Dakar is done for another year. The Mitsubishi team won in the car division, capitalizing on their reliability, rather than outright speed. That is not to say they were slow by any means, but reliability is king in any endurance event. The HUMMER of Robby Gordon and Team Dakar USA finished a well deserved 8th. Reliability and bad luck prevented a better finish, but they cranked off a stage win and a number of top 5 stage finishes. The team did a great job overall.
So why is it that the Monster Energy HUMMER crew received such poor coverage in the televised coverage?
First of all, I should point out that the Garage isn’t a Robby Gordon fan site by an stretch of the imagination. Robby is one of those rare modern drivers who is more like a racer from the Sixties. Put the guy in something with wheels and you don’t have to tell him to go fast, he just does it. A racer’s racer. We’ve had a focus on Robby Gordon this month because he’s a North American who is competing in one of the worlds toughest races, against the best the world has to offer. The sponsors of Team Dakar USA have made it possible for the the team to publish some killer footage through the open source that is Youtube. For that, we are more than thankful, as there are few things better than killer in car video.
So what’s the deal here? Well, here in North America, we are very limited to the Dakar coverage we receive. We are lucky now that a British feed of some sort is televised on OLN, daily for the whole event. The problem is that the Brits tend to either ignore or minimize the American team to the point where it’s almost laughable. Here in The Garage, we’ve been lucky to post HUMMER videos almost daily for the whole event. It’s a good thing too, because those 2 minute videos show the North American viewer a heck of a lot more relevant coverage of their team. Oh sure, they show VW’s, Mitsu’s and BMW’s and even some European rookies but we might be lucky to see 3 seconds of the HUMMER.
Tonight, on the wrap up show they showed Robby overcook it into a corner and scare the crap out of a bunch of spectators. A mistake. So what. Then, they showed a move that is pretty common in Baja but I don’t think is all that well received over there…the bump. Robby nudged a guy from behind to let him know he wanted by and it was caught on camera. In Baja coverage, this is normal, but on the Dakar I get the feeling that the Brits were trying to belittle the brash American.
I could be wrong, but I think that Team Dakar USA is the first American team and driver to win a stage at Dakar. They also had several top fives and finished in the top ten overall. These guys have made some incredible accomplishments. They’ve got some pretty powerful marketing people, maybe they can convince an American network to fund some real coverage for next year. Heck, MTV follows the Gumball side show, why don’t they head to the dark continent in 2008 to see Robby Gordon win the whole enchilada?
Quite frankly, bumping is a bit brash in Dakar and the Brits are justified in calling ‘bad form’ on Gordon’s actions, Dakar isn’t Baja.
As for the issue of now showing the American’s much; There were 3 Americans out of 109 entrants. Americans are not favoured to win Dakar. Hummers are disgusting vehicles which just exemplify American oversized excesses and quite frankly we can assume the 394 km stage win for Tan Tan – Zouérat was due to the lack of performance of the other drivers (while I am not discounting Gordon’s obvious ability, the vehicle is just a mockery of a proper rally raid vehicle for the class). Maybe if Gordon were to drive a Mitsu, VW or even a BMW coverage might have been different.
Also take into consideration that Gordon is a nobody in terms of favourites. When you have greats like Carlos Sainz and Ari Vatanen, as well as more recently watched Jutta Kleinschmidt, how can one expect an American to stand out.
This reminds me of how Americans used to constantly praise John Buffum for being such an “amazing” Rally pilot, yet when he competed on a global scale against other country’s rally drivers, the highest he ever placed overall was 26th (if my memory serves me well).
Reality of it is as such, most people just don’t care about the American drivers, they are for the most part insignificant. Look at the mockery Scott Speed has become in F1, proving to be yet another foolish, brash American for the rest of the world to point at, reinforcing the apparently justified stereotype we have unfortunately foisted upon ourselves.
And before I’m assumed to be some expat, Ill make it clear; I am born and raised in America, were I still reside today. I just call it as I see it without clouding my views by patriotic vitriol.
Eric
1986 SCCA NEDiv Solo I (Hillclimb) Champion, Rally Class.
I could not agree with your article more. Robby Gordon does get slanted coverage. Some of that he brings on himself (in the US at least), but he is rarely praised for his efforts.
I think even Robbie Gordon fans at some point have hated him for at least a short time before becoming a fan of his.
I am a Robbie Gordon fan, and the only thing that kept me tuned into the Dakar on OLN (now Versus) was the possibility of seeing Robbie flying past a slower competitor and moving towards the top of the standings after his poor start.
(and who else thinks that the “cars” should have their own one hour show, and give the bikes and trucks a separate hour show?)
(BTW, found your site via digg.com)
Eric… the don’t forget that this H3 is a purpose built race truck. I had the pleasure of following a desert race prepped truck down a stage once. Definately nowhere close to production and a pleasure to watch…till I passed it on the stage!
You’ve gotta admit though that it would be nice to see better coverage of a hometown (well…sorta) boy.
Anthony, good on ya! Digg rocks!
btw…Scott Speed is a dink!