Robby Gordon Gateway Qualifying Notes
CART FED EX Motorola 300
29 May 1999
#22 Johns Manville/Panasonic/Menards Toyota-Swift Practice/Qualifying Notes/Quotes Friday, May 28, 1999 Motorola 300 Round 6 of 20 in the CART FedEx Championship Series At Gateway International Speedway Madison, IL. After a strong morning practice Friday at the Motorola 300 in Madison,IL; Robby Gordon and Team Gordon followed with an even stronger qualifying effort, placing the Johns Manville/Panasonic/Menards Toyota/Swift in the top ten for the first time this season. The ninth place effort is Toyota's second ever top ten qualifying position. The ninth place qualifying position was run at a time of 25.258 seconds, almost a full two tenths of a second faster than their best time of the weekend. Gordon's position assures him of top ten starting positions in both races this weekend. Tomorrow's Motorola 300 and Sunday's 83rd running of the Indianapolis 500 where Gordon will start fourth, on the inside of the second row. Saturday's CART race at Gateway International Raceway will begin at 2pm CDT and will be televised live on ABC Sports. Sunday's Indy 500 will also be televised live on ABC, starting at 11am CDT. Quotes ROBBY GORDON "It's awful nice to back in the top ten! Lee White told me after the morning practice he'd only be happy if I shaved two tenths off in qualifying. I saw him shortly after the run with a smile on his face! This weekend has been very satisfying so far, there have been a lot of people asking me about both races; fatigue, time - you name it. All I can say is when you run well, sleep and time don't matter - you just can't wait to get in the car again and get it on! The guys at Toyota have definitely done some work, and I know my guys have too. Starting this high brings a whole new race strategy for us now. I think we can run with the leaders here like we did in Japan and give them some fits. The car feels really good, even in race trim with full tanks. I'm just damn happy right now, write that!" MIKE HELD (Co-Owner) "When he stuck the 25.2 up there, I almost had an accident - if you know what I mean. We've been working hard to gain each session and this weekend has proved it's possible. Taking a couple of tenths off for qualifying has been tough for us this year. Really, one more tenth here would have put us in the top five. We've had times when the car is solid in practice, but lacked that boost for qualifying, forcing us to work through the field. Starting up front is a big deal these days, the field is so tight that you can't afford to be behind. Tomorrow could be the start of a big weekend for Robby Gordon. Actually, today has already been the start, we needed this. It's a big boost for everyone." # # #
