Gordon reaches wins mark with Intimidator's help

	Though fierce competitors on the track, Dale Earnhardt forged a surprisingly strong friendship with Jeff Gordon in the garage. George Tiedemann/SI

Jeff Gordon's post-victory lap tribute to the late Dale Earnhardt was a perfect example that, even in NASCAR, opposites attract.

After his win in Phoenix Saturday night, which tied him for sixth-place on the all-time NASCAR winner's list with Earnhardt, Gordon stopped in his pits to pick up a No. "3" flag to honor the "Intimidator" as he acknowledged the crowd in the grandstands.

He was concerned that he would alienate Earnhardt fans.

"I was afraid, you know, some people might think we were trying to get the Earnhardt fans or think that we're, you know, saying 'we're as good as him," Gordon said. "And that wasn't the case. You know, we just wanted to honor him."

Gordon didn't have to worry. Dale Jr. leaned in the driver's side window of the No. 24 car and told Gordon he was a "class act."

The late Earnhardt, himself, was a class act, but he showed it in different ways, as Gordon would recall. Growing up as the son of Ralph Earnhardt, Dale Sr. knew all about tough love. It was a lesson in the difficulties in earning respect from your elders, a notion the Intimidator passed on to Gordon.

When Gordon burst onto the NASCAR scene he was the golden boy, even though he was kind of scrawny and sported some facial hair above his lip that was hard to describe as a moustache. Take a look at some early Earnhardt pictures and you might find a similar look.

That didn't buy Gordon much goodwill early, as Earnhardt greeted his arrival by calling him "that kid." When the young Gordon started winning races, amassing points and becoming a real threat on the track Earnhardt dubbed him "Wonder Boy."

Back then rookies didn't get good equipment and it appeared to the veterans that everything was being handed to the kid on a silver platter, instead of making him take a long, slow, climb up the ladder. Worse still, Gordon beat the regulars at their own game, and he did it cleanly.

Common sense would dictate that Earnhardt was envious of Gordon's fast start, and jealous of the new "quiche eating and wine drinking," fans that that the young driver was attracting to the sport.

But eventually Earnhardt's jealousy grew into respect as Earnhardt gave Gordon the full Intimidator treatment and the kid continued to beat him. No longer was Gordon "Wonder Boy," as an unspoken friendship of very different people blossomed.