In all of world motor racing there surely is not anything else quite like the Goodwood Revival meeting. It is a historic race event with a three-day race card for a variety of period Formula 1, sports car and touring car machinery. And in perhaps its most notable feature of all, participants and spectators alike are encouraged to dress up in period costume to ensure a complete sense of stepping back in time. It may therefore not be the most likely place to find four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, but he nevertheless will make his Revival debut at this year’s running of the event, which takes place on September 13 to 15.
Gordon will drive demonstration laps though it has not yet been confirmed what he will be driving. Gordon now is a NASCAR commentator having retired from top-level NASCAR racing in 2016. He is generally regarded as one of the best NASCAR drivers of all time, having won 93 Cup races including the famous Daytona 500 on three occasions. This year’s Revival will also be the first time he’s taken part in an event on British soil. This follows on too from there being a demonstration of NASCAR stock cars at the recent Goodwood Members’ Meeting.
Gordon will be joined at the event by the popular racer Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya boasts success on both sides of the Atlantic: he won seven Formula 1 grands prix with Williams and McLaren as well as has twice won the Indianapolis 500, won the Daytona 24 Hours sports car race three times and took the 1999 Champ Car title. It won’t be the first time Gordon and Montoya have crossed paths either as Gordon traded places with Montoya in 2003 to do an impressive run in Montoya’s F1 Williams. American drivers have long been a popular addition at the Goodwood Revival with the likes of Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan and Dan Gurney taking part. Montoya has previously attended Goodwood’s Festival of Speed but has never before raced at the Revival.
This summer’s Festival of Speed, taking place on July 4 to 7, will also have a strong American representation. Seven-time NASCAR champion and winner of 200 races at the premier level ‘King Richard’ Petty will be there, paired up with one of his iconic number 43 racing cars from the golden era of 200mph-plus stock car racing. He’ll be joined by two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr, who’ll get behind the wheel of his father’s 1978 ‘Triple Crown’-winning Lola Indycar.
Bobby Labonte, the winner of NASCAR’s Winston Cup in 2000, will also be present. They’ll be joined by a few famous names from elsewhere, but who won plenty in American racing, including three-time Indy 500 winner and four-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti, double Formula 1 world champion and Indy 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi as well as twice Champ Car champion and 2003 Indy 500 winner and now McLaren F1 team boss Gil de Ferran. Limited tickets for the Festival of Speed remain.
Images courtesy of Goodwood, Octane Photography, Chevrolet and Historic Motor Sports Association
