Event
Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola
600/May 25, 2003
Venue: Indianapolis Motor Speedway/Lowe’s
Motor Speedway
Robby Gordon’s NASCAR Winston Cup Performance History
at Lowe’s Motor Speedway
Date
|
Start
|
Finish
|
Laps
Completed/ Total Laps
|
Status
|
Money
|
10/13/02
|
19
|
38
|
227/334
|
Accident
|
$65,136
|
05/26/02
|
38
|
16
|
399/400
|
Running
|
93,331
|
10/07/01
|
DNQ
|
|
|
|
|
10/08/00
|
25
|
41
|
184/334
|
Running
|
22,090
|
05/25/97
|
28
|
41
|
186/333
|
Accident
|
25,400
|
10/06/96
|
13
|
38
|
206/334
|
Accident
|
4,800
|
TOTALS Avg. Start: 24.6 Avg.
Finish: 34.8 Laps: 1,202 /1,735
Money: $210,757
Robby Gordon’s Performance History in the Indianapolis
500
Date
|
Start
|
Finish
|
5/26/02
|
11
|
8
|
5/27/01
|
3
|
21
|
5/28/00
|
4
|
6
|
5/30/99
|
4
|
4
|
5/27/97
|
12
|
29
|
1995
|
7
|
5
|
1994
|
19
|
5
|
1993
|
25
|
27
|
NOTES:
- This Week’s Race Car (chassis No. 99) was last run in The
Winston Open. Gordon also raced it to a fourth-place finish at
Richmond after coming back from three laps down early in the event.
He also raced it at Darlington.
- Gordon will start the May 25 Indianapolis
500 from the third position Sunday in the No. 27 Archipelago/Motorola
Dallara/Honda/Firestone
- Gordon won the May 1997 IROC race at Charlotte
from the 12th starting spot
- The Cingular Wireless Chevrolet will carry
a special orange “reverse” paint scheme this weekend
- Gordon’s former teammate Jeff Green and
the No. 30 America Online team tested at Charlotte last month
- Gordon won the May 1997 IROC race at Charlotte
from the 12th starting position
- Gordon will participate in a photo shoot for
Boating Life Magazine Tuesday, May 20 at Lake Norman in Mooresville,
N.C., in which he will test different tubes pulled behind a ski
boat and share his performance review of them
- Gordon flew to Indy Sunday morning for Bump
Day, during which he ran 37 laps in race trim. He will fly from
Concord to Indy Thursday morning for Carburetion Day and then
back to Concord that afternoon for practice and qualifying for
the Coca-Cola 600. He will then remain in Concord until Saturday
evening, when he will fly to Indy for Sunday’s Indy 500.
- Gordon completed his first true “Double”
last year when finished eighth in the Indianapolis 500 and 16th
in the Coca-Cola Racing Family 600. Gordon also had high hopes
for the Memorial Day weekend challenge in 2000 and 1997 but never
completed the 1,100 miles in one day due to weather delays both
years. A rain delay in the 2000 Indianapolis 500 caused Gordon
to miss the start of the Coca-Cola 600, although he started the
race late and completed it, while rain postponed the 1997 Indianapolis
500 until the following Monday. Gordon has logged five top-10
finishes in eight Indianapolis 500 starts and was leading on the
next-to-last lap of the 1999 race before running out of fuel (he
finished fourth).
- The Coca-Cola 600 will be broadcast live on
FOX and PRN on Sunday, May 25 at 5:30 p.m. EDT. Qualifying is
scheduled for Thursday, May 22 at 7:05 p.m. EDT.
ROBBY
GORDON QUOTES:
“To succeed, even finish in the 600, you’ve
got to stay strong all day and not let anything get to you. That
includes keeping the car and your mindset strong. With a long race
like that, there are more opportunities for mistakes because you’re
making more laps and more pit stops. The biggest thing is not to
make any mistakes. If you are flawless, you can be in the place
to win the race. Here at Richard Childress Racing, we’re probably
more conservative when we go into the 600 as opposed to other races
because you’re putting an additional 100 miles on that engine.
That takes a huge toll.
“Going into the Winston Open last weekend,
I felt pretty confident about the Cingular Wireless car and our
chances in the race. But we had a little engine overheating problem
during the Winston Open that we corrected when we pitted and pulled
some tape off. But by that time, we had lost enough ground to the
leaders that we just pulled the car into the garage instead of risking
tearing the thing up. Now we’re taking the same car to the
600 that we raced in the Winston Open. It makes a world of difference
to drive a race car that you’ve already got information on.
I feel pretty confident that we’ll have a great race car and
know how to adjust on it when it needs a little help. We’d
be shooting ourselves in the foot to take the other car. But if
something happened and we needed the back-up, I am confident that
it’s a good car, as well.
“The Coca-Cola 600 is also a survival race.
It’s a survival race for the cars because if anything on the
car is going to blow up or fall off, you usually see it happen in
the 600. But it’s also a survival race for the drivers because
it’s such a long race and it’s usually hot at Charlotte.
It’s hard for drivers to feel good for the whole 600 laps and
to be up on the wheel if the race goes green for a long time. That’s
a lot of laps around there but it’s all about your mindset
and how well you can keep your attention trained on what you’re
doing.”
On the Indy/Charlotte
Double:
“I’m 13th in points in the
NASCAR Winston Cup Series and I have to be at Charlotte to start
the Coca-Cola 600. I have a Winston Cup contract with Richard Childress
and Cingular Wireless to drive the Cingular Wireless car in each
race this year and that includes the Coca-Cola 600. I’m hoping
it won’t come down to me having to get out of the Indy car
early to get to Charlotte on time, but if it does, we’ll have
to work it out. You can try to plan for those circumstances but
it doesn’t seem to ever work. Obviously, we’ve got plans
set up for both sides and how to work it out if something terrible
happens. In a worse-case scenario like if I get hurt at Indy, we’ll
have a driver in place to take over for me at Charlotte. That’s
why I owe a huge ‘thanks’ to Richard and Cingular and
all the guys on my team for allowing me to do this Double and supporting
my effort, as well.
“I feel as good about my chances of winning
this Indy 500 as I did in 1999. I remember driving in that race
the first 100 laps and laughing at the cars falling out of the race
while I was driving at about 75-percent pace. I thought the race
was going to fall into our hands. I am confident enough about our
car this year that I think I can run 75-percent pace to save my
car for the end and still run in the top five. We ran laps without
wickers in the back of the car at 232.900 mph and I think that’s
the second-quickest time of the month up there. It’s been
really smooth and I expect us to contend for the win in the Indy
500 Sunday in the Archipelago/Motorola car. The key is to do the
best job I can and if all the stars line up, we’ll be there
to win the race
“At least three times, possibly five times,
we’ve given away the win in the Indy 500. We’ve made
decisions or mistakes that have cost us ending up in Victory Lane.
I don’t know if it was lack of experience or conservative judgment,
like not waving off my qualifying lap at Indy last week. I probably
should have waved my lap off and gone again at 5 o’clock and
we’d be sitting here as the pole sitter for the Indy 500.
If I had won the Indy 500 just one of those times, my career would
be a little bit different right now. I could walk into sponsor
meetings as an Indy 500 winner and there are not too many other
drivers who can say that.
“I have been very close to winning the Indy
500 several times and it’s been pretty heartbreaking each time
when it didn’t happen. I was a little bummed when we ran out
of gas on the next-to-the-last lap in 1999, but at the same time
we had positioned ourselves to lead the Indy 500 and proved we were
a force to be reckoned with. I think that until I was 30 years
old, bravery, car control and enthusiasm got me to my results.
Now that I’m 34, I have learned from my past mistakes and I
am a smarter race car driver than I was before.
“I’ll be honest. I didn’t do
a whole lot to train for the Double last year but I wasn’t
tired at the end of the Coca-Cola 600. I did get a cramp in my
stomach under my left rib section that I didn’t expect. I’m
sure that was because of the g-forces and dehydration. I didn’t
take the IV between the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 because I
felt so good after Indy and had so much adrenaline running. I felt
fine and I refused it but I’ll take it this year. But since
I had those cramps at Charlotte, I started rehydration, which is
like a salt solution drink that I drink before a race that helps
keep water in my body. Even with that salt solution drink, I’ll
still take the IV. Eleven-hundred miles is a long way. I’ve
done the Baja 1000 by myself for 17 or so hours many times and I
don’t ever get the two-hour or three-hour break in it that
I get between the 500 and the 600. But I do get that break on May
25 and I think that because I’m in good enough shape and eating
well, that with the addition of the IV, I don’t foresee a problem
like I had last year. I was just terribly cramped up for about the
last 200 or 300 miles of the race in the 600 last year and I learned
my lesson.
“I will take an IV this year but I think
I’m in good enough shape on an everyday basis that I don’t’
need to step up and hire a trainer to get me ready for the Double.
I’ve run 1,000 miles in the Baja 1000 before and that’s
pretty much non-stop. The Baja is a survival race and there is
no break. But you’re not up on the wheel all day in the Baja
like you are in the Winston Cup or the Indy race.
“I get asked a lot if I’d rather win
the Indy 500 or the Coca-Cola 600. I’ve won a Winston Cup
race and my current goal is to place the Cingular Wireless team
in the top 10 this year and to hopefully win a championship one
day. Winning the Indianapolis 500 has been a lifelong dream of
mine and I’ve come pretty close. It would be like winning
the Daytona 500 and this year we finished sixth in that race, won
the 125 qualifying race and were in a position to win the Daytona
500. I’d like to win the Indy 500 over the Coca-Cola 600 but
I’d also like to take those points from winning the 600 and
put them in the bank just easily because I want to prove everyone
wrong, especially the naysayers, who said I would never fit into
Winston Cup. My goal is to finish in the top 10 and we’re
not too far off from that. I’ve learned over the past couple
of years that if you have a 10th-place car, then take
it to the finish line in the 10th place. Don’t
try to win with it. I feel like I have grown up and matured concerning
what it takes to finish races and we’re going to do everything
we can, even while running the Indy 500, to make sure the Cingular
team has a shot at the Winston Cup championship, and to score points
week-in and week-out.
“People keep asking me if I’m worn
out yet. Yeah, it’s been very busy this month but I wouldn’t
trade it for anything. It has been so much fun for me to go back
and forth between the Indy car and the Cingular Chevy on the Cup
side. I enjoy both teams and both teams have the same goal of performance
in mind. I want to win both races and we know we can do it. I’ve
got the right people and equipment lined up. It’s just a matter
of putting the pieces together on Sunday, and of course, praying
it doesn’t rain at Indy. But we’re planning to win both
and we’re going to give it our best shot.
“We were really strong in the Indianapolis
500 last year, probably a lot stronger than many people remember
but we had that fuel fire. We started 11th and by the
time the first pit stop came around, we were inside the top five.
Unfortunately, we had the fuel fire on pit land when the fuel hose
got stuck in the car and I ended up having to use fuel from one
of Foyt’s pits to finish the race. I have had so many opportunities
to be competitive and I have let then slip away time and again.
“Sunday, the day of the big ‘Double,’
is definitely going to be a big day for me but I think I’m
physically ready for it. Mentally, I believe I’m ready for
it, as well. The 600 is more physically demanding than the Indy
500 even though the Indy cars don’t have power steering like
Winston Cup cars. Indy cars don’t generate the heat and high
temperatures we have in Winston Cup cars. Indy is often a mental
game and the way I drive those cars is I kind of sit back in my
chair and go for the ride. You can’t manhandle those cars
or you’ll be in the wall quicker than you can imagine. You
can’t yank on the wheel up in Indy like you can do with these
cars.”
|