Robby Gordon enjoys role of ‘bad boy’

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2002 | 10:02 a.m.

In the aftermath of Dale Earnhardt's death last year in the Daytona 500, many NASCAR observers wondered publicly if NASCAR's staggering popularity would wane without its biggest star -- and the driver some fans loved to hate.

The Winston Cup Series may never have another leading man such as Dale Earnhardt, but it took only about nine months for the sport to find someone to fill the void left by Earnhardt, the villain.

A memorable late-race incident between Jeff Gordon and Robby Gordon in the final race of the 2001 season at New Hampshire International Speedway instantly thrust Robby Gordon into the consciousness of the sport's two factions of fans: Those who love Jeff Gordon and those who hate him.

Jeff Gordon, who already had clinched his fourth Winston Cup championship, was leading Robby Gordon with 15 laps to go when the two cars made contact and Jeff spun out. After Robby had taken over the lead, Jeff uncharacteristically retaliated by rear-ending Robby on the caution lap.

Robby Gordon, a 33-year-old native Southern Californian who went on the win his first Winston Cup race that day, said he is comfortable with the role as NASCAR's newest "bad boy," although he contends too much was made of the incident at New Hampshire with Jeff Gordon.

"It's OK," Robby Gordon said during a break in testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "Competition and drama is all good in this form of racing.

"After that happened, ESPN went back and pulled out (tapes) that (showed) five times that Gordon spun somebody to win so how can you call me a bad guy because he's done it, too, and so has everybody else in this series?"

Gordon chalked up the incident to the close racing that is NASCAR's trademark.

"We run so close to each other and the competition in NASCAR does a good job of keeping us all pretty equal that you're going to be a foot off the guy's bumper all the time. You lift a half a second too early and the guy's going to hit you.

"I didn't wreck him. There's a difference between knocking a guy sideways -- where he saves it -- and completely turning him around where he hits the wall. I didn't wreck Jeff; he lost two positions. If he had a good enough car, he could have still come up and got me. His car wasn't hurt until he hit me."

Gordon said he and Jeff have put the incident behind them, and Jeff Gordon has said he gained even more fans as a result of his retaliation on the following lap.

"I've talked to Robbie Loomis (Jeff's crew chief) and I've talked to Jeff ... it was a big thing at that time but you sit back and think about it for two days and it's not that big of a deal. I've got respect for Jeff.

"You guys (in the media) are still talking about it three months later, so that part of it is good."

As far as the comparison to Earnhardt -- another aggressive driver who, like Robby Gordon, drove a black car for team owner Richard Childress -- Gordon shrugs off such talk.

"I don't think I'll ever be an Earnhardt -- or even half of him -- and I'm not trying to be," he said.

Like Earnhardt, Gordon's confidence borders on cockiness. It took Gordon 62 starts to win his first Winston Cup race, but he contends he should have been celebrating his third victory last season instead of his first.

Gordon was leading the race on the road course at Sears Point last summer when Kevin Harvick -- now Gordon's teammate at Richard Childress Racing -- and Gordon made contact as Harvick was trying to get back on the lead lap.

Gordon also had the car to beat on the series' other road course, Watkins Glen, when a TV telemetry box exploded in his car, starting a fire that knocked him out of the race.

"We should have won three races last year," Gordon said. "I think I showed everybody (at Sears Point) that I can come out here in a car that wasn't performing and virtually win the race. We should have won that race. I'm not whining or crying, but have you ever seen a lapped car knock the leader out of the way? I can't remember the last time.

"The one that hurt more was Watkins Glen. We went there and I toyed with everybody; I let Jeff Gordon go by and went right back by him two turns later, just to see how strong he was. I had the field covered by maybe a second a lap."