Yesterday, Carol Bickford (Jeff Gordon’s Mother) co-hosted “Dialed In” with Claire B Lang on XM Satellite Radio, live from Darlington, South Carolina in celebration of Mother’s Day.  Below are quotes from Carol and from one of their guests, Martha Earnhardt (Dale Jr.’s grandmother). An edited version of this show will air Sunday at 1pm Eastern on XM Sports Nation, XM 144.

 

Carol Bickford Broke the News that She is Working on a Cookbook with Martha Earnhardt:

“Martha is such a great lady.  I’ve known her for a number of years, but doing this [cookbook] project that we are doing together has really been very special for me.  Just getting to know her a little bit better has just been great and we have just done nothing but laugh.  It’s just been wonderful.”

 

Carol Bickford on chasing Jeff Gordon with wooden spoon:

“I think he was 5, maybe 6 years old. He’d done something that had made me angry and I got the wooden spoon out. He always knew that if you opened that drawer the wooden spoon was coming out and he was in trouble.  He ran from me and I was chasing him around the house and I took a little swing and hit the wall and left a spoon mark in the wall.  And we started laughin’ so hard, even my daughter Kimberly was there at the time and we all started laughin’ so hard we were just rollin on the floor.  So I completely forgot what I was mad about.”

 

Martha Earnhardt’s reaction to Dale Jr. getting wrecked last weekend at Richmond:

“You don’t want to know what I was doing.  I was irate.  I told my minister on Sunday.  I told him ‘I almost lost my religion last night’”

 

Martha Earnhardt on not going to the track anymore:

“I haven’t been back since Dale got killed.  I think my age and just the hassle of getting there and back and the crowds kinda get on my nerves more than they used to.  That’s part of it.  Of course losing my child on the racetrack just sorta done something to me.”

 

Martha Earnhardt on Dale Jr. Racing:

“I would’ve said no. I don’t think he needs to (be a race car driver), but he’s really proven to be a really good racecar driver.  I’m really proud of him and everything he’s accomplished. When Dale (Sr.) decided to put him in the Busch car, I told Dale, Sr. that he’s not ready to get in that car yet, he doesn’t have enough experience. But Dale Jr. proved me wrong, but in my eyes I didn’t think he was ready.”