Robby Gordon's time alone in desert was enlightening

He's risking a lot this season by fielding his own race team.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Alone in his tent in the African desert, Robby Gordon realized he had a lot of growing up to do.
"Sometimes I make dumb decisions because I still have that preschooler mentality: 'If you push me, I'll push you back,' " Gordon said. "I've realized that's something I internally have to work on."
The time is now for Gordon to stop acting like a child because he's launching a risky venture this season -- trying to field his own race team.
The driver-owner combination has not been very successful at NASCAR's highest level. Ricky Rudd called it quits in 1999, Bill Elliott closed his operation in 2000 and Brett Bodine did the same in 2003.
Since then, no driver has been bold enough to put his own money on the line against the heavily funded super teams -- organizations with as many as four Nextel Cup entries and a slew of engineers, accountants and sponsor-seekers.
Spot in race at risk
But Gordon has always been a risk-taker. When someone tells him he can't do it, the first thing he does is try to prove them wrong. Only this decision is already showing signs of backfiring: Gordon is in danger of not making the season-opening Daytona 500.
His No. 7 Chevrolet showed up at Daytona last weekend with an illegal engine part that NASCAR quickly confiscated and will penalize him for. It put Gordon behind in qualifying preparations, and he was forced to borrow an engine from Dale Earnhardt Inc. to use Sunday.
But the DEI engines were uncharacteristically short on horsepower, and Gordon ended up 38th on the speed chart.
Because new qualifying procedures guarantee a starting spot to any team in the top 35 in points last season -- and Gordon is considered a new team with no points -- he must now race his way into the Daytona 500 in one of Thursday's two qualifying events.
He'll be one of 18 drivers battling for the final four spots in the field.
"Obviously we have a huge obstacle in front of us right now," Gordon said. "But we know we can be competitive once we battle through the new-team blues."
Failed once before
Why would Gordon even try this?
After all, he did it once before and failed, folding his personally owned team midway through the 2000 season. He was considered lucky when car owner Richard Childress picked him up for the final 10 races of the 2001 season.
It was a tryout of sorts, and Gordon passed by scoring his first career Cup victory in the 2001 finale by brashly bumping Jeff Gordon out of the way for a win. Childress rewarded him with a three-year contract that produced another two wins and 22 top-10 finishes.
But Gordon likes to be his own boss. So he and Childress parted ways last season, and Gordon formed Robby Gordon Motorsports.
Contrary to popular opinion, Childress said the three seasons together were not unpleasant despite Gordon's clashes with Kevin Harvick and the intentional wreck Gordon caused last September that ended Tony Stewart and Jeremy Mayfield's championship hopes.
"I enjoyed working with Robby, he was not a problem at all," Childress said. "I wish him good luck with his own team, because I personally don't think it can work in today's NASCAR.
"Look, Robby has the talent to be a champion. There's no doubt in my mind he could win a championship at this level if he just concentrated on driving and left everything else alone."
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.