Goulds Pumps/ITT Industries 250 - Tina Gordon Notes

Tina Gordon Notes, Quotes: Colorado 250
‘Busch Series Just as Competitive as Cup’

This weekend Tina Gordon and the #39 Yahoo! Ford team travel west to Colorado. Gordon and the team will be preparing for Sunday’s Colorado 250 NASCAR Busch Series race at the one-mile Pikes Peak (Col.) International Raceway.

Gordon, 33, 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 Pikes Peak:

“There aren’t too many times in the season when the Busch Series stands alone at any one track like it is this weekend at Pike Peak. Can the Busch Series do it, and still draw a big crowd, and put on a great show? Most definitely. We are the still just one step below NASCAR’s top series, Nextel Cup, and we put on just as good of a race - if not better a lot of the time. I think we have a great fan base, and the fans in the state of Colorado deserve to see great racing. I think we provide that for them.

“There are a lot of tracks across the country, and a lot of them are state-of-the-art facilities. They all might not have Nextel Cup dates, but tracks like Kentucky, Nashville and Pikes Peak really strive on having the Busch Series come in and drawing fans to their track. Racing fans just want to watch good, clean, hard racing and as long as we can provide that we can always survive without having to run with the Cup guys.

“Pikes Peak is a great track and serves as one of the only stops for NASCAR in that region of the United States. This is a big deal for us to come in and put on a good show. We want to grow the sport. The Busch Series has a lot of pressure to put on a good show for these fans. We want to really impress them and show them that NASCAR is a great sport. I think it’s a great opportunity for us and we will put on just as good of a show here than anywhere else.

“On the other hand, there are a lot of positives that come with racing companion with the Cup Series. They have such a huge fan base that, when combined with ours, lead to huge crowds throughout the entire weekend. It’s good for the sport to showcase all your top teams and drivers all in one weekend at one track. It’s probably better for the fans too who want to see both the stars of the Busch Series and Nextel Cup Series race in one weekend. There are a lot of benefits to having companion weekends. It really helped in the Craftsman Truck Series too when we raced on a Friday before Busch or Cup.

“As a driver, and especially as a Busch rookie like myself, I prefer racing with the Cup guys. This is coming from a racer’s and rookie’s standpoint. To be able to watch the Cup guys practice and see what they are doing on the same track you just practiced on is extremely helpful. To be a student on the top of the hauler, and study what they are doing compared to what you are doing, really helps you understand the tracks better. That’s really important for me. I don’t have a lot of experience at some of these tracks. If I know what Jeff Gordon is doing, or how he is handling a certain turn, then maybe I can pick up on that and use it to my advantage. The Cup guys do it too. Look at how many Cup guys are watching us race on Saturday or even racing with us. They use us to learn just as much as we do to them. And the fans don’t seem to mind because they are seeing the best of both worlds.

“There are a lot of good points when we race with the Cup guys, but we don’t need them to put on a good show either. We are just as much professional, as competitive, and as entertaining as the Cup Series. I think you’ll see that this weekend at Pikes Peak. This Yahoo! Ford team prepares just as hard for Pikes Peak as they do for Daytona. Every race counts for us and we’re ready to have a good showing for our fans in Colorado on Saturday.”