Jeff Gordon to bring maroon to Texas Motor Speedway

Three hours before a maroon-painted race car with a Texas A&M logo was scheduled to pull up, a crowd of about 30 was already waiting outside Rudder Tower on Thursday afternoon.

An hour later the crowd grew to about 100.

The crowd reached at least 300. More would come.

You’d think Johnny Manziel was driving up in his Mercedes, freshly-painted with a No. 2 decal on the door, a Heisman Trophy hood ornament and perhaps some brand new sparkling rims — you know, the kind you might sell autographs to get.

Instead, they were there to see NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon.

As far as Aggie adulation goes, Manziel — at least for one afternoon — had finally met his match.

Actually, they’d met more than a year before.

“I actually was in New York last year for the Heisman Awards,” Gordon said at a press conference on Thursday. “I won the Heisman Humanitarian Award and got to meet Johnny Manziel. I’m certainly familiar with him. So, I’m certainly familiar with his talents. That brought, obviously, a lot more attention to the teams and sports that are happening here.”

A&M is getting a lot of attention these days and will get a lot more on Sunday when Gordon pilots his custom-painted Maroon No. 24 car in the Duck Commander 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway. The car will feature the Texas A&M Engineering Logo.

That was largely arranged by Texas A&M alum Charles W. Shaver, the Chairman and CEO of Axalta Coating Systems. He’s hosting 20 A&M engineering students at the race.

“I give a lot of credit to Axulta and Texas A&M for pulling this together,” Gordon said. “That’s not easy thing to do in such a short period of time. To know this is happening at Texas Motor Speedway is very exciting. Obviously, it wouldn’t mean as much if we were racing somewhere outside of Texas. It still would be cool, but it would not be as impactful.”

Think about the potential impact and visibility that would create. Dozens of sponsors pay big bucks to have their logos placed on race cars. A&M will be there among STP, JVC and DQ. To have A&M’s logo on the car of one of NASCAR’s most legendary drivers is a big-time bonus.

Gordon said other universities have had their logos on race cars, though he couldn’t name any specifically.

Yet, one could envision seeing a Carolina blue UNC logo adorning the hood of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 car.

Other college and universities may want to follow A&M’s lead. Gordon hinted another Texas university was interested in painting his car a different color.

Orange you wondering what university that might be?

Hey, it’s good advertising.

NASCAR’s television ratings are second only to the NFL among professional sports franchises. Also, its largest audience is in Southeastern states like North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

States that Texas A&M football and basketball coaches would love to recruit.

NASCAR race days inspire the same passion and intensity among its devoted fans as college game days. It’s very comparable.

Well, it is for those who have experienced both.

For Gordon, there was never much comparison.

“I’m from California originally,” he said. “I lived in Indiana. I went to high school in Indiana. I raced in Bloomington as a kid racing sprint cars and went by the IU campus often. I would say there were a few years there when IU was in the NCAA Tournament when I was supportive, but the only team out there I’m extremely loyal to is the San Francisco 49ers.

“Other than that I’ve been racing every single weekend of my life. I just never could latch onto any other sport like the Texas A&M fans that are out there.”

That’s OK. A&M fans will latch on and become Gordon fans.

A four-time Sprint Cup Champion, three-time Daytona 500 winner and the driver with the most NASCAR victories since 1972 racing a car with the Texas A&M logo  … it couldn’t get better than that.

Well, not unless it had a JFF logo, too.