As I have been horribly remiss in bringing you updates on Robby Gordon's running of the Dakar Rally ...I'll turn it over to the professionals.
Athena Barber -- who needs no introduction here -- is blogging Team Dakar USA's progress for FHMonline, where they keep 'em coming back each day with a new hot pic of the hottest former NASACAR WAG. If you can take your eyes off the pictures, you can read all about the baby powder terrain, crazy Hummer flipping and the mystery meat they're eating down in South America, where the fans are enjoying the event being hosted for the first time on their continent:
"I don't know where all the people come from? Every town we come to is like going to a NASCAR race. The roads are lined with people for 20 miles entering the towns." (Robby Gordon)
Updates also available on robbygordon.com. Sadly, live Twitter updates aren't in their plan this year and video updates are fewer and far between.
Robby Gordon is having a very unlucky year. First he got screwed out of The Dakar Rally by terrorists, then he took another hit for a wrong part sent by his manufacturer for which NASCAR levied the standard $100,000/100pt. penalty, which reportedly jeopardizes the future of the team.
Now, if the particular error was the manufacturer's fault, they should agree to cover the fine for Gordon,
right? I say yes, but I'm sure Dodge has their own answer, particularly in this unique case where he
actually wasn't their driver prior to the "bad bumper" incident. Even if they did cover the fine, there is still the 100 points issue, which would likely keep the #7 out of the top 35.
Tomorrow, Gordon will appeal to the empathetic side of NASCAR, but he shouldn't be hopeful. NASCAR is only slightly more likely to overturn the penalty as terrorists are to send Gordon a wire transfer for $4M. NASCAR is just following their own rules--for once--and applying penalties and fines consistently, regardless if a team cries, "But it wasn't intentional!"
Some fans feel like NASCAR enjoys sticking it to Gordon and they're doing it--again. But hey, we did ask for consistency. No one said we'd like it.
It's incredibly unfortunate that at this stage of the game that a $100,000 fine might "destroy" the independent team, but is it really NASCAR's responsibility to alleviate Gordon's pain? Knowing the decision could be the deciding factor in Gordon's future in the sport, should NASCAR make an exception?
Robby Gordon and Team Dakar USA have won the 6th stage of the Dakar Rally. They currently hold the 19th overall position in cars.
Quoting this... Gordon: "I really went flat out today. I'm delighted with my day. The car was perfect. A year ago, on the same special stage, we lost 20 minutes - but this year we won. As regards the general rankings, we had problems with bad petrol in Morocco. On the Dakar, that can become costly in no time.
Stage 6 Results
1. Robby Gordon (U.S.) Hummer 2:58:57
2. Jean-Louis Schlesser (France) Schlesser-Ford 2:59:14
3. Giniel de Villiers (South Africa) Volkswagen 3:05:49
4. Carlos Sainz (Spain) Volkswagen 3:06:14
5. Stephane Peterhansel (France) Mitsubishi 3:06:46
6. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar) BMW 3:07:21
7. Carlos Sousa (Portugal) Volkswagen 3:09:00
8. Luc Alphand (France) Mitsubishi 3:09:42
9. Mark Miller (U.S.) Volkswagen 3:11:35
10. Krzystof Holowczyc (Poland) Nissan 3:18:40
Spain's Sainz is the overall leader. The tallglassofmilk's full Team Dakar USA coverage is here.
Robby Gordon's Dakar Rally videos were among the most watched at YouTube today:
The Dakar, which kicked off Saturday in Lisbon, Portugal and is scheduled to finish Jan. 21 in Dakar, Senegal is considered to be the most challenging off-road race in the world. Since it began in 1979, 23 racers have died in the competition. Last year, fewer than half of the 508 participants reached the final destination. This year, 525 teams from 42 countries are making an attempt.
Gordon has teamed with Micron Technology to bring the race action to fans. Video of the legendary competition will be captured using innovative Micron image sensors and NAND flash memory technology specially outfitted on Gordon's Monster Energy, Toyo Tires-HUMMER H3 Dakar racer. Video from the in-car cameras are programmed to record at set intervals or can be activated by Gordon at the push of a button while driving.
YouTube users are encouraged to subscribe to Robby Gordon Motorsports' Rob "bobbychuck" Harris' video feed to keep up with Gordon's Team Dakar USA. Fans can also watch the videos at www.robbygordon.com, which continues to raise the bar for delivering high quality content to race fans.
Quoting this... RG: "We want to bring our fans closer to the real Dakar experience, and working with Micron to capture video of this legendary rally is a great fit. By using Micron's technology and broadcasting video updates of the race, the world gets a chance to see firsthand how intense this race is and we're looking forward to every minute of it."
The team arrived at the Belém Cultural Centre in Lisbon for scrutineering in an impressive all black convoy that consisted of six off-road vehicles that include the H3 race Hummer, a
T4 4x4 race entry to support the H3, a 4x4 support truck, a 6x6 support truck, and two assistance Hummer H1's.
After almost a year of preparation for the most challenging off-road race in the world, the
Monster Hummer team was given the green light to race in the 2007 Dakar Rally. The day of scrutineering included almost five hours of activities that included GPS training, document processing, photos, Iritrack installation and finally technical inspection.
Gordon is the first and only American to win a stage in the Dakar Rally. He shocked the racing world in 2005 by winning his first-ever stage of the famed rally, and he also won the third stage. Last month, he teamed with rookie Andy McMillin to win the SCORE Baja 1000, after also winning the race in 1987 and 1989. He has 11 top-five finishes in 18 Baja 1000 starts, is a three-time winner of the Baja 500 and has three SCORE International Series Championships to his credit. Additionally, he is a four-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race winner and has also won in the NASCAR Busch Series, Indy cars, IMSA sports cars and virtually every other type of racecar in which he has competed.
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2007 Dakar Rally Results so far (I will attempt to keep this updated, but I make no promises!)
These scores are not official!
Robby Gordon's Team Dakar USA starting position: 20th
Stage 1: Portugal's Carlos Sousa Wins; Robby Gordon 13th Video Gordon: "The stage was very tight and technical. We had a good race
going but we got stuck in the mud. I would say we lost close to five
minute. That was the biggest problem. We had a couple of technical
issues with the truck. The clutch was slipping so we had to nurse it
the last 20 minutes of the special. Overall we are going to be ok. I'm
satisfied with how we are going to stack up against the competition."
Stage 2: Spain's Carlos Sainz Wins; Austria's Gauloises Raphaël Sperrer 16th; Robby Gordon 18th; Leader: Sousa Video
Navigator Andy Spider: "We had a hard day today. We got sucked off into a little ditch and set it on its side and lost another five minutes."
Sperrer: "We even took time five kilometres from the end of the 67km
stage to rescue US super star Robby Gordon and his Hummer as we helped
them out of a difficult position. Suddenly there was a big cloud of
dust in front of us and we lost almost five minutes trying to get
Robby's Hummer out of the ditch where he had landed. There was not much
our light Buggy could do to rescue this really heavy monster car.
Nevertheless, we tried..." [Agnes Carlier,
Jan. 7, 2007]
Stage 3: South Africa's Giniel de Villiers wins; Robby Gordon 21st; Leader: Sainz Video
Gordon: "The terrain of the special was quite rocky and ideal for the H3. If there was anything I would have changed it would have been the length of the special. A longer course would have given me more time to pass more of the competitors that are just ahead of our team. We started the day in some what of a catch up mode. Any problems from the previous day will follow you to the start of the proceeding day. A finish of 41st from the day before will mean you start from that same position the next day."
Stage 4: France's Jean-Louis Schlesser wins; Robby Gordon 77th; Leader: Sainz Video
Gordon: "Our goal was to come here and win. We have been plagued with bad luck, but we won't let it get us down. This is a long rally and we must put the bad luck behind us and keep moving forward."
South African motorcycle rider was involved in a fatal crash during competition. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Stage 5: Sainz wins; Gordon finished 15th but climbed as high as 5th in this special; Leader: Sainz.
Gordon: "The tires that Toyo brought to Dakar have been spectacular and it really showed today in the very rocky track. We passed quite a few cars today by leaving the track and we punished the tires and they survived extremely well. Our finish today will get us a much better start tomorrow so we are looking at getting the Hummer closer to the front so we can contend for stage wins. Much has happened so far but you have to realize that this race is just five days old and there is a lot of racing left. Our team is working hard and since we solved our fuel problem the Hummer is running exceptionally well. We are going to push hard and make something happen!"
Stage 6: Gordon wins! Leader: Sainz.
Gordon: "That was a good result for the team. It's just what we needed. We lost two days trying to diagnose the fuel problem, which in the end turned out to be bad fuel. There still is so much racing left so who know what can happen. For now the immediate goal is to get up into the top ten."
Stage 7: South Africa's Giniel de Villiers wins and takes the lead from Sainz; Gordon 13th
Gordon: "We have made it to the rest day in Africa. I've been trying to be really smooth and avoid problems. Today was one of the more difficult stages. We got into some really soft sand so we aired the tires down to 10lbs and we were just bogging down in second gear. There were a lot of guys that got stuck and you are starting to see quite a few cars drop out of the rally. Visibility was a major issue and we lost the track for a while which cost us some time. Overall I'm pretty happy with the effort. The Hummer is running great and the Toyo Tires have been very good."
Stage 8: de Villiers wins, retains lead; Robby Gordon 8th
Gordon: "We have moved ourselves into the top ten which is a testament to how hard the team is working. The Monster Energy guys did a fantastic job of preparing the car for the eighth and ninth stages. Tonight we are without assistance in Tichit which meant we had to be easy on the Hummer. The team is making its way to Nema were we'll meet up tomorrow. Today’s stage was very difficult. The sand was fine and very soft – much different from the coarser sand in Glamis. Everything ran well but had to be slightly conservative because we were stretching the fuel window and we don’t have any support tonight – there really was no room for error. Now that we are in the top ten we are going to set ours sights on a top five finish. There is still quite a bit of racing and in this business you never know what is going to happen until the end."
Gordon: "We had a really good run going. We ran with the Mitsubishis for about 200 km when we lost the rear tire inflation system. It broke off the air nozzle which resulted in a flat rear tire. We lost about 10 minutes changing that tire and after about another 100 km we got another flat on the rear. Our second spare is a light weight tire which can only go on the front so essentially we had to put the front tire on the rear and the lighter spare on the front. That cost us some additional time. Unfortunately with the mini spare we can’t run wide open so that impeded us as well.
"We were stretching the fuel window so again like stage eight we had to be conservative with the throttle. Overall we finished 11th which is a very good result considering the troubles we had. It also moved us up to eighth in the overall standings. That’s a result that I’m happy with. There are over 1100 km of racing left and obviously some of the other teams are having trouble. We have had our share of problems and we are still in this game – we just have to survive these upcoming stages. Tomorrow we are going to try win the special. I think the special is especially well suited to the Hummer so the 10th stage might be Hummer time."
Stage 10: Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah wins; Gordon 23rd; Leader: Peterhansel
Gordon: "We really had a great run going. The track was perfect for the Hummer and we really felt like we should have won the special. It seems like fuel issues have been the story of our Dakar. First we got bad fuel in the early stages and then yesterday a faulty reading on the fuel meter once again ruined a stage for us. It’s really a shame because we came to Dakar believing we could win this race and the way we have run I really think we could have. Overall our preparation has been really good and our team this year is gaining experience that I’m sure will pay off in the future. Our goal is going to be to try to finish this thing on as many high notes as possible. There are four stages left and we are going to try win them all."
Stage 12: Sainz wins; Gordon 13th; Leader: Peterhansel
Gordon: "One more stage gone and one more stage we could have one. We were on it, leading through CP 1 and CP 2 and about 60 km from the end we got lost and we got ourselves stuck in a rock garden. We gave up about 20 minutes which is very disappointing since we have had no mechanical issues so far. Tomorrow we’ll start closer to the front so hopefully we can make up some ground and try to win another stage."
Stage 13: Sains wins; Gordon 11th; Leader: Peterhansel
Gordon: "It was definitely a day of follow the leader. The track was narrow and dusty and we had very little room to pass. We never really got to open up the Hummer and show its strength. The Dakar is winding down and I’m satisfied with what we have accomplished. We certainly have quite a few pages of notes that we will apply to our program next year. The best thing that has come out of this year Dakar Rally is the experience our team has gained. My guys are already looking forward to coming back next year and hitting the ground running right away. Of course we are proud to be the first American team and manufacture to win a stage in the Dakar, but truthfully there is unfinished business for us here. Even though it looks like we are going to win the open category for this year’s race I think when we return our main objective is to give the factory teams a run for their money."
Stage 14: Sainz wins and takes back the lead; Gordon 5th
Yamaha motorcyclist Eric Aubijoux suffered a fatal heart attack during competition. His was the 50th life claimed in the history of the rally.
Robby Gordon Team Dakar USA Overall: 5th (following Stage 14)
Live tracking of the race is available at www.dakar.com. [Gordon/Grider #320]
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