Athletes - Robby Gordon

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	Athletes - Robby Gordon

Robby Gordon (born in Bellflower, California, on January 2, 1969) is an American racing driver, who currently competes in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series although he has also raced in the NASCAR Busch and Craftsman Truck series, Champ Car, the IRL, Trans-Am, IMSA, IROC and Paris-Dakar. Robby is regarded as one of the best road course drivers in NASCAR.

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. During his time in open-wheel, Gordon earned a reputation as a tough and sometimes overly aggressive racer.

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 a few 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.

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/drivers left. Robby’s primary sponsor was Jim Beam Whiskey, 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 he's a nice guy, but he's not, 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 poeple 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.

Gordon has continued off-road racing throughout his career in Champ Car and NASCAR. 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.

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Athletes - Robby Gordon

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