Jeff Gordon: "I don't get to be a dad as much as I really want"

NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon is always on the go. The 36-year-old is on the road the majority of the year and feels like he sometimes misses out on being a dad to daughter Ella Sofia, 8 months. That is why he is looking forward to having the week off for Easter and spending time with his daughter and wife Ingrid Vandebosch.

I’m just excited to have a week of just being with Ingrid and Ella as a family. The thing is, I don’t really get to be a dad as much as I really want to when I’m testing and racing. Even though they might travel with me and I get to see them, it’s just for short periods of time. So I feel like I miss a lot of things.

When Jeff is home from the road and work, he loves just hanging out with his daughter and witnessing everything that is going on in her world.

Those moments when I’m there solid, every single day, my favorite days are when I go, ‘Ingrid, you go and just let us hang out.’ Those are the coolest moments because I love seeing how [Ella] acts and reacts, especially now that she’s doing so many new things. She’s trying to walk, she’s trying to talk, just all these things. I know they are going to take a long time before they actually happen, but just seeing the effort in there, it’s just really, really cool. I don’t want to miss any of it.

Source: Sports Illustrated