Robby Gordon Bitterly Disappointed In Race Cancellation

January 6, 2008
By Kim Roberson

Kim Roberson

A week ago, I mentioned how much I was looking forward to tracking Robby Gordon’s adventures as he made his way through the desert of Africa’s west coast during the 30th annual Dakar Rally.

Sadly, I have nothing to report. Not because Robby was in an accident. It was because he didn’t start.

None of the competitors did.

Friday, just hours before the race was supposed to kick off it’s first leg in Lisbon, Portugal, members of the Rally’s governing body, the A.S.O. (Amaury Sport Organization), sent word out to the teams that they would not be racing this year.

The decision to call off the Rally was due to those direct security threats made by Al Qaeda to attack the race at some point during its two week run. Eight of the stages or the Rally had been set to take place in Mauritania. Pointing to the December 24th murder of four French tourists in Mauritania, the French Government strongly recommended that the ASO not proceed with the race.

The men and women who run the Dakar Rally are competitors down to their bones. The Rally is not easy, and is not undertaken lightly. It takes months of preparation, and lots of money, all to go out and race in the sand and sandstorms, and sleep in tents for two weeks.

People like Robby Gordon thrive on such an adventure, and when it is called off, they are understandably disappointed. “It’s a way of life for 6 months preparing for the Rally. To have it just cancelled is frustrating.” Robby said as he and his teammate, Ronn Bailey, stood in front of their Hummer H3 race trucks Friday.

“Why not just run a few specials here (in Portugal), and at least have the race," said Gordon. "Then say OK, we can’t work it out, then cancel it then? But to cancel it before it even starts, that is difficult. I know my team spent millions of dollars and I can only imagine what the other teams have spent. I can understand the safety of human life and the spirit of the competitors and all that. Obviously Portugal has no problems with us, and we don’t have any problem here in Lisbon. Why not race two days going out and two days coming back, and then go that way and race two days going out and two days coming back? There’s solutions, and to cancel it is not one of them.”

Bailey - who is the CEO of Vanguard Integrity Professionals and was taking part in the race as part of Robby’s race team-- stated he had found out that there was a very real threat to the drivers if they went into Mauritania. “In the last four days, I have been monitoring (the security situation) very close, and have established contacts with the United States Consulate in Mauritania and their security officer there who gathers ground intelligence, and they have been receiving information from the French and German intelligence agencies. We’ve been seeing the threat escalate and realized that the four (French) tourists that were shot (as they picnicked along the side of the road) last Monday, I knew then it wasn’t a random act. As we saw it escalating, one of the things I did to put extra plans in place for my team, if the race did continue on into Mauritania, was I put together an evacuation plan…including a ground team...to pick us up and take us to the (American) Embassy so we could get out. We also bought bullet proof vests…it sounds like a girly thing to do, but in my line of business, planning for what might come is the right thing to do.”

We here in the States take it for granted that we can go to a race and sit down and enjoy what is going on on the track and not worry about our safety other than maybe for the drunk person behind us throwing a beer can. The idea that Robby Gordon would have to wear a bullet proof vest at any time while he is behind the wheel of a race vehicle is a bit unnerving. That he would have to do it because of an Al Qaeda threat borders on bone chilling.

The week hadn’t started off well for Robby and his team. Despite the fact that Robby marked his 39th birthday on Wednesday, not much else seems to have gone right for the man. By mid week, it seemed his biggest issue was the fact that a ship with much of the teams equipment was broken down somewhere in the Atlantic. Robby commented on the setback on his Dakar Rally fan site.

Good evening everyone,

Here's the deal...24 hours ago when the Monster army went to the port, they then found out the boat had trouble on the Atlantic. It will not be in Germany until the 6th of January

With that said, we have gone into our cat-like instincts and like a cat, we will always land on our feet running!

We have a 6x6 support truck in Lisbon already. Ronn Bailey has offered up his T4, which was picked up tonight by the guys that are in Europe already. Tomorrow they will arrive in Lisbon.

The race Hummers are 100% ready and were dropped off at LAX today at 4pm for a 4am flight to Amsterdam. When the Hummers hit the ground in Lisbon, they are ready to pull up to the start line on January 5th. We are scheduled to go through scrutineering on the 4th at 1pm. Don't foresee any issues from here.

Also on that airplane is another complete container of spare parts that will get us through the rally. Transmissions, hubs, cvs, axles, alternators, brakes, steering racks, power steering pumps, radiators, master cylinders, you see where I'm headed here...don't you?

Factory Dakar teams are prepared because we have thought ahead are very prepared ourselves!

Time will tell... RG

It seems Robby’s bad luck doesn’t just cover NASCAR. He pretty much has a black cloud lingering near-by on a semi-regular basis. In last years Baja 1000, he lost the race because of a missing light bar (it was packed in the wrong support vehicle and left Robby navigating the race by flashlight at night).

The only good news to come of all of this is that Robby will be able to test his own cars at Daytona next week. Brendan Gaughan had been slated to take the wheel since Robby was supposed to be trekking across the wilds of Africa. Robby is now scheduled to be back and in Daytona on Monday with the 7 team. It isn’t where he wanted to be, but maybe being behind the wheel of his Jim Beam Ford will take some of the sting away.

I, for one, am glad they cancelled the race. Oh, I understand the expense that went into it, and the disappointment of Robby and the other drivers. However, as often as I have complained about Robby on the track with his helmet tossing and impulsive gestures, I would not want to see him harmed, or worse, at the hands of a terrorist…or anyone else. I met Robby four years ago, and he is a very nice man, so long as he isn’t focused on his racing. It’s the passion that led him to complain about the cancellation of the race Friday, and that leads him to be so colorful at the track each weekend. Love him or hate him, it is men like him that make the sport of NASCAR as memorable, and exciting, as it is today.

Good luck in 2008 Robby. Hopefully, the worst of the year is already over, and you can start fresh as you begin the new NASCAR season.

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