They sure are. He's definitely the fan's favorite, and he makes the best effort to put on a show for them. As for him soft-pedalling it to stay under the radar of the ACO that seems an impossibility, Robby only knows WFO.
Great videos! Robbie brings so much to the event the ASO should be bending over (forward) to include him and want him to return. Sure he's way gnarly driving, his show is THE best. Pitching it sideways on asphalt on a transfer, launching, driving like Robbie does, it's what fans love to see. But that skatepark video and the one with all the people sitting on his Humbuggy or the video from a few years ago when they were driving while sitting on the roof of the Humbuggy.... You'd NEVER see another one of these other top drivers doing shit like that! Those other guys are too busy looking down their nose at you and the fans.
Wow, you're so hardcore. I assume you must be a dakar finisher, because surely you wouldn't be so foolish as to think you know what it's actually like without having done it.
I agree with this. He just also gives the crowd an underdog to root for - the Hummer versus the cocky Mini-brigade. Along with his gung-ho, we're-here-to-boogy way of doing things it makes him a real treat to follow in Dakar. The car competition surely wouldn't be half as interesting without him. I for one probably wouldn't be watching it anymore.
Them was my fighting words as a kid. Now I am very proud to be a distinguished older gentleman who rides dirt bikes with Francis as my middle name. My how we change.
NASCAR isn't scheduled to pick up and move the entire stadium and all the race teams to another city 300 miles away by the next morning.
... LOL...you and only a few others are probably the only ones that get that! That was a youth favorite, cult movie!
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All this talk makes me want a hulkaburger I wonder how a" heavily armed recreational vehicle" would do at dakar We are all showing our age!
Well the whole scrutineering Pass then Un-pass last year and the "Talk" that other teams were holding out on ratting him out about it until the Hummer got within striking range makes me think that ASO takes his money and let's him play and bring in the fan base (slight US but crowd pleaser on the stages). I say play because it doesn't seem that they will actually ever let him win, though I wonder if that would all change if he could convince a manufacturer with a strong European presence, Ford comes to mind, to field a factory team of Pick Em Up Trucks or SUV "Look Alike" buggies. I don't really watch Robby in the other disciplines he races but when it comes to Dakar I sure do, the "American Rebel" logo appeals to me, I've done the Planet Robby thing since the Monster days just for these two weeks. GO Robby!!!
The general public knows little of what really went down with Robby & the ASO or the FIA on his getting DQed. I do know that it was general knowledge in the bivouac that the other teams knew about "systems" down stream of the restrictor on his car, did the ASO overlook it and then the FIA stepped in when BMW blew the whistle? Water under the bridge. There is no ASO vs. American thing happening no matter what the fanatics blather about. There was a Dakar race before Robby and there will be a Dakar race next year when he stays home to run his SST business. Excitable kids at a skate park is kewl, but do you really think it brings the ASO a measurable increase in revenue? Just like what we see in Baja when he shows up to race, lots of crowd excitement as he goes through contingency and everyone yells and yea hoos when he races by, but those people are there even when he's not racing. Ever see the turn out for WRC in Argentina?? They have to cancel special stages because the crowds are too large.
Can't say I have, only in Europe. I guess I get caught up in the Thrilla in Manila type hype he brings... Pulls me in every time... That's not to say he's not a Top Drawer Performance, upper stuff is covered with Riff Raff, Neduro, and various parts, jet kit, steering damper, suspension stickers....