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Friday, July 13
Gordon finds himself in demand
By Jerry Bonkowski
ESPN.com
JOLIET, Ill -- Robby Gordon can relate to Tony Stewart's angry side.
Stewart drew the wrath of NASCAR once again last weekend for attempting to go after Winston Cup Director Gary Nelson after Stewart was black-flagged and penalized 20 places in the final standings, as well as slapping a tape recorder out of the hand of a reporter and then kicking it away. As a result, Stewart was fined $10,000 and had the probation he was already serving extended through the remainder of this season.
|  | | Robby Gordon, trailing Tony Stewart and leading Jeff Gordon, relates well to Stewart's troubles right now. |
Gordon used to be a lot like Stewart: quick to anger and provoke. Due in part to his sometimes mercurial temper and disposition, Gordon wound up leaving the employment of two high-profile team owners, A.J. Foyt (in CART competition in the mid-1990s) and Felix Sabates in Winston Cup.
"I've been there and done that a little bit, and it obviously cost me," Gordon said.
There's no question Gordon has always been his own man. In a sense, he was to motorsports what Frank Sinatra was to music: He did things his way.
But when Gordon left Sabates' team after the 1997 season following a ill-fated 22-race marriage, he eventually decided the only way he was going to please an owner to become one. That way, he'd have no one to argue with, no one to answer to, but himself.
It was during his short-lived 17-race tenure as an owner in 2000 that Gordon underwent a transformation. He quickly grew up. He found being an owner with a hot-headed driver isn't so easy.
Gordon's foray into ownership also taught him other valuable lessons, including that no matter how much talent a driver has, if his public perception is one of controversy, potential sponsors will become sparse, if not non-existent.
"Yes, it did teach me some lessons," Gordon said. "Obviously, a couple of years go by, you see some of the dos and don'ts, you make some mistakes and you try to learn from them. The last couple of years I've been working really hard trying to rebuild some confidence with people like team sponsors, media, car owners and everybody."
Gordon has grown up considerably in a short time, and the results have shown he's not just going along to get along in the Winston Cup game. That's why Gordon is in such high demand, being courted by several owners to drive for them in 2002, not only in Winston Cup, but in CART and IRL, as well.
In addition to empathizing with Stewart's frustration, Gordon scoffed when asked Friday if he believes there was a hidden conspiracy that allowed Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win last Saturday's Pepsi 400 at Daytona.
"I don't buy any of that," Gordon said. "There's so much luck that goes on. Luck has a lot to do with a lot of things, people having problems. Look at Mike Skinner, he was one of the fastest cars down in Daytona and unfortunately, he got caught up in a crash.
"No, I don't think there was a conspiracy. Everybody at DEI does a real good job, they spend a lot of time in the wind tunnel, and obviously their superspeedway program is real good."
As for Gordon himself, for the second time in three races he'll be back behind the wheel of the No. 7 Ford for this weekend's inaugural Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, replacing Mike Wallace. In addition, there's a possibility that high-profile owner Richard Childress will announce at a scheduled news conference Saturday morning that Gordon will drive for him next season. Childress was prominently seen hanging around Gordon in the No. 7 garage prior to qualifying Friday, proudly acting as if Gordon was his new-found son.
"I'm supposed to run a couple Busch races with Childress this year," Gordon said. "I was supposed to race next weekend, but if I get the opportunity to run the 7 car, I don't think I'll be able to do that. I'm just trying to find a way to get into Winston Cup week in and week out.
"I don't know if I'm in the catbird's seat. I still think I need to prove myself a bit. Obviously, I've had a couple of good runs on the road courses and people want to label me as a road course driver, but I've won Indy car races on ovals and I've been on a pole in Winston Cup on an oval and finished second twice in IROC on the ovals, so I think any opportunity where I can showcase my abilities will help at this time."
Gordon can empathize with Wallace. It's never easy when a team owner replaces his No. 1 driver with a substitute for any race, regardless of the circumstances. Obviously, team owner Jim Smith is hoping Gordon will be able to come close to repeating his second-place performance two races ago at Sears Point Raceway in California.
"I understand where Mike's at on his side," Gordon said. "Owners do what owners want to do, so I feel for him. I'm not trying to take his job or anything like that, but Jimmy wants to make a change and it's Jimmy's choice."
"I'm proud of both drivers the last couple of weeks," Smith said. "This team is starting to come alive. Right now we're working on some contractual things, but the main goal here is to run well. That's my job -- to do what it takes to do that. We hope to make a formal announcement and this carousel ride will be over shortly. We should have had our first win with Robby (at Sears Point).
"Robby and I have a relationship that goes back to when he was 13 years old. I saw him win his first race. We're having fun now and I intend to have a lot more fun."
Gordon agrees.
"I'm just gonna keep driving the wheels off this car," he said.
Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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