Robby Gordon finds a home

Sporting News, The, Jan 28, 2002 by Lee Spencer

Say what you want about Robby Gordon, but there is no denying this guy is a racer.

Two wheels, four wheels, huge wheels, small wheels--it doesn't matter. Gordon has raced them all from one continent to the next. But on this day, it's an 18-wheel toy that has him excited.

"You won't believe it until you see it," Gordon says. "I just brought this baby back from Texas, and it's the coolest."

He's right. No description does justice to the 45-foot long, 13.5-foot tall town house on wheels that will scream, "I've arrived," when it pulls into the drivers' motor coach lot in February at Daytona.

With this ultimate Winston Cup home on wheels--it even has a retractable air-conditioned observation deck on the second floor--Gordon is making the statement he finally has made it to Winston Cup, and he's not going anywhere soon.

Gordon, who won two CART races and raced on numerous other circuits, has worked too hard to get here. It has been a decade since his first foray into NASCAR, with Junie Donleavy in 1991 at Daytona. Gordon has had opportunities with Robert Yates, Felix Sabates and Larry McClure, but his Cup career has been nothing more than ordinary. His first win didn't come until last November at New Hampshire and wasn't without controversy. After Robby Gordon bumped Jeff Gordon (no relation) and took the lead, Jeff Gordon bumped him in retaliation under caution.

Robby Gordon has a reputation for being difficult to work with. He claims he is misunderstood.

"The problem is I'm really not a bad boy," Gordon says. "I'm just not afraid to be aggressive. I just want to race, and I want to have fun. If it wasn't fun, I wouldn't be doing it."

His desire to be the best and to race in top equipment has been mistaken for arrogance--just another CART carpetbagger trying to reinvent the wheel.

But last May, things changed. Richard Childress joined A.J. Foyt as co-owners of Gordon's Indy 500 ride, and in the weeks leading up it, Childress got to know Gordon. Bonding with Foyt and Childress, two former racers, on the hallowed Indy grounds "was the turning point in my career," says Gordon, 33.

"It was my seventh Indy 500, and I was in my element," says Gordon, who qualified on the front row for the race and finished 21st. "I had never so much as sat down with Richard before then, but we had a blast. He saw that I was committed to my racing program, and we hit it off. We both speak the language of racers."

And that's why Childress put Gordon in his No. 31 Winston Cup car.

"I saw how well he and A.J. worked together, the respect they had for each other and how good Robby was with the press, the sponsors and the fans," Childress says. "It was a totally different Robby Gordon than I had seen or how people had described him.

"Everyone knows he has great car control and the ability to win. He's a talented driver, and he has great feel for any car he climbs into."

Gil Martin joined the team as crew chief in November, and Gordon could tell the two were a good fit.

"You have to have someone who's equally as aggressive as you are to earn their respect," Gordon says. "Gil's a hard worker, and in a short time we've gained respect for each other."

Whether Gordon can get along teammates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Green is questionable.

Cal Wells, owner of Ricky Craven's Ford, raced for Gordon's father and has known Gordon since childhood. Wells says Gordon is "a good racecar driver" but thinks Gordon places himself in precarious situations. Wells doesn't expect Gordon to behave differently at Richard Childress Racing.

Considering that Harvick and Green dashed in the Busch Series, one has to wonder what could go on beneath the Childress roof.

"He and Kevin and Jeff, now that's really going to be interesting," Wells says.

Gordon doesn't foresee problems.

"I don't want to worry about racing against my teammates; I'm worried about all of the other 42 cars on the track," Gordon says. "We all have to remember that we race cars for a living. We tend to take ourselves a little too seriously."

Gordon also would like to add the Borg-Warner Trophy, which goes to the Indy 500 winner, to his collection. He is putting the finishing touches on a deal that would reunite him with IRL team owner John Menard for the 2002 Indy 500.

But May seems light years away with Daytona qualifying scheduled for the second weekend in February. Gordon must come out of the box strong, yet whether he succeeds will depend on his ability to develop patience--a trait he doesn't deem necessary on the track.

"I'm still doing things the same way I did before, but we've got a great deal here," Gordon says. "I've learned from some of my mistakes. I toughed it up and went with it. I think that's how I'm sitting in the seat right now.

"Winning at Loudon gave us a lot of momentum. This team has worked hard for five years trying to get to victory lane, and we were fortunate enough to get there. I think that helped us over the winter. It has built a lot of momentum just getting ready for Daytona."

Sort of like the way the town house on wheels has gotten him ready for the rigors of the racing life outside the car. And sort of like the way his team is preparing for the rigors he'll face in it.