CART: Detroit Sunday Race Notes/Quotes, Robby Gordon
8 August 1999
Robby Gordon #22 Johns Manville/Panasonic/Menards Toyota-Swift Race Notes/Quotes Sunday, August 8, 1999 TENNECO AUTOMOTIVE GRAND PRIX OF DETROIT Round 13 of 20 in the CART FedEx Championship Series The Raceway at Belle Isle -- Detroit, Mich. Robby Gordon had an incident with Jan Magnussen of Patrick Racing on Lap 20 that forced him from the race. Magnussen hit Gordon with his front wheel on the right-rear side pod as they entered Turn Three, sending Gordon into the tire barrier. The incident damaged the suspension and broke the front wing of Gordon's Johns Manville/Menards/Panasonic Toyota-powered Swift. Team Gordon will leave Michigan today, leaving behind the state's curse and hoping for a more successful plunge into Ohio, site of next week's race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Quotes ROBBY GORDON "I don't want to say Magnussen was in the wrong or the right. I'm not happy about the whole situation, though. His tire marks on my car were on the back of the side pod, just in front of the rear wheel. I'll have to look at the replays to say for sure. I do know I checked my mirrors coming out of (Turn) Two, and he was at least eight car lengths back. Regardless, it's a bummer to end the weekend this early. The car was a lot better than at the last street course in Toronto, but it's still a handful on full tanks. We're chipping away at it. Hopefully, Mid-Ohio will be an improvement." BRIAN BERTHOLD (engineer) "We still have some things, obviously, to work on. What we thought was going to be a pretty good race car ended up being fairly loose. I'm disappointed in that, but I'm also disappointed in the wreck that took us out of the race. It looked from the replay that Magnussen had no place being where he was, but that's the part of racing that stings." MIKE HELD (co-owner) "I was down in Turn Two and it sure looked from my standpoint like Magnussen had no room to make that pass. That's all I'll say about that. As for the team, we've made some solid additions to the engineering department and mechanic staff. Brad Filbey's doing a great job as our new crew chief, and having Brian (Berthold) back looks like a good shot in the arm, as well. Things are looking up, even though our run through Michigan has been extremely disappointing."