Dakar Rally’s television coverage alluded to a wreck that forced American racing legend Robby Gordon to withdraw from the race, but offered few details. Now we know why: the oops in question was quite boneheaded, involving one of Gordon’s support vehicles and some dangerous shenanigans on the highway.
According to Autoblog, a fan in a truck following the team took this video of Gordon’s HST Gordini on the highway en route to the podium ceremony following the 13th and final stage of the Dakar Rally.
A poster on the Planet Robby forums noticed that Robby Gordon disappeared from the stage finishing order and the overall results after the stage was over, leading many to wonder what had happened to him.
Unfortunately, it was this:
In the video, you can see Gordon and one of his crew members hand things back and forth out their vehicles’ windows a couple times before Gordon swerves into his own support vehicle: a regular Hummer H2 road truck, not equipped with a roll cage or racing harnesses. One of Gordon’s crew members was hanging out the H2's passenger-side window with some bottles when the crash occurred.
Although the video cuts out following the hit, the videographer’s account on Infobae notes that the H2 turned onto its side following the hit.
Sometimes words fail to encapsulate the proper amount of stupidity represented in a single snafu, in which case: oh, bless your heart.
It’s hard not to love what Gordon is doing with the HST Gordini. He’s running an American-built homebrew design made especially for tackling these incredibly tough off-road races. Off-road racing is something he’s passionate about, and it’s tough to see him go off in such an avoidable and dangerous way.
But sometimes stuff happens, and it’s your own fault for being a bit reckless and dumb. Own up to it and if you come back, do better, dude.
Rule number one (well, one of several rule number ones) of rally: do not screw around on the transit stages between closed rally locations, and especially do not get in trouble there. You’re amongst everyday traffic. Those are the folks who ultimately allow you to rally there. “Don’t be that guy” is written into the rules for a reason.
Fortunately, Autoblog reports that while there were two injuries as a result of the accident, they were minor and everyone will likely recover. They also noted that this isn’t Gordon’s first rally accident, as he injured a spectator during the 2015 Baja 500.
UPDATE: Screenshots of a Facebook conversation posted by Tim explain that the Hummer rolled about nine times. Crew member Maurice Ortega writes:
Sheldon was racing Dakar in South America, Robby G just finished. We were headed back to Argentina, I was moving things around with out seat belt off we had a roll over 9 times I got spit out the door. Broke Lh leg in 4 places, 6 broken ribs, going for surgery to night.
GIF via YouTube
Contact the author at stef.schrader@jalopnik.com.