Robby Gordon

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Robby Gordon

Born:	January 2, 1969 (age 38)
Birthplace:	Bellflower, California
Awards:	—
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Statistics
2006 NEXTEL Cup Position:	30th
Best Cup Position:	16th - 2003 (Winston Cup)
First Race:	1991 Daytona 500 (Daytona)
First Win:	2001 New Hampshire 300 (New Hampshire)
Last Win:	2003 Sirius at The Glen (Watkins Glen)
Wins	Top Tens	Poles
3	32	1
All stats current as of February 24, 2007.

Robby Gordon (born in Bellflower, California, on January 2, 1969) is an American racing driver who currently competes in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, owning his #7 Ford Fusion, sponsored by Jim Beam, and also owning his #55 Verizon Wireless/Motorola ride which competes part-time in the Busch Series, although he has also raced in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Champ Car, the IRL, Trans-Am, IMSA, IROC and Dakar Rally. Gordon is regarded as one of the best road course drivers in NASCAR. Despite sharing the same last name as fellow NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, the two are not related.

[edit] Off-road racing

Robby, the son of off-road legend "Baja Bob" Gordon, started out competing in off road racing. He won 5 consecutive SCORE International off-road class championships from 1986-1990 and a sixth championship in 1996. Gordon also won two championships in the Mickey Thompson stadium series and in three Baja 1000’s in 1987 1989 and 2006.

Gordon has continued off-road racing throughout his career in Champ Car and NASCAR. As of 2006, he currently fields a team in SCORE, where he is a part time driver. In 2005 Gordon took part in the famous 16 day Dakar Rally, driving for the Red Bull sponsored Volkswagen team. He became the first American in the history of the rally to win a stage in the car division. He won two stages in total and a 12th place division finish. Gordon also won the 2005 Baja 500 covering the 419-mile course in 9 hours, 10 minutes, 32 seconds. In 2006, Gordon took part in the Dakar Rally in a Hummer H3. Team Dakar USA did well until stage 9, when a damaged radiator caused late arrival at Atar, Mauritania, and subsequent disqualification. Gordon and co-driver Andy McMillin won the trophy truck class in the 2006 Baja 1000, finishing second overall in the race. After that, Gordon competed in his third Dakar Rally in 2007, driving the Monster Energy Hummer H3 for Team Dakar USA. He finished in the 8th position, his best finish in this race.

[edit] IMSA

In 1990, Gordon began racing sports cars. He won races in both Trans-Am and IMSA, where he had four consecutive class wins in the 24 Hours of Daytona from 1990-1994, and three consecutive 12 Hours of Sebring class wins.

[edit] Open Wheel

Gordon’s first start in the CART IndyCar series (now Champ Car) came in 1992. His first full season and Indy 500 start would come in 1993. He raced for Derrick Walker from 1994–96, for whom he captured his two career wins. For 1998 and 1999, Gordon fielded his own team in the series with little success. Gordon raced 10 times in the Indy 500 from 1993 to 2004 fielding his own team in 1999, 2000 and 2004. He, along with John Andretti and Tony Stewart, are the only three drivers to race in the Coca-Cola 600 and Indy 500 in the same day. In 1999, Gordon came within one lap of winning. He inherited the lead by virtue of not stopping for a final pit stop and tried to conserve enough fuel to last until the end of the race. He ran out on lap 199 (of 200) and had to give up the lead to Sweden's Kenny Brack.

During his time in open-wheel, Gordon earned a reputation as a tough and sometimes overly aggressive racer. According to Gordon, his decision to leave open wheel was based largely on safety concerns.^[1]

[edit] Indy 500 results

• Gordon made a comment about female Indy Car racer Danica Patrick, saying her light weight gave her an advantage. The interview was later corrected and shown that the comment was taken out of context. his comment was referring to the Indy Racing League sanctioning body which weighs cars separately from the drivers. All other major racing series make smaller drivers add weight to equalize the field.

[edit] NASCAR

[edit] Cup racing

Robby Gordon signing autographs at his souvenir trailer, a very common sight during most NASCAR Nextel Cup Weekends

Although Gordon had several NASCAR Cup starts beginning with the 1991 Daytona 500, his first full time ride came in 1997 with Team SABCO. However, in 22 starts with SABCO, his only top-ten finish was a 4th at Watkins Glen. He returned to NASCAR full time in 2000, attempting to run his own team. Again, the results were disappointing; he failed to qualify for several races and finished with only 2 top-tens in 17 starts.

Gordon started the 2001 season for driving for Morgan McClure, but was released after only five races. In a one-off for Ultra Motorsports, Gordon almost won at Sears Point. He was leading near the end of the race when he ran into trouble attempting to lap Kevin Harvick, thereby allowing Tony Stewart to slip past and take the win. However, he would not have to wait long for his first win. Later in the same season, he joined Richard Childress Racing, and won at New Hampshire after a controversial incident resulting in the race leader, Jeff Gordon spinning after contact in the closing stages of the race. (Jeff, who thought Robby had spun him and had been running second at the time, rammed him during the caution flag and got a black flag, clinching the win for the other Gordon.)

Robby Gordon spinning during the 1997 Jiffy Lube 300 at New Hampshire.

Gordon continued to race for Richard Childress through the 2004 season, staying in the headlines through many controversial incidents. In 2003, he earned his first road course win at Sears Point, after a controversial but legal pass under caution of his then teammate, Kevin Harvick. Gordon took his third career win later in the year at Watkins Glen.

The #7 car in 2006 at Sears Point.

For 2005, Gordon moved his Busch Series team up to the Nextel Cup, and was the only owner/driver left. Robby’s primary sponsor was Jim Beam Bourbon; his crew chief was Greg Erwin. Fruit of the Loom had the temporary privilege of playing primary sponsor for 9 races in the 2005 season. Menards was also the primary sponsor in some select races, as well as Harrah's. Gordon again struggled as an owner/driver, finishing with only two-top tens in 29 starts and failing to qualify for several races. He also remained a controversial figure; in the Sylvania 300, he was involved in a wreck with Michael Waltrip, the driver of the #15 NAPA Chevrolet. The angered Gordon got out of his totaled car and threw his helmet at the #15 car as it was passing by. When TNT interviewed him about the crash, he stated "People think Michael is a good guy, but he's not a good guy. The caution came out and he wrecked me; he's just a piece of shit." TNT apologized for his language, and Gordon apologized after the race, but Gordon was fined $50,000 and docked 50 drivers points. When asked by some people for the helmet, Gordon decided to auction it for the benefit of the Harrah's Employee Relief Fund, a fund that provides aid to Harrah's employees displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The helmet fetched $51,100, and was purchased by GoldenPalace.com.

In 2006, Gordon's team used engines from Dale Earnhardt, Inc., and showed considerable improvement over the previous year's performance over the first few races. He dominated the first quarter of the first Atlanta race in the season, and performed well at Sonoma and Watkins Glen, qualifying and finishing in the top 10 in both races. Gordon will switch his team to racing the Ford Fusion in 2007.

Most recently, he drew controversy during the 2006 Bass Pro Shops 500 by allegedly throwing roll bar padding onto the track at Atlanta Motor Speedway, drawing a caution flag that had a significant impact for the end of the race, especially drivers in pit road, most notably Nextel Cup contender Jeff Burton who wound up finishing 13th. NASCAR reacted by docking Gordon 50 points (each in the Driver and Car Owner categories) and a $15,000 fine. Gordon has denied he intentionally threw the debris. [1]

For the 2007 season, Robby Gordon switched to the Ford Fusion and engines from Roush-Yates.

[edit] Cup wins

• New Hampshire 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway on November 23, 2001
• Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on June 22, 2003
• Sirius at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 10, 2003

In all three of these triumphs, Gordon was the driver of the #31 Chevrolet Monte Carlo owned by Richard Childress.

[edit] Busch Series

In 2004 Gordon started his own Busch Series team, driving in 25 races and earning one win.

He participated in several Busch races in 2006, including a few for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Busch team (JR Motorsports) after Earnhardt fired Mark McFarland, his original driver. The most notable highlight of his season was a second place finish at Watkins Glen on August 12. Driving his own #7 Chevy, Gordon went door-to-door with Kurt Busch, driver of the #39 car for Penske South Racing, for the final few laps. Gordon gained ground in the chicane, almost catching Busch. The two cars went wildly into the grass and dirt, almost wrecking each other. Gordon was able to save his car, as Busch went down the final straightaway to win the race.

[edit] Busch Series Wins

• Emerson Radio 250 at Richmond International Raceway on September 10, 2004

[edit] Trivia

• Gordon made a cameo in the Burger King "Chicken Sticks" television commercial, appearing in a crash scene where he was driving in relief for Davey Allison at Talladega Superspeedway.

[edit] Significant Victories

• 3 time Baja 1000 winner
• 3 Dakar Rally stage victories
• 2 CART wins
• 3 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series wins
• 1 NASCAR Busch Series win
• 1996 SCORE season champion

[edit] Fan Sites

• Robby Gordon's personal and RGM team site-
• Robby Gordon Rocks
• The Flash Zone

[edit] References

1. ^ USA Today