You don’t need to do too much research on Robby Gordon to find out what makes him tick
The Dakar Rally sees its fair share of interesting machines and characters. Remembering previous editions of the grueling cross-country event one will recall Jean-Louis Schlessier and his lightweight two-wheel drive buggy. Schlessier had also competed in two Formula 1 events and was preceded by Belgian motor racing legend Jacky Ickx, who achieved great success in F1 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans before triumphing at the Dakar Rally.
As a side note, Schlessier was ‘responsible’ for preventing a clean sweep by McLaren in the 1988 F1 season, when Ayrton Senna collided with him and retired in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, paving the way for a Ferrari 1-2!
America’s Robby Gordon has put his own spin on motorsport versatility though, and he certainly gets a lot of eyeballs due to the way he goes about it.
Gordon’s brightly coloured Hummer entry has become a constant on the Dakar Rally and stands out as one of the most striking vehicles in the rally.
It also brings to attention Gordon’s own motorsport record, which stands out in its own right. He won three races over the course of a 21-year NASCAR career, was a winner on two occasions when he raced in Champcar (raced in Indycar too), and has become a fan favourite a the Baja 1000 too.
But to motorsport fans outside of North America, Gordon’s exploits only came into focus after he became the first American to win a stage of the Dakar Rally in 2005, while driving for Volkswagen.
But to make himself stand out a bit more, he opted to start racing in a Hummer prototype from 2006, after which he was firmly established as an attraction for an event that thrives on the off-beat and novel.
When the Dakar Rally was eventually moved to South America in 2009 following fears of a terrorist threat a year earlier that lead to the cancellation of the Europe and Africa based event, Gordon became more than just a sideshow when he finished third overall, losing to the mighty works team from VW.
Gordon’s Quest
Since then, Gordon has been on a ‘quest’ of sorts to win the Dakar outright and do so in what is probably the most intimidating entry in the rally, more so than even the Mini or Toyota’s Hilux at times.
It got to the point that Gordon even managed to rope in the well-heeled and supremely talented Nasser Al-Attiyah to be his teammate in the 2012 edition of the Dakar.
The promise of a beastly powered car – well in excess of 350 bhp rumored to be produced from its 6-litre, V-8 engine – was a lure to Al-Attiyah but the campaign proved to be a disaster.
Al-Attiyah retired and flat out refused to return behind the wheel of the Hummer while Gordon was disqualified at the end of the tenth stage of the rally for allegedly illegal modifications to his car’s engine.
A repeat of that podium finish in 2009 has remained illusive for Gordon as both this year’s event and the 2013 rally was dominated by the Mini All 4 Racing team (aka BMW Group).
Racing entrepreneur
It hasn’t prevented Gordon from not being involved in motorsport just for the fun of doing so.
It’s come to the point that Gordon is not just content to compete. In 2012, he started his own race series!
The Stadium Super Trucks series features souped up shell pick up trucks racing in an arena on dirt. Doesn’t really get more quintessentially American than that, does it?
So much so that the series will now be among the events held at the popular X-Games, which will be held at Austin, Texas and the venue will be the Circuit of the Americas, the home of the F1 United States Grand Prix.
Just another feather in Gordon’s cap, and yet one more reason why he can make a case for being the coolest driver to have ever participated in the Dakar Rally.
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