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CART: Robby Gordon making up for a dismal start

6 August 1999

Making up for a dismal morning session that featured a turbo fire, a
swap to the backup car and a not so pleasing time, Robby Gordon placed
his Johns Manville/Menards/Panasonic Toyota/Swift 13th in Friday's
provisional qualifying for the Tenneco Grand Prix of Detroit. Gordon's
time of 75.744 seconds today places him in the fast group for final
qualifying tomorrow. Qualifying begins at 12:45 p.m. EDT.

Quotes

ROBBY GORDON ­ "It's nice to have Brian back, he's giving us all a
little Shock Therapy!  Actually, his shocks have been a welcome addition
since we tested them at Mid-Ohio last week.  They seem to control the
rear end of the car and allow me to drive without stepping out on every
corner.  In turns one and two here, I'm hooked up.  Right now we're
looking for ways to fine tune the car in the other corners and we're
thinking a lot of that can be cured through gearing.  It's great to be
in the fast group for tomorrow though, that's a goal I've had for awhile
now."

BRIAN BERTHOLD (engineer) ­ "The morning was a bit frantic.  We had a
turbo problem in the primary car early on, so we had to bounce back and
forth a bit before we could settle down.  It kept us from getting going
and definitely put a wrinkle in our morning plan.  But these things
happen in racing.  Between sessions, David (Cripps) and I sat down and
found what we thought would might make a significant difference in the
car.  What's nice about it, is that it did make a difference.  We seem
to have found a way to keep the back end on the ground and at the same
time put the car in a window  that's workable.  Robby's now able to
identify small problems that can make us that much faster."

MIKE HOOKER (TRD/Team Gordon) laughing in the engineer's lounge ­ "I'm
not here for a long time, just a good time!"  Hooker likes to chime in
with this quote every time Robby is asked for quotes.  Now he's got his
glory...

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