ROBBY GORDON Racing has its ups, downs but attitude remains same

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- It is what it is.
That's one of my favorite sayings. It's the way I describe how a driver and team have to cope with the ever-changing -- and sometimes uncontrollable -- circumstances in motorsports.
That's the way it was for me last week. I had to steer through difficult and disappointing situations as I qualified for the Indianapolis 500 and competed in two NASCAR races in Richmond, Va.
I crashed. It rained. My cars ran well at times and not the way I wanted at others. We made some good decisions, and there were a few I wish I could rethink.
That's racing.
Crashed at Indy
Near the end of the second day of Indy 500 practice, I did a lap over 218 mph, warming up for what was going to be a simulated four-lap qualifying run in the Meijer Dallara-Chevrolet that I own. There wasn't enough temperature yet in the tires, however, and I spun and hit the wall.
Since this will be my 10th Indy 500, I should have known better.
Thanks to the energy-absorbing SAFER barriers pioneered at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- and let me say I think every racetrack in the world should pay attention to what they are doing at Indianapolis to improve safety -- I wasn't hurt.
It meant, however, shifting the team's attention to our backup car. We worked hard but never quite got it as fast as the primary car before I had to leave for Richmond and the NASCAR Busch and Nextel Cup events there.
When I got back to Indy on Saturday morning, it was raining -- a bad deal for me because I needed to leave by 2:30 p.m. to return to Richmond. It was frustrating, looking at my watch as the track dried, wondering if I'd be able to make my run, so I took a nap in my motorcoach.
Rushed qualifying
Qualifying began over three hours late, so when I actually went out for my run it was almost exactly the time I was supposed to leave. I was very disappointed with my 18th place 216.522 mph average. But with literally no time to spare, I didn't have the luxury of pulling into the pits and trying to correct the handling problems that prevented me from holding the throttle open in turn one.
One thing I've learned from experience is you can't force things in an ill-handling car at Indianapolis, especially in the first turn, where Bryan Herta, Felipe Giaffone and Alex Barron all crashed later that afternoon.
I helicoptered out of the speedway to the Indianapolis airport for a quick one-hour flight to Richmond. By that time, I was already thinking about that evening's Chevy American Revolution 400, where Friday I had qualified sixth in the Cingular Wireless Chevy. An important reason I had to leave Indy in such a rush was if I missed NASCAR's mandatory drivers' meeting, I would have had to start last -- a big disadvantage on a three-quarter mile oval.
I made it with less than one minute to spare.
Flat tires at NASCAR
Sure enough, considering how the weekend went, I had a left-front tire go flat on the second lap. I had to pit and that dropped me all the way back to 41st for the restart, and I pretty much had my hands full the rest of the night.
Another flat later on caused me to scrape the wall and I finished 24th.
On Friday night, more handling issues left me in 19th place in the NASCAR Busch Series race in my Fruit of the Loom Chevy.
I'm disappointed, but I'm also the kind of person who puts disappointment behind me fairly quickly. I'm back in Indy this week to work on race-day setups and then it's off to Charlotte for Saturday night's NASCAR All-Star Challenge.
Whatever happens, my attitude will be the same: It is what it is.