Friday, January 16, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

MOTORING ALONG: Gordon gearing up for full year of racing

Driver to compete in NASCAR, SCORE, Indianapolis 500

By JEFF WOLF
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Robby Gordon will compete this weekend in the Trophy Truck category of the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. He'll also race Saturday after the truck race in a new unlimited Class One vehicle. PHOTO COURTESY TRACKSIDE PHOTO Robby Gordon Driver competing in this weekend's SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge

Robby Gordon never has driven in a race he hasn't liked, but he makes it clear that he loves any race that takes place in the desert.

The 35-year-old Southern California native has a full slate of racing ahead of him in 2004, including 36 NASCAR Nextel Cup races and 25 in the NASCAR Busch Series.

If that isn't enough, Gordon said he has a program in place that will allow him to compete in the Indianapolis 500 on May 30, and he will announce details of that plan during the week of the Feb. 15 Daytona 500. It will be the third straight year he competes in the Indy race before flying to Concord, N.C., to compete in the 600-mile Cup race that night.

And he also will drive in the first two SCORE races this year, beginning with this weekend's SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge.

"It's pretty difficult for me to work the SCORE races into my schedule and difficult to get my truck set up to where I can get out there and be competitive," he said in a telephone interview Thursday from Florida.

"It's a weekend off (from NASCAR), so let's go off-road racing and have some fun. I still really enjoy off-road racing."

After spending most of this week at Daytona International Speedway testing his No. 31 Cup stock car for team owner Richard Childress, Gordon flew to Las Vegas on Thursday night and will be in Laughlin today to pre-run his SCORE Trophy Truck in preparation for this weekend's Laughlin race, which opens the SCORE season.

The event combines times from four-lap races Saturday and Sunday around an 11-mile course that starts and finishes at the Laughlin Events Center.

Gordon can take some credit for a record number of 23 Trophy Trucks entering the event. His Robby Gordon Off-Road business in Southern California manufactures products for racing and street vehicles and builds off-road racing vehicles. He said as many as five trucks his company built could be on the starting line when racing begins each day at 11:10 a.m.

"I love the sport," Gordon said. "I want to continue helping grow off-road racing."

Gordon won the Baja 1000 twice and earned five SCORE championships between 1986 and 1990. He also won the Trophy Truck season title in 1996.

In addition to driving both days in his No. 31 truck, he'll also compete Saturday after the truck race in a new unlimited Class One racer his company built for Cam Thieriot of Occidental, Calif. Thieriot will drive it Sunday.

Although Gordon isn't excited about drawing the 21st starting spot in the truck field, he thinks he'll have the power to charge to the front. His 900-horsepower engine was built by Childress Racing.

Gordon said Childress is supportive of his off-road racing "as long as my focus isn't lost on our NASCAR program."

Gordon, who won two Cup races last year to finish 16th in points, is optimistic about the stock-car season. He improved during Thursday's Cup practice to post the day's 14th-best time.

"I think we're pretty good," he said of his Cup team, which includes a new crew chief, Chris Andrews, and new crew. "When you come down (to Daytona) for this deal, it's such a process of elimination. You're working through all the things in the car to find out where each sweet spot is.

"This is a game where you don't want to show all your cards in practice."

Gordon's Cup team is scheduled to test Jan. 26 and 27 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.