2019 Robby Gordon Headquarters
Robby Gordon is one of the greatest drivers ever, except in NASCAR
http://beyondthetrack.blogspot.com/2008/11/robby-gordon-is-one-of-g...
Despite his lack of success in the #7 car (above) in the Cup series, Robby Gordon has overall racing credentials that are hard to match in the Cup garage.
Those who only follow NASCAR probably don’t know this, but Robby Gordon is one of the greatest racecar drivers ever.
That #7 car you see getting lapped every week in the Cup series is being driven by a man with more racing accomplishments than almost all of his competitors, with the exception of Tony Stewart and perhaps a couple others.
A true racer who is truly dedicated to racing and winning, and always hates to give up a spot (just ask any Cup star who has tried to lap him lately), Gordon hurried off to race off-road in the Baja 1000 immediately after the Homestead race ended last week. If he could race every weekend, he would. It’s what he does and he does it very well.
Robby, usually known in NASCAR circles as the “other Gordon,” is the only Gordon most people in the worldwide racing community usually mention when compiling a list of great overall driver talents. For those of you who already think I’m crazy because of Robby’s lack of success in Cup, here are some career stats for you that might change your mind:
-- 6 SCORE International (off-road) championships
-- 3 Baja 1000 wins
-- 3 Dakar Rally stage wins
-- 4 class wins in the 24 Hours of Daytona
-- 3 class wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring
-- 3 Sprint Cup wins
-- 1 Daytona Twin-125 win
-- 1 Nationwide win
-- 2 CART wins
No one can look at this list and say that Robby is anything but an ace in front of the steering wheel. He’s won in almost every area of motorsport all over the world. But you’ll notice a theme among his accomplishments … they usually involve right turns.
Since making his debut in NASCAR’s top series at the 1991 Daytona 500, Gordon has been in and out of the sport a few times, driving for many different teams (including filling in at Robert Yates Racing immediately after the death of Davey Allison). His most successful period came in the early part of the 2000s, when he drive for Richard Childress Racing and earned three victories.
One was the Thanksgiving week race in New Hampshire which had been postponed after the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, and came after he bumped the other Gordon, who was still NASCAR's dominant driver at the time, out of the way to win. The other two came on more familiar territory, road courses, but Gordon seemed to have found a home at Childress and be on the road to stability at the Cup level.
But like any truly great racer, Robby is thickheaded and has certainly pissed off more than a few people in his career. Many feel he races overaggressively on the track, and one of his wins came after he raced then-teammate Kevin Harvick a little harder than teammates usually race these days. It’s safe to say the two of them weren’t exactly pals after that incident. Gordon has had run-ins with other drivers, too, including Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle, and was once parked for a Cup race after refusing to take a black flag thrown by NASCAR during a Nationwide race because he disagreed with the ruling.
In short, Robby is a hothead. That, my friends, is much of the reason he will never be as successful in NASCAR as his talent should take him. Being his boss is a chore, and that’s part of the reason he never stuck with one team for too long. From what I can tell, he's probably the only person he'll let tell him what to do.
Though I’m sure part of him wants to be a team owner, he also has to do that because he’s not a model employee and most teams don‘t want to take him on. Top teams like Hendrick, Roush and Gibbs don’t want someone like Robby around, because he’d likely upset their well-maintained apple cart.
In his current situation, owning his own team, Robby will never have any great success at the Cup level. It’s close to impossible in this new era of the superteam, a hard lesson Tony Stewart will learn in the 2009 season when he kicks off his first year as an owner/driver.
But I’d love to see Robby get a shot for one year in a truly great ride and see what he could do.
As far as pure racing talent, I’ll put him up against anyone in that garage -- including Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards -- and it would be interesting to see what he could do in equipment equal to what they drive.
Despite his lack of success in the #7 car (above) in the Cup series, Robby Gordon has overall racing credentials that are hard to match in the Cup garage.
Those who only follow NASCAR probably don’t know this, but Robby Gordon is one of the greatest racecar drivers ever.
That #7 car you see getting lapped every week in the Cup series is being driven by a man with more racing accomplishments than almost all of his competitors, with the exception of Tony Stewart and perhaps a couple others.
A true racer who is truly dedicated to racing and winning, and always hates to give up a spot (just ask any Cup star who has tried to lap him lately), Gordon hurried off to race off-road in the Baja 1000 immediately after the Homestead race ended last week. If he could race every weekend, he would. It’s what he does and he does it very well.
Robby, usually known in NASCAR circles as the “other Gordon,” is the only Gordon most people in the worldwide racing community usually mention when compiling a list of great overall driver talents. For those of you who already think I’m crazy because of Robby’s lack of success in Cup, here are some career stats for you that might change your mind:
-- 6 SCORE International (off-road) championships
-- 3 Baja 1000 wins
-- 3 Dakar Rally stage wins
-- 4 class wins in the 24 Hours of Daytona
-- 3 class wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring
-- 3 Sprint Cup wins
-- 1 Daytona Twin-125 win
-- 1 Nationwide win
-- 2 CART wins
No one can look at this list and say that Robby is anything but an ace in front of the steering wheel. He’s won in almost every area of motorsport all over the world. But you’ll notice a theme among his accomplishments … they usually involve right turns.
Since making his debut in NASCAR’s top series at the 1991 Daytona 500, Gordon has been in and out of the sport a few times, driving for many different teams (including filling in at Robert Yates Racing immediately after the death of Davey Allison). His most successful period came in the early part of the 2000s, when he drive for Richard Childress Racing and earned three victories.
One was the Thanksgiving week race in New Hampshire which had been postponed after the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, and came after he bumped the other Gordon, who was still NASCAR's dominant driver at the time, out of the way to win. The other two came on more familiar territory, road courses, but Gordon seemed to have found a home at Childress and be on the road to stability at the Cup level.
But like any truly great racer, Robby is thickheaded and has certainly pissed off more than a few people in his career. Many feel he races overaggressively on the track, and one of his wins came after he raced then-teammate Kevin Harvick a little harder than teammates usually race these days. It’s safe to say the two of them weren’t exactly pals after that incident. Gordon has had run-ins with other drivers, too, including Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle, and was once parked for a Cup race after refusing to take a black flag thrown by NASCAR during a Nationwide race because he disagreed with the ruling.
In short, Robby is a hothead. That, my friends, is much of the reason he will never be as successful in NASCAR as his talent should take him. Being his boss is a chore, and that’s part of the reason he never stuck with one team for too long. From what I can tell, he's probably the only person he'll let tell him what to do.
Though I’m sure part of him wants to be a team owner, he also has to do that because he’s not a model employee and most teams don‘t want to take him on. Top teams like Hendrick, Roush and Gibbs don’t want someone like Robby around, because he’d likely upset their well-maintained apple cart.
In his current situation, owning his own team, Robby will never have any great success at the Cup level. It’s close to impossible in this new era of the superteam, a hard lesson Tony Stewart will learn in the 2009 season when he kicks off his first year as an owner/driver.
But I’d love to see Robby get a shot for one year in a truly great ride and see what he could do.
As far as pure racing talent, I’ll put him up against anyone in that garage -- including Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards -- and it would be interesting to see what he could do in equipment equal to what they drive.
Views: 110
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Kevin Sweeney on
-
Interesting to say the least. Thanks for the article
-
Permalink Reply by Pathfinder7 on
-
Yup it's true, it's all true, but there was ONE owner who was able to channel Robby's energy and aggressivness and that was Richard Childress.
-
Permalink Reply by brian campbell on
-
that's why i am a Robby fan.and hopefully he will have success in nascar.
-
Permalink Reply by Racingwench on
-
Yes all is true.
All of the things that are listed are why I have picked Robby as my driver.
I like that he can sling a car/truck whatever around the most challenging tracks or courses
I adore that he is not the cookie cutter personality that most of the current NASCAR drivers are.
I love that he shows his emotions and will ask the question asked with what he thinks and doesn't have to wait 2 minutes for the inner filter to kick in.
I love that his sponsors know him for what he is and still stick by him.
-
Permalink Reply by Jaci on
-
I would much rather watch Robby than any of the other Stepford Drivers that are currently in NASCAR. He reminds me of the AJ Foyts and Cale Yarboroughs, a lot more than JJ does. What would we do if the rebel no longer had a cause in NASCAR?
-
Permalink Reply by Turtle7 on
-
When Robby was at Childress, RCR was behind the curve on their cars and motors. Robby ran respectabily but RCR's energy was focused on the 29 car and I think that Robby knew it and it was part of his decision to try owner / driver again.
-
Permalink Reply by James Lepich on
-
This article is 100% true.
-
Permalink Reply by jaeway on
-
this so called blog is true, but when asked what he could do with decent eqquiptment just look at the 2006 mich. bush race in the 88 navy car. thats wha he would do in good equiptment
-
Permalink Reply by racerx5091 on
-
One of the nice things about Robby racing in Nascar is that we get to watch him race on national TV each and every week. Unfortunately, he's a single car team up against teams with up to 5 cars. You just can't compete with that. I'd like to see Nascar take steps to allow single car teams to become competative, although I don't know what steps those would be.
But, I agree, it's great to see someone who has a genuine personality, not like those cardboard cutout superheros Nascar likes to promote, who must take a big swig of coke before they can thank the rest of their sponsors.
If his Nascar team doesn't do much better next year, I think he should consider moving back to the rejuvinated IRL series. I'd like to see him get more TV time and battle for victory. Imagine Robby against Paul Tracy. Now that's a race.
-
Permalink Reply by RGordonNo#1 on
-
The moderm day Maverick in Nascar!!!!
-
Permalink Reply by TOG on
-
At least we get to see RG each week in Nascar, and thats good enough for me.
Latest Activity
Save The Planet!
© 2024 Created by TOG.
Powered by
