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| Gordon ready for triumphant return to Ford
The 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season already is shaping up as one of the most exciting in recent memory for Ford | |||
| 15 Feb 2007
: The 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season already is shaping up as one of the most exciting in recent memory for Ford. Robert Yates Racing is clearly back on track, sweeping the front row in Daytona 500 qualifying with David Gilliland on the pole and Ricky Rudd outside him on the front row. Roush Racing has reorganized and is looking for another championship, and the Wood Brothers/JTG Racing squad has hired a cadre of new engineers and technicians to help move the team back up front. On top of all that, there's a new buzz in the Ford camp with Robby Gordon returning to the family with his Robby Gordon Motorsports team and its fleet of Ford Fusions. The California native, who has enjoyed great success in a variety of auto racing disciplines, will race a Fusion in the Nextel Cup Series this season and plans to expand to at least two cars next year. His eventual goal is to have a four-team Nextel Cup squad. He will also compete in a select number of NASCAR Busch Series races next year in a Fusion. RGM broke ground last October on a state-of-the-art 125,000-square-foot NASCAR shop in Charlotte, N.C., and hopes to be in the new shop no later than May. "I had a lot of success with Ford early in my career, and I owe a lot to Ford," Gordon said. "I think our Nextel Cup program is at the point now where we're ready to take it to the next level, and Ford has pledged its complete support of helping me realize my dream of winning a NASCAR championship as an owner/driver. I believe my best days as a Nextel Cup driver are still in front of me, and I also believe we have laid the groundwork for the expansion of our program." The return of Gordon to the Ford fold brings the charismatic driver full circle. Gordon effectively started his professional driving career in 1990 with Ford at the age of 21. He began driving off-road trucks and eventually a sports car for Jack Roush. The pairing proved fruitful with the team winning four consecutive Rolex 24 at Daytona titles from 1990-93. In his first Trans Am start, Gordon scored a win from the pole at Long Beach, Calif., driving a Ford for Roush Racing in 1992. He later drove Fords in the Indy Car World Series for Walker Racing and made his stock-car debut in the 1991 Daytona 500, where he finished 18th driving a Ford for Junie Donlavey. Gordon fielded his own entry in 17 NASCAR Cup Series events in 2000. Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology, said the return of Gordon will greatly enhance Ford’s Nextel Cup efforts. "What Robby represents to me is someone we've worked with over the past in open-wheel who has a very technical approach," he said. "He understands technology, he understands what it can do for you, and he understands the kind of engineering that can be put into race cars. In open wheel, you had engineers on these things and, boy, they were really technical. He knows all these properties. He knows the tools and what can be brought from the manufacturer with a lot of science," said Davis. "I feel we're getting the best single-car-owner team out there. But we are not embarking on this as a single-car effort. This is embarking on what will eventually be a multi-car team with a solid engineering approach that Ford can really apply a lot of our technology. We have an owner (Gordon) who is going to make sure that his staff is going to have that same mindset. And that's a different mindset than has been in this garage in the past." |
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