Zero-tolerance policy almost ended Gordon’s career

Robby Gordon

Trucking 2000

6/9/2008

Following the Daytona 500, NASCAR issued penalties that were nothing short of career-ending for Robby Gordon. Following the 50th run of the historic race, NASCAR penalized a total of 10 teams, but the harshest penalties went to Gordon. A point deduction dropped him from ninth to 40th, and his crew chief, Frank Kerr, was fined $100,000, suspended and placed on probation.

Gordon appealed the decision to the National Stock Car Racing Commission in early March, desperately needing relief, but initially his odds weren’t good. In 96 hearings held over the past eight years, the commission has upheld 66 decisions. It overturned penalties just eight times, reduced penalties 20 times, and even increased the original penalties twice.

The issue was over an unapproved front bumper on his brand new Dodge when he reported to the season-opening Daytona 500. But, Gordon insisted the penalty hardly fit the crime. “We’re going to jail for a crime we didn’t commit,” he’s steadfastly insisted. The incident has marked a tough two months for Gordon, the stubbornly lovable lone wolf of NASCAR insists on doing everything his very own way.

He’s NASCAR’s last owner-driver, and when terrorist threats led to the cancellation of the Dakar Rally in January, costing Robby Gordon Motorsports more than $4 million in personal losses, he had to scramble to get his race team on solid footing. That meant quickly putting an alliance together with Gillett Evernham Motorsports that required him to move from Ford to Dodge the week before teams reported to Daytona.

With just a few days to make the transition, his team scrambled to build him race cars and used whatever parts the manufacturer sent his way. Gordon said the unapproved bumper came from Dodge, and with zero familiarity in the new equipment, the team had no way of knowing the part had yet to receive NASCAR’s approval for competition.

“It was an unfortunate series of human errors compounded by the very short timeframe RGM had to get their car changed to Dodge Chargers in time for the Daytona 500,” said Kipp Owen, director of SRT and Dodge Motorsports Engineering.“Dodge has taken appropriate steps in the warehouse to make sure that prototype parts cannot be mistaken for approved parts in the future and hopes that the circumstances surrounding this error are taken into consideration.”

As far as the inspectors and NASCAR officials go, they had little wiggle room on the issue. Since implementing a zero tolerance policy on modifications to the Car of Tomorrow, the sanctioning body has ruled with an iron fist on teams that run afoul of the inspectors. Add in an increased effort to sweep the culture of cheating out of the sport, and penalties have been brutal. Suspensions are lengthy and fines which averaged about $200,000 a year over the past decade totaled almost $1 million in 2007 alone.

In deliberating Gordon’s case, the Commission considered several factors. The bumper cover constituted obvious rule infractions, which Gordon did not contest. The Commission agreed with NASCAR; however, “regardless of the source of an unapproved part on a racecar, the race team that officially enters the car in a NASCAR race is ultimately held accountable for that racecar’s conformance or non-conformance to the rules.”

But, the facts presented during the hearing did represent an extraordinary and unusual set of circumstances. While it doesn’t excuse the infraction, the commission decided to reinstate the car owner and driver championship points and lift the suspension on Gordon’s crew chief, but the fine was increased. The restoration of the points moved Gordon to 21st from 37th in the standings, lifting him well above the all-important top-35 mark needed to guarantee a spot in the field each week.

For Frank Kerr, the commission increased the penalty to $150,000 and placed him on probation through Dec. 31. Gordon can still appeal this decision to the National Stock Car Racing Commissioner, but he seems happy with the results.

“We see this as good news,” Gordon said. “We are grateful the commissioners rescinded the points penalty and suspension but disappointed by the fine. Still, we see this as a victory for Robby Gordon Motorsports.”Gordon said he knew if the penalties would’ve reamined, his days as a car owner would’ve been numbered, and he’s worked too hard and too long to have seen it all crumble, something even NASCAR privately agreed with.

“We don’t want to fight NASCAR,” Gordon said. “We want to participate in NASCAR, and we want to compete at this level. Now we plan to put this issue behind us and concentrate on making the Chase in 2008 as well as getting the Jim Beam Dodge into Victory Lane.”