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Tina Gordon Notes, Quotes: Siemens 200
07-19-04
Only full-time female driver in NASCAR’s top two series
The only full-time female driver in either of NASCAR’s top two divisions, Tina Gordon and the #39 Yahoo! Ford team head to the one-mile New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon this week for Saturday’s Siemens 200 NASCAR Busch Series race.
Gordon, 33, is a native of Cedar Bluff, Ala., and driver of the Yahoo!-sponsored Ford fielded by Jay Robinson Racing of Charlotte, N.C. Robinson is the first car owner in major league motorsports to have fielded full-time rides for different female drivers, the other being Tammy Jo Kirk the second half of last season. Gordon comes to the Yahoo! Ford team from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but also brings strong experience credentials from the weekly short tracks of Alabama, the same tracks that spawned racing legends such as Davey Allison, and helped build legends such as Bobby and Donnie Allison, Red Farmer and Neil Bonnett.
Microtel Inn and Suites, which has received the J.D. Power & Associates award for highest guest satisfaction the past two years, and, Vasarette, a top of the line lingerie manufacturer, have joined Jay Robinson Racing as associate sponsors on the #39 Yahoo! Ford.
Jay Robinson Racing, in its fourth season of operation, is one of the fastest-growing teams in NASCAR. Robinson, a Charlotte, N.C., native who is a successful businessman, founded the team as a high-value endeavor that offers high-end equipment and efforts, while proving to be one of the most cost-efficient teams in the sport. Robinson fields two sponsored cars fulltime on the Busch Series: the #39 Yahoo! Ford and the #49 Advil Ford, and runs a third car in many Busch Series events.
The thoughts of Yahoo! Ford driver Tina Gordon heading into Loudon:
“Experience is not everything in stock car racing but it is still pretty important. When you go into a track with little or no experience there – like I am doing this weekend at Loudon – then you have to ‘find’ experience, and ‘find’ it quick.
“The first place is my crew and my teammate (Derrike Cope, who drives the #49 Advil Ford for Jay Robinson Racing). Those guys have years of experience and hundreds of laps around New Hampshire, so they can offer something to me in terms of how to get around the place, best lines, braking points, and things like that. It’s like having my own Yahoo! search engine right there at the track, answering question after question.
“A New Hampshire is going to be trickier than, say, a Talladega or even a Daytona. Talladega’s braking point is in the pits somewhere. With a New Hampshire, you not only have marks you have to hit on the track but braking points you have to hit as well. Hit one and miss the other, and you either have a really bad lap or you have a real mess. It boils down to the least possible time out of the gas in the turns. If you brake too early or you have to get back into the gas too late, it costs you time. And whether it is qualifying or the race itself, time is what our sport is based on. Every lap is a new test.
“We’re looking for a good weekend at New Hampshire. We want to learn as much as we can as quickly as we can, and have a good run on Saturday. The key is getting as many laps under our belt as we can, from practice and qualifying on Friday through the race on Saturday. The only way to truly learn a track is to run it as much as you can. That’s the main goal for this Yahoo! Ford team this weekend.”
