Deal Puts Robby Gordon Back Behind CART Wheel

Robby Gordon admitted he was impatient, Cal Wells III called impatience a virtue, and with that, Gordon’s full-time return to open-wheel racing became official Tuesday.

Gordon, 29, signed a multiyear contract that Wells hopes will eventually keep the Orange driver in the Rancho Santa Margarita-based Arciero-Wells Racing team the remainder of his career.

Details of the contract were not disclosed. It’s a bit of a homecoming for Gordon, who has known Wells for nearly his entire life and won his fourth consecutive off-road championship in 1989, driving a factory Toyota prepared by Wells’ Precision Preparation, Inc.

Gordon will compete in selected events in the 1998 CART Championship Series, which begins March 15 in Miami and ends Nov. 1 at the California Speedway in Fontana.

Wells said Gordon will race “as often as we can.” It’s a good bet Gordon will race April 5 in the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Gordon joins two other Orange County drivers at Arciero-Wells: Newport Beach’s Max Papis and San Clemente’s Hiro Matsushita.

Gordon’s real value, Wells said, will come in the research and development area. The Costa Mesa-based Toyota Racing Development has built the new RV8C engine.

Gordon’s CART background is in Derrick Walker’s Reynard-Fords. He won two races in 1995.

Including the two drivers at Dan Gurney’s All American Racers in Santa Ana, it brings to five the number of drivers who can compile information in Toyota’s budding program.

“Robby actually has more real-world experience than the balance of the [other four Toyota] drivers,” Wells said.

“We think [he is] a critical addition to the entire Toyota effort [to get] not only where we need to be, but [maintain] that continual development that’s going to be required to be competitive in the most competitive open wheel series in the world.”

Gordon’s signing precipitates Arciero-Wells adding a third car. Wells said sponsorship for that car is about a month away. Arciero-Wells will be the only team to field three cars during selected races.

“I don’t think I’m going to wait for the opportunity [to win],” said Gordon, who won two CART races in 1995. “Everyone knows I don’t have patience. I have the commitment and desire to win races. . . . I think that’s something that maybe is going to bring us to victory lane sooner rather than later.”

“If he were overly patient,” Wells said, “he wouldn’t be the right guy for the job.”