Car: #7 car for Robby Gordon Motorsports in the Nextel Cup
Born: January 2, 1969 in Bellflower, Calif.

In the family: His father, Bob, was an off-road racing legend.

Career highlights: Robby Gordon began his career in off-road racing, winning several championships.

Gordon is known for his aggressive driving style, incredible car control, and for controversy on and off the track.

• In 1990, Gordon began racing sports cars, where he had considerable success. In 1992, he began racing Indy Cars, and raced full time in the Indy Car series from 1993-1996, capturing two wins. In 1998 and 1999, Gordon fielded his own Indy team, but with limited success. He ultimately left open-wheel racing for safety concerns, claiming that Indy Cars are too fast and dangerous to run on oval tracks.

• In 1991, he made his first NASCAR Cup Series start in the Daytona 500, and ran in the serried occasionally until 1997, when he ran 22 races for Team SABCO. He returned again in 2000 and ran a half season with his own team, though his results were again disappointing.

• In 2001, he ran a few races for Morgan McClure, then signed on with Richard Childress Racing at the end of the year and won a controversial race at New Hampshire International Speedway in which he was accused of spinning out Jeff Gordon for the victory.

• In 2003, he won at Infineon Raceway after he passed his teammate, Kevin Harvick, under caution. He won again in 2003 at the series’ other road course, Watkins Glen.

• In 2004, he started his own Busch Series team, which he moved up to the Cup Series in 2005, at which time he left Richard Childress Racing. Gordon gained national attention in 2005 when he got into an on-track altercation with Michael Waltrip. After he climbed out of his wrecked vehicle, he waited for Waltrip to pass and threw his helmet at him, and then proceeded to call Waltrip a “piece of s**t” in an interview on TNT just after the crash. The helmet was later auctioned off for charity, and was purchased for $51,100 by the online casino GoldenPalace.com.

A huge number of Robby Gordon fan sites exist out there, as he is amongst the most loved racers in NASCAR.