Robby Gordon says he needs more sponsorship to run full 2010 Cup season
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Friday, November 13, 2009
AVONDALE, Ariz. – Team owner/driver Robby Gordon said he will run the first eight races of next year and hope that he can find sponsorship for the rest of the season or he will have to sit some races out.
Gordon is losing primary sponsor Jim Beam after this year and he said he had 11 races this season that he didn’t have a sponsor even if logos were on the car.
“I’ve got a good marketing staff,” Gordon said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway. “We’ve got a good team put in place. We’ve got the cars. We’ve got the equipment. We’re set through March. … We’re working hard. We just found out about Beam not too long ago and are trying to recover from that.
“If we have any luck, we will.”
Gordon has driven for himself the last five years in the Cup series. He is 34th in the driver standings this year, where he has had nine races where he hasn’t finished this year and his team has struggled in the pits.
“Our results are not the best,” Gordon said. “It’s easy to go out there and blame the economy for everything, but if we ran better – you see teams get sponsorship that win races. What we’ve got to do is figure out how to win races. What comes first? Do you have enough money to win the races or do you have the team to win races?
“I think it takes both. Right now, I know where our weaknesses are. It’s just purely a dollars and cents issue, an operational budget issue.”
Gordon said while he was not interested in a merger – “I’d rather just shut the lights off,’ he said – he was open to putting another driver in the car for select races if the driver was capable and had sponsorship.
“It has to be somebody capable,” Gordon said. “Hypothetically, I joked around with David Gilliland, and said, ‘If you have a couple of deals and I have a couple of deals, why don’t we just mix them together and run one car all the time?’ Obviously, both of us hope that we don’t get into that situation and both of us have deals to run the season.”
Gordon said he would have to lay people off if his organization doesn’t get sponsorship soon. The 11 races he didn’t sell this year were the races at Dover, Pocono, Richmond, Martinsville, California, and one Michigan this year.
“We’ve got a lot of mouths to feed,” Gordon said. “We’ve got a lot of people who dedicated a lot of time into our program. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that them and their families are secure. Unfortunately, it’s just a fact of dollars and cents.
“Everybody has to get paid for the job they do and you’ve got to be able to stay in business.”
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10 responses to "Robby Gordon says he needs more sponsorship to run full 2010 Cup season". Post a Comment.
amalycke said:
Nov 13, 2009 at 7:46 PMWOW! Thanks Robby for the inside info! He predicts that more than half the field in 2010 will be a S&P.
Report as AbuseI KNEW he was having problems with sponsors when he let David Gilliland race for him in Richmond driving the #7. He just acted like it wasn't going well, then all of a sudden he keeps talking about the Baja races and how great those are ...
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» Confirm Abuse ReportPhoenix987 said:
Nov 13, 2009 at 9:23 PMWhen did he say half the teams would start and park? And he drove at Baja because he loves off-road racing, and Gilliland was available to run the car.
Report as AbuseRobby's a smart owner. He'll do what it takes for his team to survive.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportalisoeddie said:
Nov 14, 2009 at 12:43 AMWishing Robby the best of luck in his sponsor search.It's tough out there,and not just for small teams.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportamalycke said:
Nov 14, 2009 at 8:55 AM#2/Phoenix987, I think he's also tired of NASCAR's favoritism, or lack thereof in terms of RGM. He said "half the field will be a S&P next year" in an article on Jayski, it is there.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportmanzytrophygirl said:
Nov 14, 2009 at 4:20 PMGood luck with the new sponsorship, Robby.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSheilaLovesNASCAR said:
Nov 14, 2009 at 7:42 PM1 (&4) Why aren't you commenting on Jayski, instead of here? Your comment made no sense with this article.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSpacemaker24 said:
Nov 14, 2009 at 8:41 PMHopefully he just leaves NASCAR altogether. For all his supposed "talent" he sure as hell hasn't accomplished much. From what I have heard while scnning dozens of drivers over the years I am sure the rest of the drivers in Cup would be happy to be rid of him as weel.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportdtk1952 said:
Nov 14, 2009 at 9:09 PM#7, your tears are falling in your beer. Robby may not be my favorite driver, but I admire his fortitude. He reminds me of drivers like AJ Foyt, and other old timers from back when NASCAR was great to watch. Like AJ Foyt he is an all around driver. He may not have the wins, but he has been able to keep his car in the magical top 35. And at least he is out there trying instead of being there just to get a paycheck like the start and parkers, i.e. Joe Nemecheck.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportdtk1952 said:
Nov 14, 2009 at 9:15 PM#1, I can tell that you are not a fan of Robby's. He had David Gilliland drive for him so that he could go off-road racing. He had a chance to tie-up a championship there. If you was a R Gordon fan, you would have known that. I am not a big fan of his, but I try to keep up with him on his dirt racing. Don't spout off about someone if you don't know the facts.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportdaviclar38 said:
Nov 15, 2009 at 11:48 AMDoesn't Robby have ties with people in Vegas? If I were him I would try to get sponsorship from every big casino in Vegas. How many is there? A million per from 20 casinos would only be a drop in the bucket for them to help RGM get up there in at least the top 20. Go for the GOLD Robby, you could still win a championship!
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