Building on the legacy created by Dale Earnhardt and Bill Elliott, someone who played a very crucial role in popularizing stock car racing in America was Jeff Gordon. The Californian dominated the sport in the 1990s and 2000s, becoming the hero of many with his driving style and love for publicity. With 93 Cup Series wins and 4 championships, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest in American motorsports. But he wasn’t always quite the popular guy outside the race track.

In an interesting revelation during the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame speech, former racer Kenny Wallace spoke about the time Gordon met Leonardo DiCaprio and surprisingly, wasn’t recognized by the star.

Kenny Wallace narrates the incident where Gordon met Leonardo DiCaprio

Jeff Gordon’s expertise behind the wheel of a high-performance machine has earned him the respect of being the third-most successful driver by wins in the history of NASCAR. After announcing his retirement from full-time racing, he began working as a commentator and analyst for NASCAR on Fox. Currently, he serves as the Vice Chairman of the most influential racing team in NASCAR—Hendrick Motorsports. Unfortunately, he didn’t always have these accolades that would have helped him catch the eye of Leonardo DiCaprio.

Talking about the time Jeff Gordon got to encounter the movie star, Kenny disclosed how the former racer had walked up to him and introduced himself. Quoting Gordon‘s narration of the incident to him, Kenny said, “Jeff Gordon, shakes Leonardo’s hands and says ‘My name is Jeff Gordon.’ Leonardo takes those sunglasses down on his nose. Looks at Jeff Gordon and says, ‘I don’t know who you is. But if you here, you must be somebody.'”

Being one of the biggest stars in a country where NASCAR is one of the most popular sports, it is quite surprising that DiCaprio wasn’t aware of one of the sport’s biggest legends. As written by Joe Garner, the author of Jeff Gordon: His Dream, Drive & Destiny, the incident that Kenny Wallace had talked about happened at Vanity Fair’s Oscar party in 1997. Also written in the book is an extended version of this story where Jeff Gordon wasn’t a stranger to another superstar for whom no mission is impossible.

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A star-struck Jeff Gordon cozies up to Tom Cruise and talks “racing” with the superstar

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Landing an invite to the starry skies of the 1997 post-Academy Awards party, courtesy of Rick Hendrick, Jeff and his wife tried meeting with Tom Cruise, who’d been nominated for an Oscar for his role in the blockbuster film, Jerry Maguire. Just as the couple were about to leave after the star’s security denied them the chance to have a chat with him, Tom Cruise called out Jeff’s name and spent more than a few minutes talking about racing with him. Recalling the incident, Jeff said, “He sits us down in his booth and says, ‘Oh my God, this is awesome. It’s such a pleasure to meet you.’ He introduces us to Nicole [Kidman]. He couldn’t have been nicer.”

It was on his way out of the party that he met a 22-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio who couldn’t get an idea of who he was. As quoted in the book, Jeff said, “He had these purple sunglasses on, two glasses of champagne. I said, ‘Leonardo, I know you’re probably not a NASCAR fan, but I’m a NASCAR driver and I love your work, and congrats on everything.’ I’ll never forget; he looks at me and goes, ‘Ah, man, I don’t follow NASCAR, but if you’re in here, you must be somebody.”

Perhaps, Jeff Gordon’s love for Hollywood stemmed from this party. The racer had gone on to be a part of advertisements, music, video games, TV shows, feature films and whatnot. Quite notably, he provided the voice for a character, Jeff Gorvette, in the infamous “Cars” movie series. As said by Pixar, the character was inspired by the driver himself. With multiple cameos in other Hollywood flicks, he has also appeared on television, famously hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 2003.

Currently in his 2nd year as the Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, he continues to make appearances on shows like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Let’s hope the Mr H’s right-hand man doesn’t need an introduction to Leonardo DiCaprio anymore.

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