Tina Gordon

Infobox NASCAR driver


Name = Tina Gordon
Birthdate = birth date and age|1969|3|14 | Birthplace = flagicon|AlabamaCedar Bluff, Alabama
Best_Busch_Position = 51st - 2004
Busch_Top_Tens = 1
First_Busch_Race = 2001 South Carolina 200 (Darlington)
Last_Busch_Race = 2004 Bi-Lo 200 (Darlington)
Years_In_Busch = 3
Total_Busch_Races = 14

Tina Gordon (born March 14, 1969 in Cedar Bluff, Alabama, United States) is a NASCAR driver and spokesperson for the Sticks 'N' Stuff furniture chain. After being released from her ride at Jay Robinson Racing, Gordon has not raced and her future plans are unknown.

Gordon currently lives in her hometown of Cedar Bluff with her husband and son. In early 2008, she announced her candidacy for the Cherokee County Commission post for District 3. [http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpid=726&show=archivedetails&ArchiveID=1351027&om=1 "Tina Gordon is Candidate for Commission," "Cherokee County Herald", March 31, 2008] ] In the Democratic primary held on June 3, 2008, Gordon narrowly missed a runoff, running against a longtime incumbent and an influential local businessman. [ [http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?show=localnews&pnpID=726&NewsID=907003&CategoryID=3451&on=1 "Runoffs to be Set for Commission Seats," "Cherokee County Herald", June 3, 2008] ]

Gordon and her husband have founded Tina's Dream Ranch, which is a therapeutic camp for disabled children and adults

Busch Series

Gordon made her Busch Series debut in September 2001 at Darlington Raceway. She drove a 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 Superspeedway. Starting 38th, Tina was able to avoid a massive pileup on lap 4. From there, Tina drove home to a 10th-place finish, completing all but one lap.

In 2004, Gordon made another start at Talladega, this time driving the #10 Sticks N Stuff Chevy for Davis Motorsports. After starting 42nd, Gordon stayed in the race and finished 28th. For the rest of 2004, with sponsorship from Vassarette and Microtel, Gordon secured the #39 Jay Robinson ride for the second half of 2004. Her first start for JRR was at Daytona International Speedway, where she finished 32nd. Gordon made 10 of her next 11 attempts before failing to qualify in five of her last six, which led to her release. Her best run with the team was a 26th at Pikes Peak and her best start was a 30th at Darlington.

Gordon has not raced in the series since.

Craftsman Truck Series

Gordon entered 2003 with the intent to run for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year. She ran for the #31 Brevak Racing team with limited sponsorship from Scotch and Microtel. However, the team did not qualify for all its races and Gordon only completed 11 races 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. Despite limited racing, Gordon finished 25th in points.

In 2004, Gordon transferred over to the #13 ThorSport Motorsports Chevy, with sponsorship from Microtel and Vassarette. However, the deal quickly headed south and she only was able to run 5 races. The best run was 24th at Daytona in the season opener. In the next race at Atlanta, Gordon's Chevy was involved with a heavy wreck with Rick Crawford, leading to minor injures to Gordon. However, she was able to race in the next race at Martinsville. Gordon was able to set a career best starting position in 2004 of 13th at Charlotte and Daytona.

Gordon has not raced since.

ARCA RE/MAX Series

Gordon debuted in ARCA on October 20, 2001 at the Food World 300 held at the Talladega Superspeedway driving the #22 Sticks 'N' Stuff Furniture Ford. She qualified 5th and finished 10th just behind later NASCAR Nextel Cup regular Casey Mears.

In 2002 Gordon competed in four ARCA races, two driving the #66 Sticks 'N' Stuff Ford (finishing 26th and 12th respectively at Daytona International Speedway and then back at Talladega) and two driving the #66 3M Post-it Note Ford (finishing 8th and 35th respectively at Atlanta and Lowe's Motor Speedways).

Without having any knowledge of Gordon's future plans, it must still be noted a return by her to competing in the ARCA RE/MAX Series must be considered highly unlikely, as drivers who have moved up to any of the NASCAR series rarely come back to ARCA racing.

Sticks 'N' Stuff involvement

Despite no longer driving the Sticks 'N' Stuff-sponsored race car, Gordon continues to appear in the chain's television commercials announcing current specials. In earlier ads, she was captioned as "NASCAR Driver" and "Sticks 'N' Stuff Driver". In the most recent television ads for "Sticks 'N' Stuff", debuted in the summer of 2008, Ms. Gordon has been shown wearing a tank-top, rather than traditional racing attire.

= Notes =

External links

* [http://www.racing-reference.com/driver?id=gordoti01 Gordon's Career Stats]

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaimSG9y4C8 Tina Gordon in Sticks'N'Stuffs Commercial]