And Now for Robby Gordon’s Next Trick
I will never understand Robby Gordon thinking. And I’ll repeat for possible cranial penetration, I’ll never understand Robby Gordon’s thinking. OR lack thereof for that matter.
According to Robby and ESPN, and via an appearance on NASCAR Now, he plans on doing the double in May if his current appeal process is turned down.
His thought process goes thusly: If his team loses the appeal, and is unable to rebound into Chase contention by May, he will attempt to run the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in the same day.
My thought process, at times convoluted admittedly, goes this way.
Failing the appeal there is good reason based on past performance he may be also be in jeopardy of falling out of the top 35 come May (assuming he makes it in).
By competing in both the 500 and Charlotte he runs the risk of not only effecting this year but next if 2008 ends with RGM sitting out of the top 35 in the owners standings.
Gordon’s record at doing the double while respectable aren’t anything spectacular. In 2002 he completed his “double-duty” chores finishing 8th in the 500 and and 16th in the 600. In 2003 he finished 22nd at Indy and 17th in Charlotte. In 2004 he turned the 500 ride over to a relief driver due to rain and scampered back to Charlotte finishing 20th.
The best anyone has accomplished is Tony Stewart’s effort in 2001 when he finished sixth at Indy and third at Lowe’s.
And Robby is no Tony Stewart.
Gordon believes he has a good chance the Commission will overturn the original ruling. I remain doubtful. If so no harm no foul. If not it may signal the start of yet another boneheaded decision process on Robby’s part.
NASCAR, RGM, Sports, Sprint Cup, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle, Robby Gordon
If there ever was a throwback driver in NASCAR it is Robby Gordon. His grit and determination for running his car his way is nothing less than old school NASCAR driving.
The media, both traditional and non, should embrace his independence rather than find any and all reason to deride him for his lack of conformity.
MD
Marietta, I hate to burst your bubble but the media hardly spent any time deriding Robby in the last two weeks, if anything they have bent over backwards getting his sob story in print.
As far as running his car “his way’ that concept went out the window by selling out to GEM didn’t it?
Robbie? Doing it his way? I seem to remember that’s what put the kiss of death on his open wheel career.
Unlike Paul Tracy who entertains, Robby is just a annoying presence. If he were pensioned off tomorrow I doubt he would be missed. Perhaps he should just stick to Dakar & Baja type events.
Are there not going to be any penalties for the infractions found on several cars in the opening tech inspection at Las Vegas, including the #48? If not, then perhaps NASCAR has already given in to Robby, because he will be able to use that as precedence in his appeal.
RevJim’s last blog post..Warming up in Vegas
Marc, you’re 6 hour bet is up. Pony up, Crusty.
One thing I keep seeing overlooked with all these rivers running, is Jim Beam. They are so supportive, so on and so forth.
You know, if they were really that supportive then they wouldn’t be letting that #7 car go to a track with a blank hood. So I don’t buy their supportive comments as anything other than catching a ride on the publicity train as long as it runs. Thus far, the media has played right into their hands.
Luke’s last blog post..Daytona 500: 45 Days and Counting
I was going to add the bit about Beam not on the #7 hood at Hotlanta but backed off because they, to this point, haven’t jumped on this portion of the story.
They’ve been strangely quite (or not) about Robby’s “double escapade.”
But yes I agree Jim Beam was all over this when the news was hot and they could sell a few T-Shirts to his “adoring crowd” of sycophants, but now not so much.
They got their name in the press, for FREE, for several days. One hell of a lot longer than they receive when the TV cameras cover any race the #7 is in.
As for losing any bet, what was the cost? Two cents? The check’s in the snail mail.