What happened to Jeff Gordon's iconic T-Rex car? All you need to know

Hendrick Motorsports and Jeff Gordon came up with the perfect combination of their 1997 #24 Chevrolet as the car earned its name from the huge Jurrasic Park sponsor on its hood. As Ray Evernham famously put it, the car entered the track once, dominated, and won.

The car was unique and fast. So fast that NASCAR allegedly had to put in a new rule in its book to declare it illegal after just one race. It all started when Rick Hendrick gathered the entire team for a short meeting and asked them to come up with the best ideas to create their car. The team worked on it and came up with the #24 that was piloted by Gordon.

The car was nothing special at first, as Gordon's then-crew chief Ray Evernham mentioned. They ran a few laps, and the car never really got up to pace. However, after making a few modifications, the car showed excellent aerodynamic advancements. Evernham stated that they made a few setup changes, which were doubtful at first, but Gordon then went a whole second faster around Charlotte.

"I said, ‘Put a pair of 1400’s in that thing. Give me the biggest sway bar you got.’ Which is like an inch and 3/8ths. ‘And jam a pair of 450’s in the back of that thing.’ Everybody’s looking at me like, ‘Don’t get him hurt. He’s going to hit the wall with that setup,'" Racing News quoted him as saying in August 2020.

"I told Jeff, ‘Be careful for a lap or two because I have no idea what this thing’s going to do.’ He goes by, I click my stop watch. It was a second faster."

The team put the car down to race at the NASCAR All-Star Race in Charlotte. Jeff Gordon was able to ease off and bring the car to victory, claiming the $1,000,000 prize.

Although the car passed inspection prior to the race, it was banned by NASCAR later. Some modifications were made that were allegedly just to declare Hendrick Motorsports's #24 illegal. Prior to these changes in the rulebook, there was no aspect of the car that was illegal. It was aerodynamically advanced and extracted the maximum performance out of the Chevy. Pairing it with Jeff Gordon's excellent driving, it naturally dominated.

It is speculated that NASCAR wanted to keep fair competition between the rivals and Hendrick Motorsports had advanced too much with the car. Moreover, it was also theorized that the team might have exploited some gray areas in the rulebook.

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"It won’t be tomorrow": Bill France's chilling statement about Jeff Gordon's #24's legality in 1997

Ray Evernham recalled that after the race, he was called in by Bill France Jr. The latter was the NASCAR President at the time, a role that he served between 1972 and 2000. He was the son of NASCAR's founder, Bill France Sr.

At first, Evernham thought that France had called him to talk about the race over a drink after Jeff Gordon won. However, it was to deliver surprising news.

"What I miss most about the sport is my conversations with Bill France. I thought Bill was just going to offer me a beer and we were going to sit and talk about the race."

"I go in the hauler."

Bill France: "You need to pick up that phone right there. Call your boss and tell him that car’s illegal."

Naturally, Evernham was shocked. The team had worked hard on the car and Jeff Gordon brought it to victory, and it could have served as a prospect for the future of the sport. But it was declared illegal. When Evernham mentioned that it passed the inspection and it was legal, Bill France said:

"It won’t be tomorrow."

Evernham mentioned that NASCAR rewrote multiple rules, making sure that the advancements the team made with the car were declared illegal.

"They rewrote a ton of rules. We tried to fix the car with the new rules. But, it never really ran the same. By that time, everybody caught up to us anyway."

Despite the major setback, Jeff Gordon managed to put 10 victories in his bag that year, clinching his second championship.