Robby Gordon
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| Born | January 2, 1969 |
|---|---|
| Hometown | Bellflower, California |
| Awards | None |
| 2005 Sprint Cup position | 37th |
| Best cup position | 16th - 2003 (Winston Cup) |
| Statistics current as of May 1, 2006. | |
Robby Gordon (born in Bellflower, California, on January 2, 1969) is an American race car driver and team owner. He owns and drives the #7 Monster Energy Drink Ford Fusion in Sprint Cup for his team Robby Gordon Motorsports. Robby 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.
Robby, the son of off road legend Bob, 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 two Baja 1000’s in 1987 and 1989.
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.
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 1994-1996, for whom he captured his two career wins. For 1998 and 1999, Gordon fielded his own team in the series with little success. He had come within one lap of winning the 1999 Indy 500, when he ran out of fuel, thereby handing the win to Kenny Brack. During his time in open-wheel, Gordon earned a reputation as a tough and sometimes overly aggressive racer. According to Gordon, the decision to leave open wheel was based largely on safety concerns [1].
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 two 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.)
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.
In 2004 Gordon also started his own Busch series team, running 25 races himself and earning one win.
For 2005, Gordon moved his team up to Nextel Cup, and was the only owner/driver left. Robby’s primary sponsor was Jim Beam Bourbon, his crew chief is 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 driver Michael Waltrip the driver of the #15 NAPA Chevorlet. 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 USD 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. In Late 2006 Gordon announced he was switching manufacturers from a Chevy Monte Carlo to a Ford Fusion in 2007. On August 5,2007, NASCAR announced that they were going to suspend Robby Gordon from the Pennsylvania 500. During the Busch Series NAPA Auto Parts 200 , coming to the caution Marcos Ambrose(#59) acidentley spun Gordon around. During the caution lap Gordon purposley wrecked Ambrose. Nascar gave Gordon the black flag sending him to 12th, but Gordon defiantley stayed in front. At the end of the race Kevin Harvick did a victory burn out, Gordon defiantley did a victory burn out as well.
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[edit] 2007
Robby has continued to struggled, starting around 38-40 with a best finish of 17 at Las Vegas. After Las Vegas, Jim Bean dropped as primary sponsor, leaving Gordon was coming into Atlanta without a sponsor. He got a offer from Motorola as primary sponosor, but during inspection, Nascar said would not allow Motorola considering they are a competitor with Nextel. Gordon was forced used his own money to compete.
[edit] Teams
| Year | # | Sponsor | Make | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005- | 7 | Jim Beam/Menards Harrah's (2005-2006) | Ford Chevrolet (2005-2006) | Robby Gordon Motorsports |
| 2002-2004 | 31 | Cingular Wireless | Chevrolet | Richard Childress Racing |
| 2001 | 4 31 | Kodak Film Lowe's | Chevrolets | Morgan-McClure Motorsports Hendrick Motorsports |
| 2000 | 13 | Menards | Chevrolet | John Menard |
| 1997 | 40 | Coors Light | Chevrolet | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 1991-96 | Various |
[edit] NASCAR Sprint Cup Wins
Robby Gordon has three wins in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, two of which came on road courses. his wins came at
- 2001 New Hampshire 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway on November 23, 2001
- 2003 Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on June 22, 2003
- 2003 Sirius at the Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 10, 2003
In all three of these triumphs, he was the driver of the #31 Chevrolet Monte Carlo owned by Richard Childress.
[edit] NASCAR Busch Series Wins
In the NASCAR Busch Series Robby Gordon has one win.
