Hummer Division and Robby Gordon Motorsports have joined together to take on the Dakar Rally, widely considered to be the most grueling off-road race in the world due to its brutal terrain and extreme environmental conditions. Gordon will lead his Team Dakar USA from behind the wheel of a HUMMER H3 race truck. His relationship with Hummer will also include driving an H3 in the 2006 Baja 1000 and Baja 500 desert races. Team Dakar USAs main objective will be to prove to the world that American innovation and determination can compete on the world stage, said Gordon. We started planning for this just after my first Dakar Rally, where we won two stages, and I know we are prepared and ready to take on the world. Gordons H3 will consist of an H3 body paired with a specially developed chassis featuring a suspension designed by him and his Off-Road team. The H3 will be a tube-chassis vehicle similar to Trophy Trucks races in the famed Baja 1000, except that it will have a fully enclosed air-conditioned cockpit, including windshield and side windows. It will be powered by a production-based General Motors V8 engine.
The 16-stage Dakar race covers more than 6,000 miles (nearly 10,000 km) in just over two weeks. The 2006 Dakar begins on December 31 in Lisbon, Portugal and runs through Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, and Guinea before finishing in the capital city of Dakar, in Senegal. More information on the Dakar race is available at teamdakarusa.com. Information on HUMMER products is available at www.hummer.com. Robby Gordon was named by Off-Road retailer magazine in 2004 as one of the five most influential people in the off-road industry. He has successfully owned and operated teams in the NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch Series, CART, IRL and SCORE.(Robby Gordon PR)(11-2-2005)
