by Darrell Waltrip

Comment

Jeff Gordon has no idea the impact this little girl is going to have on his life. I certainly didn't have any idea the kind of impact my girls were going to have on my life. And it's all positive. It's all good.

As a matter of fact in 1987 — my first year driving for Rick Hendrick in the Tide car — my only win was the fall Martinsville race.

You may ask, "What's that got to do with having a baby?"

Well, Jessica Leigh Waltrip was born on Thursday, Sept. 17. That weekend, I went to Martinsville and won the race. It was unbelieveable.

My wife Stevie and I had trouble conceiving, suffering through two or three miscarriages. Approaching 40 years of age, we were getting worried that we weren't going to have children on our own. We considered adopting. When Jessica came, it was a huge blessing. We were so grateful and so thankful. During the pregnancy, folks, Stevie was fine, but I was the one having morning sickness. It was hard on Stevie, but it was equally as hard on me. I was waking up in the middle of the night, craving bologna sandwiches with pickles and mustard.

I was just a nervous wreck, and it was affecting my racing. Things weren't going all that great with the race car, and I was calling home every hour, seeing how she was doing. We were having ultrasounds, and we were seeing Jessica being formed. We saw her little heart beat. We saw her hands. It was just an incredible experience, one that I wouldn't trade for the world. As soon as Jessica was born, what a relief! She was a beautiful, healthy blonde-headed little kid.

Stevie had to have a special procedure to make sure that the baby was OK, and she was on bed rest. Being a first-time dad was so special, and I was so excited. I didn't want to leave her, but I had to go to Martinsville. My wife had never missed a race. She would always travel with me so I went to the racetrack by myself, something that I had never done before. That was something different.

On Sunday morning, I checked on something in my car, and in the seat was a little vase with one rose in it and a little note that read, "Win this one for me, daddy." I hadn't won a race all year long, and I wasn't running well that day. But the Lord was with me, and he answered Jessica's prayers and my prayers because I came from a lap down to pass Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt in the third turn on the last lap to win the race. Jessica was a gift from God, and that win certainly was.

You might say, "Well, that's just conincidence. So what?"

Well, five years later, we were having a fairly decent year, and things were going pretty well. It was my own team, and I had already won a couple of races. I was really feeling good about where we were going with the team. Stevie got pregnant again with our second child. Like anything else, you're a basket case for the first child, but we were old hands for the second one and knew what to do. Stevie couldn't travel so I had to go to the track by myself. My second daughter, Sarah, was born on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 1992, and I went to Bristol that weekend.

It was one of those magical nights. The track had just been concreted so it was the first race since it had been changed from asphalt. The car was unbelieveably fast. We took the lead with about 100 to go, and we drove off, left Dale Earnhardt, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin and the whole crowd behind and won that race.

DW gives Jeff Gordon a car for his new baby at Dover (FOX Sports / AllWaltrip.com)

We had struggled coming up with a name for Sarah. Stevie wanted to call her Sarah Kaitlyn Kearns Waltrip. Kearns was her father's middle name, and she wanted to incorporate it into Sarah's name so she ended up with four names. Bristol's hard, and it kind of wears you out anyway. In victory circle that night, I had never been more pumped. The TV camera was on, and I looked into it and said, "Honey, I won the race for the baby. You know, Sarah... (And I had to stop and think...) Kaitlyn.... (And I had to stop and think some more...) Kearns... Waltrip. We had only named her on Friday, and the race was Saturday night so I was having a hard time remembering her whole name. It was a special night.

Again, you can say, "Big deal, DW."

But other drivers have had babies and gone out and won the race that weekend. And I know why. The woman does all the work, and you're just there to support her and comfort her. But it's hard on the guy, too. You worry about your wife and your kid. You want them to be healthy. It's a huge emotional distraction.

Ask DW
AskDW Subject: Comment/Question: Name:  Email:  Hometown:

When the baby comes, and everything is fine, you're just so relieved that you just want to celebrate. So you do. You celebrate with a big old victory to commemorate the birth of your first child — or in some cases — your second or third. But it's particularly true of the first one.

Ella Sofia is going to carry Jeff straight into victory lane this weekend. His life will never be the same — not because he wins at Sonoma this weekend — but because, for the first time in his life, he's not just a champion or a husband, he's a dad. Buddy, there's no more motivation in the world than seeing your baby girl look up at you with those big old eyes and call you dad. It melts your heart.

Oh, by the way

There has been conversation about Nextel changing the name of the series next year to Sprint. I don't like the sound of "Sprint Cup." There are too many other "sprints" in racing like sprint cars. But if you had "Sprint to the Cup" or "Sprint to the Chase," those two would work. You've got to have a little something to go with "Sprint Cup," and "Sprint to the Cup" sounds good to me.