Dakar Rally opens diverse 2011 Robby Gordon schedule that includes Daytona 500 and Indy 500

From SCENEDAILY - Bob Pockrass

CHARLOTTE – Robby Gordon roams around his shop about three weeks before his 2011 season kicks off with the Dakar Rally, and he has a group of mechanics working on his Hummer for that event and a smaller group working on a Sprint Cup car for the Daytona 500.

The three Dakar support haulers, with millions of dollars worth of equipment, were ready a month earlier and left by boat for South America. The actual race vehicles needed to be finished in a week so they could be put on a hauler to Miami and then shipped as air freight to Argentina.

For a guy who finished 34th in the Sprint Cup standings in 2010 and has had his share of spats with sponsors in the last year, Gordon is surprisingly upbeat on what lies ahead for him and his 50 employees in 2011.

He most likely won’t run for any season-long championships. Instead, he will compete in Dakar, in the Daytona 500 and 16 other Cup races, the Indianapolis 500, other off-road competitions, and, when he’s not racing, will go to other motorsports events, such as the X-Games, and promote his new Speed Energy drink.

The 41-year-old Gordon (he turns 42 on Sunday) will race where he wants to, when he wants to.

“This [racing] is what we’ve all dreamed of doing,” Gordon said as he looked at the variety of vehicles in his shop. “They all have engines, wheels and tires. … I just want to race cars. That’s all I really want to do. I like to make a little money, but I really like to race cars. We’re doing a pretty decent job of it.”

Gordon hopes the energy drink market, which he just needs a small fraction of to support his racing endeavors, will fund his program. After a brief hiccup over the logo for his new drink, Gordon said he will be back in full production and distribution by Jan. 11.

Creating and distributing his own product might seem like a big headache, but for a guy who thought he had money in 2010 coming in from Monster (he settled with them out of court and then started his own drink), as well as from an association with BAM Racing (which owes him money but he has no settlement yet and BAM is suing him) and from Extenze (Gordon is suing them), owning a drink company all of a sudden seems simple by comparison.

Gordon figures if he can sell his drink at a lower price than Red Bull and Monster, combined with his popularity, the drink should bring in millions of dollars.

“We’ll generate exposure,” Gordon says before laughing, “good or bad.”

There’s nothing simple nor funny about what Gordon sets out to do, especially in the Dakar Rally as Gordon's two-car operation requires more than a dozen crewmen for the 22-day trip. The team must bring everything from two spare 540-cubic inch production engines (for parts, the block can’t be changed during the event), extra parts of everything that could be put on the cars to take care of at least two rebuilds and to nearly 400 pairs of socks for his crews (they often just give clothing away rather than keeping it with them).

The 2011 version of Dakar will begin with the ceremonial stage Saturday and then the racing begins Sunday in 13 stages over 14 days through Argentina and Chile.

Gordon is excited about a new system that he has to inflate and deflate his tires, meaning he will no longer need a hose that runs on the outside of the vehicle. Last year, he had 20 flat tires and he attributes about 15 of them to complications with the hose getting ripped off. It is important to be able to inflate and deflate the tires depending on the sand level.

If Gordon wins, he has a dream that he’d be able to market the car as a street vehicle – it is virtually street legal as is. Nearly all of the pieces of the cars, Gordon’s team has built itself for one of motorsports’ most grueling events.

Gordon’s one-car Cup operation also has mostly parts built in-house. Once he’s done Jan. 16 with the Dakar Rally, Gordon hopes to be back and ready for the NASCAR test Jan. 20-22 at Daytona International Speedway. After that test, he will go to the Winter X-Games to promote his drink.

Gordon already has 10 race cars pretty much ready for his 17-race Cup season. He believes he has some of the best equipment in the garage. He has CNC machines and a water jet machine to create parts.

“Our stuff, if you look at Jimmie Johnson’s stuff, we look as good as them or better,” Gordon said. “The reason we don’t run better is what’s between the front tires [in the engine compartment] and what we get. … We [also] don’t do a very good job at race craft, what we do on Sundays, what we do on Saturdays.”

A new manufacturer for 2011 – which one, Gordon wouldn’t say – should help and it wouldn’t take much money (about $6,000 per car) to make the conversion from Toyota to a new manufacturer.

In hopes of improving his race craft, Gordon now has Steve Lane, a former crew chief at Chip Ganassi Racing and Front Row Motorsports, as his crew chief.

“The biggest thing is Robby is here to race,” Lane said. “He’s here for the right reasons. The guy is here to work with you. … For a single-car operation, there’s way more than most have.”

The race schedule after Daytona will include Las Vegas, Kansas, Infineon, Daytona, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen, Bristol, Chicago, and Charlotte in the fall. He won’t do Charlotte in May so he can concentrate on the Indianapolis 500 (although he likely will attempt to make the all-star race a week earlier).

He hopes to get retailers on his cars that want to partner with him in selling Speed, much like Red Bull does as it often has a retailer on its rear bumper.

“The races that count [we’ll run],” Gordon said. “Attendance, exposure, races that we can win. … I believe in a championship, I believe in all that stuff but it consumes you. It doesn’t let you think outside [of that larger goal].

“We won a championship last year in off-road and still did the stock-car races. We’re going to do what makes sense for us.”

He said he is 90 percent sure he will do the Indianapolis 500 but will make the decision by March based on the sales of the Speed drink. He plans to build three cars for the Indianapolis 500, with the possibility of selling off one of the cars if he gets in comfortably on the first day.

To some, that might seem a big “if,” but for Gordon, it’s a new way of looking at trying to fund racing and continue what he’s built.

“It’s a big dream,” Gordon said. “But we’re moving some cans [of the drink]. That’s all I can say. We’re still in business. The shop is still open.”

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by 7gason7 on December 29, 2010 at 2:14pm
Permalink Reply by Mike Kenyon on December 29, 2010 at 2:16pm

@Raymond,every thing in your opening paragraph has all been discussed, thoughly.(mostly at the time of the event and sometimes just during live "chat".So stop in more often,maybe even go back a couple of pages in the threads,and just maybe most of your questions will have been answer'd.

Mike

Permalink Reply by 7gason7 on December 29, 2010 at 2:20pm
in the upper right corner there is a search box. I use it all the time to find old PR posts. When the board is active posts fall off to archives fairly quick. I have answered the Andy issue at least 3 times this week in different posts. Its out there if you go looking.
Permalink Reply by TOG on December 29, 2010 at 2:21pm

basically, Andy Grider & Robby Gordon details are between the two of them. Whats to report ? the only thing that matters is he isn't the navigator for RG anymore, Kellon walch is. Doesnt matter who,where,what,why....the show still goes on.

 

Speedfactory TV ? Was to promote the SPEED ENERGY logo before anybody knew about it..Call the TV episodes something extra.

 

The third hummer last year ? There was a TON of info on that AT THE TIME right here in the Team Chile group.  After stage 3 , there is nothing  more to report here on the matter.

 

as for the Logo issue, it was addressed when RG released his statement.

 

Also, there are many topics that just require a little research here & you will find your answers. I cant read everybodys mind . I try to operate this site on a yesterdays history & tomorrows a mystery mentality. No need to dwell on whats already happened, lets promote what HASNT happened & thats the 2011 Dakar Rally.

Permalink Reply by J.R. Sands on December 29, 2010 at 2:32pm
Thanks for posting this TOG.
Permalink Reply by Raymond Pankopf on December 29, 2010 at 2:45pm

sorry to ruffle feathers.....  i understand more now.

 

i actually found 7gason7's response re andy informative and it told me what i was looking for.  thank you very much 7gason7.

 

 

Permalink Reply by David Z on December 29, 2010 at 6:03pm

Even if your questions aren't anwsered, you will still get more information here on the team that any other team site I've seen.

The guys do a great job here.

Permalink Reply by Raymond Pankopf on December 29, 2010 at 7:22pm

in general, i do agree that this site does a great job.  i do tune in...

 

ibut,  guess i have a couple different expectations.

 

for example, during the logo issues, this site was silent.  specialized was treated like "they who shall not be named."  i had to go/dig elsewhere to find out what was happening (i.e.: jayski and others.)  tog's answer above referred me to the summary, conclusion statement from RG.  and that is fine, except that it misses my point.  during the incident it would have been nice to have a neutral, fact based, objective  note that let us know what the issue was, who was involved, etc. it ddn't need to take side, or go beyond the facts... just say there is an issue, this issue is this, and we'll let you know what we know when we can.

 

and, there was never any sort of note that said "speedfactory.tv" is just a temp logo marketing device.  from my perspective, it was an interesting and fascinating look behind the scenes that just sort of petered out without explanantion.  i guess i am saying there was no conclusion, and i (we) were left hanging.

 

i don't often have time to go through all of the threads (other than a day like today - i am snowed in here.) , so, some short news/summary items in which i could catch up would be of help to me.  all during the trials of this past summer and fall the main rgm website was also very spotty with long periods of inactivity.

 

as a quick example, several folks today - in various threads - are asking essentially: "where's andy?"  7gason7 has given short, reasonable replies that essentially explain he believes andy is looking for new challenges and has tried driving himself. that satisfied my curiosity - i don't need deep details.  tog's answer above is from the lion king: "doesn't matter, it is in the past."

 

i guess that's cool. 

 

my original comment here was that the news article that started this thread answered a lot of mild questions i had and a learned something.  i appreciated the posting of the arcticle.  that was sincere.  my further thought/wish/observation was that it would be nice if there were some similar way to easily, quickly and reliably pick up that sort of news summary by checking in to this site (without having to search through threads).

 

in no way am i saying that the guys don't do a great job here. they do. maybe too good as they have obviously whetted my appeitite.

 

 

Permalink Reply by TOG on December 29, 2010 at 7:51pm

sometimes with controversial topics , its best to take the high road. I have no regrets on how we handled the logo situation here, or anything else for that matter.

Enjoy the rally.

 

 

Permalink Reply by Miffles on December 31, 2010 at 8:09am

Just because someone is a public figure (such as Robby) does not mean that all of their business can be or should be made public.

In many cases, loose lips can sink ships (to borrow a WWII phrase) and cause irreparable harm to things in the works.

When the time is right, we get the news and the updates and are happy knowing that its the real deal and not just rumor or speculation.

 

Permalink Reply by Brad on December 31, 2010 at 2:32am
its a business and some info will never be available to the general public. racing is no different than anyother business. you get more info here than anyother race team in nascar or other series. lessons were learned from the past. be thankful TOG does the job he does. i see no other racer or team in any form of racing being progressive in how they go about keeping the doors open. RGM is forward thinking and on the cutting edge of producing funds to go racing. you either believe or you dont...  im an OC boy who ran in the circles with RG. RG is a different breed of racer. a throw back. a true racer and if you dont believe that your a complete idiot. he does it his way end of story.   
Permalink Reply by Dan Bryant on December 31, 2010 at 8:35am

This interview reinforces why I support and follow RG.  He is a man who enjoys racing and he is not afraid to try new things or put it all on the line.  Cheers - DB

 

 

 

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