‘Crash’ Gordon Prevails
The pattern continued as Robby Gordon crashed then won, holding off Jimmy Vasser to take the Detroit Grand Prix.
Gordon crashed in practice on Friday, then led the opening round of qualifying. The 26-year-old driver hit the wall again on Saturday and still held onto the pole.
Sunday, he slapped the wall in the morning warmup, damaging the front end of his Ford-powered Reynard. But the long-suffering Walker Racing crew again put the car right in time for Gordon to work his magic as he led from lap 43 to the end of the 77-lap race on Belle Isle’s 2.1-mile, 14-turn street course.
Terry Labonte, who benefited when teammate Jeff Gordon improperly shifted gears on a restart with six laps remaining, drove to an unexpected victory in the UAW-GM 500.
After leading 124 of 200 laps at Pocono International Raceway, Gordon shifted poorly and damaged his engine. That allowed Labonte, who got around the second-place Ford Thunderbird of Ted Musgrave on the restart, to win by 1.64 seconds.
The victory was the second this season for Labonte and the fifth for the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Monte Carlos.
Jean Alesi, taking control after defending champion Michael Schumacher got stuck in third gear with 12 laps to go, won the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal for his first Formula One victory.
Driving a Ferrari, the Frenchman averaged 106.747 mph and beat runner-up Rubens Barrichello of Brazil, in a JordanPeugeot, by 31.687 seconds.