Gordon on Millionaire: Winston Cup driver #24-Jeff Gordon, former NBA player Charles Barkley, boxer Laila Ali and tennis player Serena Williams are among the athletes competing in a sports edition of ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” airing Sept. 10. The quiz show will move to Mondays as a lead-in to “Monday Night Football,” while a regular edition will air Thursdays.(AP/That’s Racin’)(7-24-2001) UPDATE: Jeff Gordon took his turn in the “hot seat” on a sports celebrity version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” on Wednesday for shows to be aired in September on ABC. Gordon spent Tuesday and Wednesday taping the show in New York with host Regis Philbin and a group of sports figures that included Charles Barkley, Martina Navratilova, Johnny Bench and John Elway. Gordon barely missed winning a couple of “fastest finger” questions on the first day before making his way to the chair opposite Philbin on the second day of taping. Like the rest of the celebrities playing the game, Gordon’s winnings will go to charity. To find out how Gordon fared in the “hot seat,” race fans will have to wait until the shows air beginning on Sept. 10.(That’s Racin’) AND Jeff Gordon tried to blame the loss of prize money on David Poole, a sportswriter from the Charlotte Observer, but the truth is — and this is Gordon’s final answer — it was ultimately his own fault. The three-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion was a celebrity contestant this week on ABC’s Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. The episode airs Sept. 10. Without yielding more information than ABC officials would like, here’s what happened: Gordon was going for $125,000 when he became stumped on a pop music question. Down to just his phone-a-friend lifeline, Gordon thought Poole would provide him with help identifying Billy Joel. Poole though, could not come up with the singer’s name. “And I’ve probably got 12 of his albums,” he told Gordon Thursday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Gordon was holding a charity event. “If it had just been you and me sitting around the house, I could have told you (the right answer). Don’t tell me that,” Gordon said. “I guess that means you’re going to be nice to me in the newspaper for a very long time.” Gordon chose Poole over his other designated “friends” — his mother-in-law, Karen Parks, who regularly completes The New York Times crossword puzzle; stepfather John Bickford, a buff of science, history and geography; Hendrick Motorsports engineer Gary Eaker; and ESPN announcer Kenny Mayne, who is the host of the network’s sports trivia show, The 2-Minute Drill. “I’ll bet Kenny knew the answer,” said Gordon, who added that Poole sounded overwhelmed when he heard Regis Philbin’s voice on the telephone. Said Poole: “I told (Gordon) not to call me on music.” Bickford, who sat by his telephone Tuesday waiting to hear from the show, found the whole process amusing. “Who would have thought I’d go from helping Jeff race at Indianapolis Raceway Park (in the 1980s) to being his call-a-friend option on Millionaire,” he said. Gordon’s TV winnings went to The Jeff Gordon Foundation, a nonprofit entity that supports sick and needy children. The former Pittsboro, Ind., resident announced Thursday that his foundation, which he formed in 1999 with his wife, Brooke, was joining forces with the Riley Hospital for Children. Riley officials received a check from $100,000 from the Gordon Foundation Thursday. “This is only the beginning,” Gordon said.(Indianpolis Star)(8-3-2001)
