass Mast to lead Lap 1, 21-year-old Jeff Gordon emerged as the dominant driver. Gordon took the lead for the first time on Lap 3, and he would hold the lead for a race-high 93 laps.
Gordon would win in a hard-fought duel with Ernie Irvan, where the two drivers would swap the lead four times in the last 21 laps. Gordon, looking back on it now, says the win at Indy launched his stardom in NASCAR.
READ MORE
NASCAR (And ARCA) TV Schedule: Friday, July 19, 2024
1:00 PM ET - NASCAR Xfinity Practice (No TV / NBC Sports App)
2:30 PM ET - NASCAR Cup Practice (No TV / NBC Sports App)
3:30 PM ET - NASCAR Truck Practice (FS1 / FOX Sports App)
4:05 PM ET - NASCAR Truck Qualifying (FS1 / FOX Sports App)
5:30 PM ET - ARCA Race (FS1 / FOX Sports App)
8:30 PM ET - NASCAR Truck Race (FS1 / FOX Sports App)