2019 Robby Gordon Headquarters
How good would Robby Gordon be if he gave up off-road racing?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/tim_tuttle/01/07/robb...
Robby Gordon celebrated his 40th birthday last Friday in Argentina, where he was overseeing final preparations for Team Dakar USA in the Dakar Rally. An owner-driver just as he is in Sprint Cup, Gordon has put together an impressive effort to win the marathon of endurance races, transplanted this year to South America from Africa because of security concerns.
Gordon has entered three vehicles for the 6,000-mile rally, which began Saturday in Buenos Aires and will run through the Andes to Chile and back to Buenos Aires. Gordon and teammate Eric Vigoroux are in Hummer H3s, running for the overall title in the car class. Tom Gevis is driving in the truck class, which runs behind the cars and has been entered to provide mechanical support for the Hummers. The ASO, the sanctioning body, requires any repairs on course to be made by an official entry. If the Hummers have problems, Gevis will arrive to get them going again.
There are also the support vehicles for Team USA Dakar: A Mercedes Benz 6 by 6 and two Hummer H1s. They'll be waiting to refresh and replenish the race vehicles at the end of each day's special stages, as the racing stretches are known, by Gordon's crew of 18.
Gordon has funded this massive effort through sponsorships, primarily from Hummer, Monster and Vanguard. He's left no stone unturned trying to reach the finish line on Jan. 17.
You can understand Gordon's desire to win the famous Dakar event. Rallying is the international form of off-road racing and off-road is Gordon's first love. He won the Baja 1,000 driving solo in a non-factory Ford truck from Ensenada to La Paz at age 18 in 1987. It brought offers from Ford, Toyota and Dodge. Gordon negotiated a deal with Ford that included an opportunity to go pavement racing and it led to victories with Roush Racing in IMSA's GTO class. By 1992, with Ford's support, Gordon was racing in CART's IndyCar Series and he had a solid career in CART that included two victories in 1995.
Gordon made the switch to NASCAR in 1997, driving for Felix Sabates in 20 races, and bounced back and forth between Sprint Cup and CART for the next several seasons. In 2001, he decided to stay full-time in Cup, signed with Richard Childress Racing and won the season-finale at New Hampshire. Gordon won twice more with Childress in 2003, remained with RCR through 2004 and started his own team in 2005.
Throughout all the team and series changes, Gordon has continued to race off-road, focusing on the Baja 1,000 and, for the past four years, Dakar. You have to admire his energy and enthusiasm for off-road, but has it been at the cost of a more successful Cup career? Probably, particularly considering his role as an owner-driver.
Gordon has tons of talent, evidenced by his victories in CART and Cup. How many other drivers have both on their resume? Tony Stewart is the only comparison; he has wins in IRL IndyCar and Cup. Stewart has raced Midgets and Sprint cars during his Cup career, and has teams in both, but, until this year, hasn't taken on the role of owner, too. Gordon has been driver and owner of his off-road teams on top of Cup ownership the past four years. The multi-tasking has been too much of a distraction for Gordon to reach his potential.
Gordon is coming off a difficult Cup season. He was 33rd in points, without a top-five for the first time since 2000. Gordon started 2008 with Ford and switched to Dodge in a deal for technical, manufacturing and marketing support from Gillett Evernham prior to the Daytona 500. The deal was supposed to include GEM buying Gordon's team and hiring him for the next four seasons, but it fell apart at midseason and Gordon had to switch to Penske engines.
Gordon changed to Toyota in December, his third manufacturer in a year. He has a 13-race deal for primary sponsorship from Jim Beam and backing from Menards for 2009 and says he's got enough money for the entire Cup season. But he undoubtedly could use more money to become more competitive. Shouldn't he be looking for it rather than racing in the Dakar?
There is also the technical transition to be considered. NASCAR has banned testing, but building new cars and putting them on the 7-post shaker rig would have been beneficial before hitting the track in Daytona.
Gordon is off to a solid start in the Dakar. He was ninth after Monday's third stage, with 11 stages remaining. It would be a great accomplishment for Gordon to win. Then, maybe, he can put it and off-road behind him and concentrate on his day job in Cup. At 40, he's still capable of strong and consistent performances if he puts his full energy toward it.
Robby Gordon celebrated his 40th birthday last Friday in Argentina, where he was overseeing final preparations for Team Dakar USA in the Dakar Rally. An owner-driver just as he is in Sprint Cup, Gordon has put together an impressive effort to win the marathon of endurance races, transplanted this year to South America from Africa because of security concerns.
Gordon has entered three vehicles for the 6,000-mile rally, which began Saturday in Buenos Aires and will run through the Andes to Chile and back to Buenos Aires. Gordon and teammate Eric Vigoroux are in Hummer H3s, running for the overall title in the car class. Tom Gevis is driving in the truck class, which runs behind the cars and has been entered to provide mechanical support for the Hummers. The ASO, the sanctioning body, requires any repairs on course to be made by an official entry. If the Hummers have problems, Gevis will arrive to get them going again.
There are also the support vehicles for Team USA Dakar: A Mercedes Benz 6 by 6 and two Hummer H1s. They'll be waiting to refresh and replenish the race vehicles at the end of each day's special stages, as the racing stretches are known, by Gordon's crew of 18.
Gordon has funded this massive effort through sponsorships, primarily from Hummer, Monster and Vanguard. He's left no stone unturned trying to reach the finish line on Jan. 17.
You can understand Gordon's desire to win the famous Dakar event. Rallying is the international form of off-road racing and off-road is Gordon's first love. He won the Baja 1,000 driving solo in a non-factory Ford truck from Ensenada to La Paz at age 18 in 1987. It brought offers from Ford, Toyota and Dodge. Gordon negotiated a deal with Ford that included an opportunity to go pavement racing and it led to victories with Roush Racing in IMSA's GTO class. By 1992, with Ford's support, Gordon was racing in CART's IndyCar Series and he had a solid career in CART that included two victories in 1995.
Gordon made the switch to NASCAR in 1997, driving for Felix Sabates in 20 races, and bounced back and forth between Sprint Cup and CART for the next several seasons. In 2001, he decided to stay full-time in Cup, signed with Richard Childress Racing and won the season-finale at New Hampshire. Gordon won twice more with Childress in 2003, remained with RCR through 2004 and started his own team in 2005.
Throughout all the team and series changes, Gordon has continued to race off-road, focusing on the Baja 1,000 and, for the past four years, Dakar. You have to admire his energy and enthusiasm for off-road, but has it been at the cost of a more successful Cup career? Probably, particularly considering his role as an owner-driver.
Gordon has tons of talent, evidenced by his victories in CART and Cup. How many other drivers have both on their resume? Tony Stewart is the only comparison; he has wins in IRL IndyCar and Cup. Stewart has raced Midgets and Sprint cars during his Cup career, and has teams in both, but, until this year, hasn't taken on the role of owner, too. Gordon has been driver and owner of his off-road teams on top of Cup ownership the past four years. The multi-tasking has been too much of a distraction for Gordon to reach his potential.
Gordon is coming off a difficult Cup season. He was 33rd in points, without a top-five for the first time since 2000. Gordon started 2008 with Ford and switched to Dodge in a deal for technical, manufacturing and marketing support from Gillett Evernham prior to the Daytona 500. The deal was supposed to include GEM buying Gordon's team and hiring him for the next four seasons, but it fell apart at midseason and Gordon had to switch to Penske engines.
Gordon changed to Toyota in December, his third manufacturer in a year. He has a 13-race deal for primary sponsorship from Jim Beam and backing from Menards for 2009 and says he's got enough money for the entire Cup season. But he undoubtedly could use more money to become more competitive. Shouldn't he be looking for it rather than racing in the Dakar?
There is also the technical transition to be considered. NASCAR has banned testing, but building new cars and putting them on the 7-post shaker rig would have been beneficial before hitting the track in Daytona.
Gordon is off to a solid start in the Dakar. He was ninth after Monday's third stage, with 11 stages remaining. It would be a great accomplishment for Gordon to win. Then, maybe, he can put it and off-road behind him and concentrate on his day job in Cup. At 40, he's still capable of strong and consistent performances if he puts his full energy toward it.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by laura_a_Robbyfan on
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This guy probably can't understand why Nascar races at road courses and thinks franchising is a great idea.
Robby racing everything helps define who and what Robby Gordon is. These forms of racing help bring all of us fans together as Robby fans.
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Permalink Reply by James Lepich on
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If Robby only raced cup he probably wouldnt be my favorite driver. I'm tired of all the oval only jackasses.
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Permalink Reply by zoomsss on
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These kind of articles irritate me, how the heck does this guy know what Robby has going on with his Cup cars for prep for '09 or sponsor dealings.... nada most probably!!! *rolleyes*
Fans love Robby, sponsors do too and I give props to Robby for sticking it out in Cup, especially when it can be a most miserable, stressful life style all on it's own. Drivers need that 'fun' away from all the stress, Robby has good outlets for that with something he really enjoys.
Maybe Robby can fit a sports car race or two into his schedule next year, Trans-Am is coming back in '09 starting with 5 races.
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Permalink Reply by Janet B on
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Yes, it's such a shame that Robby is the only person at RGM that can secure sponsors, build cars, run the 7-post shaker, & test the cars. (I suppose he has to clean the bathrooms, as well?)
Who IS this guy & who asked for his opinion, anyway? Pffft...
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Permalink Reply by GrayAntiMatter on
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Its funny that the author actually pays a compliment to RGs driving talent and gets dragged across the coals for it. No, RG and most RG fans wouldn't want to see a NACAR only version of RG. But that doesn't change that he has a valid point regarding the time spent managing all of these endevors combined with the responsiblity of fielding his own teams in the NASCAR series that he races, impacts his ability to be cometative in Cup. People can make excuses for it until they're blue in the face but there is no getting around it, no top fives last year in Cup, both Baja races were abysmal and the Hummer isn't setting the course on fire in South America.
Really what the guy is saying is that RG is viewed as a jack of all trades/master of none right now and that if he dedicated himself to one endevor he could change the master of none view. Again, you may not want to see a one sport RG, but there is a hint of truth to the idea and the commentary is written as compliment RGs driving ability.
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Permalink Reply by Beagle7 on
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HAHAHA GRAY I was about to post this SAME sentiment.
Hopefully no one has flamed him, he has written many complimentary Robby Nascar articles prior...he is a fan of our boy.
But your point exactly, Tuttle basically said talent wise Tony Stewart is Robby's only peer in the Nascar garage and if he were to focus solely on Cup, he'd kick major ass in it.
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Permalink Reply by kevin dinsmore on
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bro, i agree with your responses all the time and their funny as hell. Word number eight on the third line is a bit heavy. Gotta love it!
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Apparently it was..maybe it was the magic word.....
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Permalink Reply by Miffles on
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IF Robby just concentrated on NASCAR (personal attention and funding) there is no doubt that his shelves would have a Cup or two on it.
But lacking those, it doesn't take away from the fact that Robby is the top all around driver in multiple venues. Even Tony Stewart said so.
After his first stint at modified dirt tracking (winning his heat and coming in second to Stewart in the Feature), team owner Kasey Kahne said he would like to put Robby in one of his cars. The telling thing though, was Robby's post race interview. He was glowing!
Yes, you can take the man out of the desert but you can't take the desert out of the man. If he were to give up his off road racing and concentrate solely on NASCAR, he wouldn't be Robby Gordon any more. Not wholly, anyway. I don't claim to know Robby, have only spoken to him at fan signings at NASCAR races, but when I mention an incident (good ones) during Score, CORR or Dakar, his grin gets bigger. That really tells where his heart is.
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Permalink Reply by Terie (aka vassinvegas) on
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I agree. Last time I saw him in person he had just come in from the desert where he'd been testing. He was more relaxed and happy that I'd seen him at any other time. He beamed(no pun intended) when I asked him how it had been.I think he could give up NASCAR before offroad. People in the biz have told me he could support himself doing it if he went fulltime.
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Permalink Reply by brian campbell on
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very interesting take i think a lot of use feel this way but you cant keep a racer from racing.and dirt is his first love.
nascar is very hi profile and easy to follow.dirt racing is not as easy to follow.you cant turn on the tv and find anything on about any of the dirt racing.maybe some day it will catch on like nascar did.
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