Monster Energy’s Robby Gordon is racing his Monster Energy/Hummer in the annual Dakar Rally held this year in Argentina and Chile

  
!!!NEWSFLASH!!! – Gordon’s into podium position at 3rd place with two stages remaining!

CORONA, Calif., (Jan. 15 , 2009) – With two stages remaining in the 2009 Dakar Rally, Monster Energy’s Robby Gordon has moved into 3rd place overall in the Car division of the famous endurance race being run right now through Argentina and Chile.

With daily reports on MonsterArmy.com and MonsterEnergy.com, the Monster Army has been able to stay in touch with General Gordon’s efforts halfway around the world in sometimes desolate areas of the two South American countries.

We tracked down a few Monster Army members and got them to fire off some questions to Gordon, which we relayed down to a desert in Chile via satellite phone. Robby picked up and here’s what went down in the Monster Energy Six Pack!

1.)    “How’s the Hummer working? Would you rather have your Baja truck down there?” – Tim V., Colorado

Robby Gordon: “The Monster Energy Hummer is working great. Right now, we are only 1 hour, 18 minutes behind the leader and are sitting in third place overall. We can identify every area that we have lost time that amounts to the hour or so that we are behind. The one thing that you can buy is experience. We think that we will be even stronger next year. The Monster Energy trophy truck would not be as competitive here in Chile / Argentina.”

2.)    “Is this Dakar race in South America harder or easier than the one in Africa?” – Kyle P., California

Robby Gordon: “The race started out easier; however, it is has been equally as tough as Africa in the last 5 stages. Finally, we are getting to the terrain that the Hummer was built for, and you can see where our performance has increased in the last couple days.”

3.)    “Have you taken your Hummer over any sweet jumps?” – Napoleon D., Idaho

Robby Gordon: “Unfortunately, we got a couple that we didn’t mean to jump. The key to this race is survival - you want to go fast and not break your equipment. We did risk earlier in the Rally when we rolled. You can see the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOy3RU05AuQ. We got lucky that we didn’t do any significant damage to the Monster Energy Hummer that would have precluded us from continuing the Rally. Keep on keeping on!”

4.)    “Do you guys drink Monsters to stay awake during the race?” – Armando R., California

Robby Gordon: “The guys have definitely needed Monsters this year! There are a lot of very long hours and sleepless nights, so they can certainly use the energy boost.”

5.)    “What place are you in right now and do you think you can win it?” – Ed W., Ohio

Robby Gordon: “We were fifth yesterday and now we are third today. If we have one more day like today, and we will be right where we need to be. There is still a long way to go. We just need to finish strong and have no problems.”

6.)    “Are you using any mad NASCAR skills down there?” – Fraser D., North Carolina

Robby Gordon: “From a driver standpoint, I don’t really use any NASCAR skills for the Dakar Rally. The one thing that the Dakar Rally program has in common with the NASCAR program is the preparation. It is the only way that we can do this and be competitive. It is just like the NASCAR program where you only have a certain amount of time before the next practice, etc. so we just have to be as prepared as possible.”

Monster Energy supports the sport. Be it Dakar, SX, rally, insane distance jumping, MX, MotoGP, road racing, supermoto, off-road, FMX, skate, MTB, rock crawling, wake, mini bikes, surf, snow, BMX – name it – the athletes are rockin’ Monster Energy more than anything these days. Check out all the types – Original Monster Energy, Monster Lo-Carb, Monster Assault, Monster Khaos, Monster’s fruit juice hybrid dubbed “M-80,” the party-friendly MIXXD, the ground-breaking Java Monster premium coffee & cream drink line supercharged with our Monster Energy blend, along with the new Monster Energy “Hitman” energy shot. Robby Gordon digs ‘em – so will you. On the ‘Net at www.monsterarmy.com and www.monsterenergy.com