Robby Gordon is going to try it again. This year marks Gordon's fourth effort to complete 1100 racing miles in one day. He is entered in the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 the same day, May 30th.
An Associated Press story carried on SI.com, says that, as with any worthwhile project, he is learning lessons. He said that it was not too difficult the first year he tried it, but the second year he was not physically prepared and began to cramp up during the NASCAR race in Charlotte.
Last year, he had facilities set up to take fluids by IV before the 500 and during the flight from Indiana to North Carolina and felt much better. Last year, a broken gearbox led to a finish in 22nd place in the 500 and rain in Charlotte stopped that race as he was running 17th.
This year, he says, both cars are capable of running in the top ten. In a shakedown at IMS a couple of weeks ago, he posted third fastest time of the day after only 20 laps of practice in his open-wheeled, IRL car.
He insisted on a clause in his contract with Richard Childress Racing that would allow him to run at Indy each year. This year he has his own car, team and sponsors for Indy. One of those sponsors is Textron, which owns Bell Helicoptors and Cessna Aircraft.
Works out rather nicely.
The two-a-day effort will make Gordon a very busy man for all of May. Last weekend, he practiced at Indianapolis Thursday, then flew to Fontana, CA to run in the Busch and Nextel races in NASCAR.
Next weekend is Pole Day at Indy. Gordon intends to make a qualifying attempt there and then leave for the NASCAR race in Richmond, VA.
Even though he is not one of the most popular drivers on the NASCAR circuit, it is nice to see someone who appreciates open wheeled racing enough to maintain a presence in it. Gordon broke into big time racing in CART, but never became a superstar. He wound up in NASCAR, maybe "settled for" is accurate, but still feels the need to win at Indianapolis.
NASCAR this week announced a few changes in the operation of it's All-Star event next weekend.
Notice it's no longer The Winston, can't call it that because Winston is no longer involved. Instead, they are going to call it what it is, The All-Star Challenge.
It is open mostly to recent winners from the Nextel series, plus the winner of the All-Star Challenge Open, a preliminary that will be run for non-qualifiers.
According to an AP story on ESPN.com, a five-year cutoff for past winners of the All-Star has been dropped. That means that former winners Mark Martin (1998) and Geoffrey Bodine (1994) are eligible.
The All-Star race will be 90 laps, divided into 40, 30 and 20 lap segments. In the past, conditions have been established that required elimination of some drivers after each segment. That feature has been dropped, so everyone who is eligible to start will have a chance to finish.
If you follow this stuff closely, you are aware that NASCAR would like to move the All-Star race among different tracks from year to year. So far, it is always held at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte the weekend before the Coca-Cola 600.
Teams and drivers have raised a howl about the proposal to hold it at other venues. Most teams are based in the Charlotte area. A few weeks ago, I learned of another constituency that is vehemently opposed to the idea...wives of team members.
Our daughter recently moved to the Charlotte area with her family and we drove down there for a visit the week after Easter. She is a member of a Mom's Club there and says that most of the other members' husbands work either for Lowe's or in some level of NASCAR racing.
She reports that the ladies whose husbands are involved in racing already complain that they hardly see them for half the year. Those couple weeks from prior to the All-Star and through the 600 are precious time that Dad at least can eat and sleep at home.
I have a feeling they will not sit quietly if NASCAR messes with that.