Best young driver is Gordon, but Jeff and Robby both claim it

The best young race driver in America is named Gordon -- but is it Jeff or Robby?

Both youngsters, who are unrelated, will be moving up to stock cars this year: Jeff from midgets and sprint cars, Robby from sports cars and
off-road trucks.

Both displayed rare talent on the high banks in showcase stock car debuts last year. In their first times driving a 3,500-pound, 200-mph stock car, Jeff Gordon qualified on the front row
in a Busch Grand National race at Rockingham, N.C., and Robby Gordon
won the pole in an Automobile Racing Club of America race at Atlanta.

Both Gordons will be in Fords this year. Jeff, 19, will drive in the Busch Grand National series; and Robby, 22, will drive in the Winston Cup. Mike Kranefuss, director of Ford's worldwide racing program,
couldn't be happier.

"It is very exciting once in a while to come across a driver like Robby, who seems to have not only a tremendous talent, but also the knack of knowing instinctively what to do and how
to do it," Kranefuss said after watching Robby. "For a young man who
had never as much as sat in a Winston Cup car a week earlier, to win
the pole against these veteran ARCA drivers is remarkable."

Had he been at Rockingham, Kranefuss certainly would have said the same thing about Jeff. The younger Gordon qualified ahead of such veterans
as Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Mark Martin
and Davey Allison for the AC-Delco 200.

Jeff Gordon will take over the Grand National ride Martin had last year in the Hugh Connerty-Bill Davis Thunderbird. His first race will be the Goody's 300
on Feb. 16 at Daytona.

Robby will drive a Thunderbird for Harry Ranier and Junie Donlavey in the Daytona 500 and as many other Winston Cup races as he can schedule between his main commitments as the driver
of Jack Roush's Mustang in the International Motor Sports Association's
Camel GTO series. Gordon won five GTO races last year and finished
second to teammate Dorsey Schroeder in the series points race.

Both Gordons will make important starts on the weekend of Feb. 2-3 before heading for Daytona. Jeff will drive a Silver Crown dirt car in the
Copper World at Phoenix International Raceway, and Robby will drive a
Trans-Am Mustang in the 24-hour race at Daytona Beach, Fla., with Mark
Martin.

"I want to race every weekend," Robby said. "If I'm not in a stock car or a sports car race, I'll be driving off-road. Some weekends I'll try and do both.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-01-13/sports/1991013116_1_rob...