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Tina Gordon Notes, Quotes: IRP 200
07-27-04
‘Learning every time out,’ is key to career
This weekend Tina Gordon and the #39 Yahoo! Ford team head to the tough, flat Indianapolis (Ind.) Raceway Park this week for Saturday night’s IRP 200 NASCAR Busch Series race.
Gordon is coming off the best finish of her very young NASCAR Busch Series career, notching a top-25 last week at the one-mile Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado Springs, Col.
The 33-year-old driver 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 IRP:
“Indianapolis Raceway Park is one of those type tracks. All we can do is go in there, learn what we can in practice, qualify as well as we can and put as many laps down as possible. Everything I am doing is based on learning everything I can about the Busch cars, so I know I have to soak up what I can.
“The one-day shows make it more difficult but not impossible. I look like a Yahoo! search engine sometimes at the track, moving from person to person, finding out what I can about each of these tracks, and then applying what I can to my Yahoo! Ford. I talk with everybody – other drivers, crew chiefs, car owners, even people who run the track in other divisions. I’ll be watching the Truck race pretty closely Friday night, seeing what they do and how they get around the track, and I’m sure I’ll spend some time with tapes of past IRP races.
“While the speedway is different from most everything else, there is a lot about it that is the same too. I’ve run flat tracks in Alabama, and of course on the Truck Series, so I have some knowledge there. It’s not like I am coming in completely blind to things.
“But every speedway has its nuances and differences, and finding those is part of what separates the winning teams from the rest of the pack. The other part is knowing how to take advantage of what you have found. People can tell you what they know but being able to apply that knowledge is the key.
“My goal is to turn a lot of laps and learn as much as I can. That just helps make me a better driver, and it gives us a better finish too. If I can learn something every time out, whether it is practice or qualifying or the race itself, then I’ve met my goal.
“I’m not in this as a ‘woman in racing.’ I’m a racer who happens to be a woman. And every racer wants to be the best they can possibly be. That’s my long-term goal, to be the best I can be. And I can only reach that goal by working as hard as I can, learning all that I can and because so many of the veteran drivers are so gracious with their time and knowledge with a rookie driver.
“I’m excited about this Yahoo! Ford team getting to IRP. We’re looking for a really solid weekend and a solid run. We’re going to be working hard to do just that.”
