MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : From the Desert to Indy, Gordon Drives Anything

The way Robby Gordon looks at racing, the more you do it, the better you will get. It doesn’t matter what form it takes, as long as it’s racing.

Gordon, 24, recently signed with A.J. Foyt to run his first full Indy car season in Foyt’s new Ford-powered Lola. Gordon is such a hot prospect that he might even keep his boss on the sidelines at the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in 35 years.

So what is he doing while waiting for the PPG Cup Indy car season to start on March 21 in Australia?

Racing . . . and then some serious testing in the new car with his new team owner.

Gordon, who gained early recognition as a desert racer, will return to his roots Saturday in the Parker 400, a SCORE off-road race in Arizona. It is a race he has won twice and came within 10 miles of winning a third time last year when his battery went dead.

In his own Ford Ranger, Gordon will be the first driver off the starting line when the 20th annual race starts at 11:30 a.m. from the Blue Water Marina on the Colorado River at Parker, Ariz.

“A.J. likes the idea of me racing as much as I can,” Gordon said from his home in Orange. “That’s the way he started, only he was in midgets and sprint cars, and I’m in desert trucks. I like racing, period, and it hasn’t hurt me to switch from one car to another.”

Obviously not. Last October, he drove his truck to second place in the Gold Coast 300 in Nevada, then flew to San Diego, where the same day he won the Exxon Supreme Series race for International Motor Sports Assn. sports cars.

Two years earlier, Gordon drove in the Baja 1,000 to clinch a series championship, finishing about 3:30 a.m. that Sunday. Then he drove from Ensenada to Del Mar, about 100 miles, to drive a Mercury Cougar to an IMSA GTO victory.

After racing this Saturday in the desert, Gordon will head for Daytona Beach, Fla., where he will drive the following weekend for Jack Roush’s Ford Mustang team as defending champion in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Gordon has been a member of the winning team three years in a row. This year, his co-drivers are Tommy Kendall, the UCLA graduate from La Canada who is making the switch from Chevrolet to Ford; and Wally Dallenbach Jr., Gordon’s teammate the past two years.

“Right after Daytona, we start serious testing in the Indy car,” Gordon said. “The car arrived this week, and the crew is getting it ready in Houston for a week’s testing at Phoenix. I’m looking forward to it. I’m a big believer in testing, and that’s something I didn’t get much of last year.”

Gordon drove a limited Indy car schedule for Chip Ganassi in 1992. He started seven races, finishing three, and placed eighth twice.

“Driving in races like Parker and Daytona keeps me fresh and active and alert,” Gordon said. “I’ll probably run four or five off-road races--probably both Baja races--as long as the schedule permits it.”

Among the challengers to Gordon will be his father, Bob, driving a Chenowth VW buggy; Walker Evans, last year’s High Desert Racing Assn. champion in a Dodge pickup; Ivan Stewart, the 1991 champion who is returning to full-time desert racing in a Toyota truck after running only a limited schedule last year, and Scott Douglas, who is switching from the Walker Evans Racing team Dodge to a Ford Ranger for Herzog Racing.

Evans, after looking over the course last week, said drivers had better be prepared for some watery racing.

“There were lakes everywhere, where there weren’t any lakes before,” he said. “Osborne Wash, which usually has nice, deep tracks and a big berm, was as smooth as a desktop where the water had leveled everything. But you get to expect things like that from Parker. It won’t be as bad as it was four years ago when it snowed to beat the band.”

Nearly 200 vehicles are expected to start in the Parker 400, including 22 on motorcycles, who will start ahead of the cars at 6:30 a.m. It is the first of an eight-race series in Nevada, California, Arizona and Baja California promoted by SCORE International, which recently acquired the rival HDRA to form one off-road racing organization.

MOTOCROSS--Defending Camel Supercross champion Jeff Stanton of Sherwood, Mich., and runner-up Damon Bradshaw of Mooresville, N.C., will take up where they left off last year when they race Saturday night in the Coors Light Challenge at Anaheim Stadium. Bradshaw, who lost by only three points in 1992, won last week in Houston, riding a Yamaha. The attendance of 44,817 was the largest in 20 years of Supercross competition in the Astrodome. Stanton finished third on a Honda. Bradshaw won last year and in 1990 at Anaheim, Stanton won in 1991. . . . Former world champion Roger DeCoster is the new executive editor of Dirt Bike magazine. . . . The sixth round of the CMC Golden State Nationals will be held Sunday at the Starwest track in Moreno Valley. Starwest is a new track designed to simulate Supercross. It is located at the Lake Perris Fairgrounds on Ramona Expressway. Night racing will begin March 6 and run every Saturday through the fall, according to Ron Henricksen, one of Starwest’s promoters.

AWARDS--Juan Manuel Fangio II of Argentina, nephew and namesake of the five-time Formula One driving champion, was named winner of the Jerry Titus Memorial Award from the American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Assn. at their annual banquet last Sunday in Burbank. The award goes to the driver receiving the highest number of votes for the association’s All-American team. Richard Petty, who was to be the guest of honor, missed the dinner when weather conditions prevented him from reaching Burbank in time.

PHOENIX--High water in the swollen Gila River, blocking access to Phoenix International Raceway, has forced postponement of the 16th annual Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic this weekend. The four-pronged program, featuring U.S. Auto Club midgets and Silver Crown dirt cars, open competition supermodifieds and the opening race in NASCAR’s Southwest Tour for stock cars, will be held Feb. 26-28, it was announced by track President Emmett (Buddy) Jobe.

SPRINT CARS--The California Racing Assn., which had planned to open its season Saturday night at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, also postponed its race to Feb. 27 because of the storm. The 47th CRA awards banquet is scheduled for Jan. 30 at the Buena Park Hotel. . . . The Slick 50 World Series at Manzanita Speedway will close its ESPN series with races Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The races were postponed from last week because of rain.

MISCELLANY--The International Kart Federation and Southern California Karters open their 1993 season this weekend at Willow Springs Raceway. . . . Robbie Buhl, 1992 Indy Lights champion, received the Michigan’s Best award as the state’s No. 1 sports personality of the year. He beat out Mike Iltich, owner of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings and baseball’s Detroit Tigers, and Elvis Grbac, Michigan quarterback.