Robby Gordon is doing pretty darned well in the Dakar Rally, but he's not getting much promotional support

By Mike Mulhern
mikemulhern.net

   DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.

   Robby Gordon won't be in town for this weekend's NASCAR Daytona 500 FanFest. He's still down in the Andes, in the final days of the South American 'Dakar Rally,' wheeling around somewhere in his Hummer.
   The off-road racer, who will be running Toyotas this season on the NASCAR tour, has General Motors sponsorship for his Dakar adventures, though with GM apparently trying to sell off its Hummer division, there seems to be very little if any promotional effort behind Gordon this time around.
   Nevertheless Gordon isn't doing badly in this grueling event.
   Gordon reports in on the latest, Stage 13: 
   "It was another good day for Team Dakar USA, despite getting stuck late in the stage. We got trapped on top of a bed of rocks, which burnt the clutch.
   "As a result, we were only able to drive in first gear to the finish, which was about 80 km away.
    "I bet we lost about 45 minutes easy. But the leaders only beat us by 25.
    "So we got another solid third-place finish. That's the fourth time we finished third.
    "We are right where we want to be going into the last days of the Rally, so I would not count out Team Dakar USA just yet.
    "Until Carlos Sainz rolled his race vehicle in a ravine today, he had run a flawless race, and everyone would have thought that he had it locked up.
    "But it is the Dakar Rally, and anything can happen."

   (check it out here)