NASCAR Chevy Transcript - R. Gordon, Mexico, Mar. 1

GM RACING, CHEVROLET    
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Teleconference                     
March 1, 2005                                                                                    nmwager@aol.com

 

This week's NASCAR NEXTEL Teleconference featured Robby Gordon, owner and driver of the No. 7 Harrah's Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the NEXTEL Cup Series as well as the No. 55 Fruit Of The Loom Chevrolet in the Busch Series.  Gordon has spent a lot of time competing in numerous off-road races in Mexico, and will compete in the Mexico City Busch race this coming weekend. He joined the call from his race shop in Anaheim, California. 

 

Q&A's WITH ROBBY GORDON:

(HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS FIRST-EVER BUSCH RACE IN MEXICO CITY?) "I'm excited about it. It's a good market for us. It makes a lot of sense because it's in a different country and we can just drive across the border to go down and put on the event. From what I've heard from my open-wheel friends, the fans there are pretty cool. They had a sell-out event for their Indy car race there a while back. From what I've been hearing, the buzz is obviously the Busch race there this weekend."

 

(HAS COMING INTO NASCAR AS AN OWNER FOR THE SECOND TIME BEEN A LITTLE MORE FRUSTRATING THAN YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE?) "The word frustrating is an interesting comment. The biggest thing has been time. If we had a little more time, like everybody, we could be better prepared. Frustrating? Yeah, we missed the Daytona 500 but not because we ran bad down there at Daytona. We finished 7th in the 150. Going home was obviously frustrating. And then this past weekend at Fontana, we qualified good - in front of Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart all the RCR guys, which I drove for last year. In the race, we had a couple of dilemmas and we finally lost an engine late in the race. But the whole program all in all, when Menard's gets their engine program right, we'll be in pretty good shape. I'm pretty confident of that."

 

(WHEN YOU WERE AN OWNER/DRIVER LAST TIME, YOU DID WELL AT LAS VEGAS. IS THERE SOMETHING ABOUT THAT TRACK THAT SEEMS TO SUIT YOUR DRIVING STYLE?) "Like Vegas last time, we were fairly new. At the first two races, we struggled like we did this time around. But when you race at the NEXTEL Cup level, you're racing against the best teams in motorsports. Obviously when you can run in the top 25, you can't be very happy about that, but it's part of the game. You just have to keep building on it week in and week out and not get down on it because it will come full circle. Robbie Loomis, two weeks ago after Daytona, told me to imagine your race team being like a time clock. When you're down at the bottom at six, it's just a matter of time before your up at 12.  But then when you're at 12, it's just a matter of time before you're back down at six. The key is to keep it between nine and three. That's something we're working hard on. We ran in the top 25 the first half of the race at Fontana until lap 103. We got lapped by Kenseth. I don't know, for some reason every time I came down pit lane the caution comes out one or two laps later. We found ourselves two laps down and once you're in that position you never get them back. So that was frustrating. We ended up blowing up late in the race.

 

"But I think we have a good race team. We have great sponsors. That's a big difference between now and 2000. We didn't have full funding and we were always struggling from week in to week out to find sponsorship. Right now, today, we don't have any primary spots left on our car for 2005.

 

"I'm looking forward to going to Mexico. We have a new sponsors we're going to announce this weekend and I'm looking forward to that as well."

 

(WITH THE NEW NEXTEL CUP RULES, CAN HAVING A BUSCH TEAM BE A BIG BOOST TO A CUP EFFORT?) "At a lot of places, that would help. Our Busch deal is limited this year. It's anywhere from a minimum of three races to a maximum of 20. At Daytona, we finished 5th with that car.  We got side-by-side there for the lead with two laps to go or something. I'm pretty happy with our Busch program and I think we'll be good down to Mexico City. But we're not going to bring our Busch car back out for a while. Our efforts have been focused strictly on making our Cup team competitive and doing whatever it takes to make that happen."

 

(WHAT IS YOUR IMPRESSION OF THE NEW RULES NOW THAT THE CALIFORNIA RACE IS OVER?) "It's been a while since I've been out of the top 20 in the championship and they roll you through tech based on where you are in the points. We missed the whole first practice. Not just us - but there were about 10 cars that missed practice. With the new technical inspections they're doing now with gear ratios and all that, we didn't get to practice the first practice in California. And that's a huge disadvantage."

 

(ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT SAFETY IN MEXICO?) "I've been going to Mexico for 20 years and I've always enjoyed myself every time I've been there. The key is keeping it all in perspective in knowing where you are and what your consequences may be. I've had friends of mine who have gotten in trouble in Mexico before. You don't want to get into trouble down there. The rules are still the rules. They still have speed limits. When you have a language barrier like we do of being U.S. citizens and not speaking fluent Spanish can be a big issue. I think Mexico City is a lot different than being in Baja, but for 20 years I've never had an issue down there."

 

(HAVE YOU EVER FELT THAT SOMEBODY MIGHT TRY TO ABDUCT YOU?) "We've traveled the whole Baja Peninsula and the north side of Mexico itself and have never had an issue."

 

(WHO WILL DO BETTER AT THIS RACE, THE DRIVERS WHO UNDERSTAND THE TRACK OR THE ONES WHO UNDERSTAND THE CARS?) "It'll be good and it'll bring in some needed excitement. I don't know how much NASCAR-style experience these guys have. When you go to off-road tracks like Watkins Glen and Infineon, guys like Boris Said come in and are very competitive. They're racing sedan-style cars, which are pretty similar to NASCAR. So as far as the Spanish or Mexican contingent that is going to be down there racing, I'm not 100 percent aware of their experience. I know Adrian Fernandez and Michel Jourdain Jr. and hopefully they are competitive. It would be good for the show if one of those guys could challenge for the win."

 

(ARE YOU COMFORTABLE ENOUGH WITH THE CUP TEAM RIGHT NOW TO BE GOING TO MEXICO CITY TO RUN IN THE BUSCH RACE?) "I'm comfortable with how the car handles and runs right now. I think our cars are competitive. The biggest thing - heck, we could have very easily won the 150 down there but I just played it conservative and drove behind Burton there and we finished 7th at Daytona. I think the Cup car as far as handling is pretty good. We've obviously had some issues last weekend. When my fuel man jumped off the wall this past weekend broke his shoulder with the fuel can on top of his shoulder. That's why our pit stops were so bad from there on. That made us struggle a little bit. But throughout the race, we raced with cars that finished between 13th and 18th if we would have gotten a Lucky Dog and stuff like that. And no, I'm not happy with that, but you have to start somewhere and you have to build on every experience."

 

(ABOUT NOT HAVING ANY TIME OFF WITH HIS RACE SCHEDULE - INCLUDING RECENTLY COMPETING IN AFRICA) "Well, I like to race. The Africa thing came available to Volkswagen. It was a neat experience and a lot of fun. And there's not a lot that race cars drivers do from January 1st - 20th, so the schedules worked out well. I know I'm racing a lot, but I'll run fewer races this year than I ran last year. We've passed on the Indy 500 thing for 2005 as of right now just to keep our focus on the NEXTEL Cup team."

 

(WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF AS A RACE JOCKEY?) "Yes and no. There are a few of us who just love to race. Tony Stewart is one. I think if Dale Jr. could so more, he would. We just love to compete. They did the Rolex 24 hour race and I ran Dakar. It's pretty similar."

 

(WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR FANS TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR ROLE AS AN OWNER/DRIVER?) "The biggest thing is that we do have the people in the right positions. As a new race team, we're just trying to get our systems in place. I have a good team manager. We have a good crew chief. It's just a lot of work to build cars and get competitive right out of the box. We started with a brand new fleet of race cars, where a lot of teams have cars leftover from the year before that maybe they re-body or they change a couple parts of pieces on them. For our team, we have a new car every weekend. We've built two brand new speedway cars, a new road race Busch car, and now three intermediate cars. And, we're in the middle of building a brand new NEXTEL Cup road racing car.  The guys back at the shop are doing an excellent job. The cars are very nice, they're light, and the weight is to the left. We've just been working hard and we're not going to give up until we're successful."

 

(ALAN KULWICKI WAS THE LAST OWNER/DRIVER THAT WAS A NATIONAL CHAMPION AND OWNED THAT NO. 7.  IS THAT WHY YOU ACQUIRED THE NO. 7 AND HOW DID YOU DO THAT?)  "There are a lot of reasons for that. I have a partner in Jim Smith, who actually bought the team from "A", who bought the team from Bodine, who bought the team from Kulwicki. I'm pretty sure that's the way it went. Even though none of the cars that came over from Sirius No. 7 are actually the cars that we're racing today, Jim Smith has been a supporter of my career for many years. And he's been a sponsor and a friend and a lot of experience that I'll be able to use as well."

 

(EXPAND ON WHAT IS IN STORE FOR THE BUSCH TEAMS HEADED DOWN TO MEXICO) "I've flown to Mexico City, but I've never driven all the way there. The biggest thing is the roads are very narrow. The vehicles are very different from the vehicles we have in this country. We'll have a car that'll have 150,000 miles or more and we'll be ready to take it to the dump and they'll get another 150,000 miles out of it at that point. You've really got to be on your toes. Some of the vehicles on the highways are just so far beyond times. You really have to be paying attention on everything. But all in all, they're good people and it's going to be an experience that a lot of people will never forget. This experience down in Mexico City will be a lot easier than the one where we were going to Japan and shipping cars and stuff like that. We'll still have our transporters to work out of. Organization and preparation are going to be key to this event. I don't know if there's going to be a Hutch truck or a parts truck there that you can just go grab parts off of like we have that luxury here. We also have the luxury of either UPS or FedEx to have parts shipped in if your forget something at home. I think those experiences will help us as a race team because we've done it for so long."

 

(ARE THERE TOO MANY CUP DRIVERS IN BUSCH? DOES IT TAKE AWAY MONEY AND EXPERIENCE TO THE BUSCH DRIVERS?) "Without the Cup drivers in Busch, you don't have people watching the races. They want to see the Dale Jr's and Martin Truex Jr's and people like that. Without them watching those events and creating a strong audience like that, it makes it difficult for a younger driver or privateer to find sponsorship. Well because those guys are racing in those events and getting the attention, it makes it easier to find sponsorship at that level. On the other side, a younger, less experienced driver would never know where the goal post is before moving up to the Cup level."

 

(ON THE JUMP IN TV RATINGS FOR LAST WEEKEND'S FONTANA RACE) "It's pretty impressive. That's one of the reasons I switched to NASCAR many years ago. I saw the trend changing and was able to read the tea leaves just a little bit and was fortunate enough to change from open-wheel cars to driving stock cars, which are completely different. But as far as the fans go, it's amazing the following and the association in NASCAR. Obviously NASCAR and its sponsors continue to do a great job of marketing. We continue to build on the audience, which is a big thing,"

 

(ARE YOU PRODUCING THE HARRAH'S CAR IN DIECAST?) "Yes. We've basically got different platforms the car will look like this year. We have the Fruit Of The Loom Chevrolet, which will run in a certain number of events, the Jim Beam Chevrolet, and the Harrah's Chevrolet. We're pretty excited about it. The Harrah's opportunity gives us 52 resorts and opportunities to move some merchandise and to build some fan appreciation around it as well."

 

(ON THE ISSUE OF TEAM OWNERSHIP, HOW HAS YOUR EXPERIENCE DIFFERED THIS TIME FROM BEFORE?) "You can look at this from different ways. I've been doing this and we've won championships in off-road racing. Back when I started that, dune buggies were the fastest vehicles in the desert. We've taken it to a level where it's all about pick-up trucks today. We have a Chevrolet K-1500 Red Bull truck that we run in the desert still. We still own and operate that car. I think the biggest thing is hiring the right people and giving them the direction to do their jobs. I think having worked for RCR for the last three years, I can take the pros and cons of that and implement them right into our race team from the get-go. It's not been an easy job. It's very difficult and we expect a lot out of our people. But we have to explain what we expect out of them to get the most out of them. And then in open-wheel racing, Robby Gordon Motorsports came within one lap of winning the Indy 500 in 1999. So I'm pretty confident we will be able to get our NEXTEL Cup team competitive."

 

(WHAT ARE THE MAJOR PROS OF OWNING A NASCAR TEAM?) "The ownership side of it is obviously a difficult role but at the same time - and I don't mean to compare myself with these guys - but as you know, Roger Penske doesn't run his operation on a day to day basis, nor does Chip Ganassi. They have the right people in place. It's very similar to what we've done. I have John Story, who is the general manager. We have crew chiefs, car chiefs, shop foremen, and fabrication managers in all departments. For me, in the beginning stages, I'm very involved. But as we get the systems in place to where I like it, I'm confident that the people we've hired will be able to handle these roles and do a good job at it."

 

(ON GOING TO MEXICO AND BEING AN INTERNATIONAL DRIVER, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL OTHER DRIVERS ABOUT SOME OF THE EXCITING THINGS THEY'LL EXPERIENCE IN MEXICO CITY?) "A lot of people, from what I've seen on the east coast, when they travel to NASCAR that's the extent of their traveling experiences. I've been fortunate to travel all over the country with open wheel racing and rally racing etc. I think people are really going to enjoy Mexico. I just hope they get the opportunity. If we're on buses back and forth from the race track to the hotel and the hotel to the airport, you really don't get the experience of Mexico. What we've done with our team is with Indy Car Travel, who has been there with CART and Indy Car teams in the past; we've rented drivers and vans to take us to and from the race track so we're not completely dependant on those buses. We've also hired security guards for each one of those vans as well."

 

(AFTER MISSING THE SHOW AT DAYTONA, HOW GOOD DID IT FEEL TO MAKE THE SHOW AT CALIFORNIA?) "It made me feel really good because I didn't do a pole run in qualifying. We were only two-tenths out of the top 10. I was pretty happy with that. Knowing that I had to be conservative, knowing that if we had any mistakes in qualifying we'd be loading up and going away again. So it was really important for us to have a good solid effort and get ourselves in the field - a lot like the same attitude that Bill Elliott went in with the No. 91. He took a good conservative qualifying effort. That was a good feeling. During the race, we stayed in the top 25 for a long time. Then we put ourselves in a position to get lapped. And as soon as I got lapped, I came down pit lane and the caution came out and I lost two laps. That part was frustrating and I know better than that. I've learned those experiences in the past. Once you're a lap down you need to stay on the race track as long as you can and hope a caution comes out after the leader pits and you get your lap back. But at least I got this off to a start at the beginning of the year thinking those types of things that will make us a better race team and make us more competitive throughout the season."

 

(WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS NOW FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON?) "If we run with the cars that we raced with all day - I raced around the No. 31 car, the No. 22, the No. 20 wasn't that far ahead of us - we would have easily finished anywhere from 13th to 21st. Unfortunately we lost a motor late in the race and that hurt us. But Menard is working really hard on their engine development program. It's their first attempt at NEXTEL Cup. They did build our Busch motor that we raced in Daytona and finished 5th with. So I'm pretty excited about the restrictor plate program. Come June, they will have their engine program up to speed and be very competitive with other engine manufacturers like Hendrick, RCR, DEI, Joe Gibbs Racing, etc, that race Chevrolet."

 

(WHERE YOU SURPRISED AT THE AMOUNT OF THE FINE FROM NASCAR FOR THE INFRACTION?) "No, not really. For us, we don't build the engines. The intake manifold that Menard had on the car was a NASCAR approved manifold, but unfortunately it was outdated. And the guy doing the intake headwork obviously didn't know that manifold was outdated. It did have a NASCAR stamp on it that it was approved, but I believe it was outdated two years ago."