Vanguard had a three-year agreement with Team Gordon to sponsor his Dakar efforts through 2010 [...] But the Amaury Sports Organization canceled the event the day before its Jan. 5 start because of “direct” threats of terrorism from al-Qaida-linked militants, and Gordon was outspoken in his belief that at least a portion of the 16-day trek should have continued.
Vanguard, which produces software designed to protect its customers from cyber-terrorism attacks, believed the threats were legitimate and agreed with the cancellation.
Gordon publicly disagreed, and blasted the ASO for not having a backup plan. He also downplayed the extent of the threats, which began with the Dec. 24 slayings of a family of French tourists by al-Qaeda-linked militants in Mauritania.
“It is not positive to be associated with someone who said al-Qaeda attacks are no worse than an average night in America - especially for a security software company. It’s simply not a true or accurate statement,” Vanguard told AP. Full Story
In my opinion, it’s not real positive to be associated with a security software company which runs willy-nilly every time a few idiots with machine guns scream “my God’s better than your God” before blowing away a family eating lunch on the side of the road.
Robby Gordon was spot on with the comments he made after the Dakar Rally cancellation. If these lilly-livered Vanguard people want to bow to “terrorists” (though, in that situation, the French — big surprise — basically bowed to nothing more than a ragtag bunch of gun-toting murderers) … honestly, they should simply move their headquarters to France, where it’s completely acceptable to run from everyone.
“Vanguard” [defined as: forefront, advance guard, spearhead, front, front line, fore, lead, cutting edge; avant-garde, leaders, founders, pioneers, trailblazers, trendsetters, innovators, groundbreakers], my ass, lol.
Gordon’s far better off without simpering cowards like that behind him, (pardon the pun, grin …)
Update:
Response from RG’s camp:
We are disappointed by Vanguard’s decision to present our issues to the media. But given the inaccuracies and misleading statements recently published by Vanguard, we want to make sure that the public is aware of important information pertaining to the 2008 Dakar event. Full Release
2 Comments
Well said!
I find it funny really that Vanguard can’t take “No” for an answer from the Courts (they lost a motion on this matter on March 5th) so they launch a negative press campaign to try to embarass the money back. I guess they figure that there is no such thing as bad press (isn’t that right Mr. Mosely?)
Ronn Bailey, Vanguard’s President, says that he has spent millions each of the preceeding three years running his own cars and somehow has not made it past Day 8 of the 17 days of the Paris-Dakar…last year he destroyed the car on two occasions (once on a Spanish Highway!)…not exactly a great reference for him now is it?
Was it right to cancel Paris-Dakar?…let’s put it this way…A week after the Paris-Dakar was to be run there was a Amateur Rally (of sorts) from Budepest to Barnako in Mali. Though it followed a different route the the Dakar race it went through the same country of Mauratania with no problems and the police and army were covering every part of the route….check out their website at: http://www.budapestbamako.org/en/
Sounds to me like they could have run the Dakar race with the same protection.
Besides, if you think the Vanguard guy is as politically correct as he’d like to make out, you should see him give a presentation at one of his own company functions…scary, really scary.
I can’t wait for next years Dakar race to see what sort of chaos Ronn can generate.
AW
Hi, AW, and thanks for the terrific comment!!
I’m grateful for your insight into Vanguard/Bailey, as it certainly sounds as if you know of what you write in terms of him/his company, grin … Any time you’d like to give us more on the topic, we’re ALL ears!
I had my own questions about the Bailey/Gordon association and its obvious blowback (lol), as I’d posted about Bailey being taken on as a driver for Dakar before I really made the connection that he was “Vanguard”.
Now, it’s more than fascinating to me. Interesting to see him pretty much buying wheel-time with a great off-road team like Gordon’s, then throwing the “sponsor” hat back on just in time to try to recoup his own losses due to Dakar’s cancellation (as if he was clueless about what Gordon would think OR say about it all, and without reservation).
So, Bailey not only has pretty lousy driving references (grin), but also pretty lousy business references after this mess. I know that I’d never do business with any organization nearly as flighty as Vanguard seems to be under his leadership — especially for something like corporate “security” of any kind. (Geeez … apparently he hasn’t yet hired a real PR expert to tell him that he’s actin’ like a dumbass, and how that’ll soon directly affect his bottom-line … ahem.)
Then again, I’m sure that’s just my take on it, grin …
As far as the Budapest to Bamako rally goes, I LOVED those stories, and we covered them here — ENTIRELY COOL STUFF!!! (Here’s the link to one of them, in case you missed it!)
THAT’S HEART, THAT’S what this is all about, and THAT’S why Bailey needs to move his company to France and take up whine-making.
hehe … sorry … couldn’t resist.
Again — thanks so much for pipin’ in — I hope you’ll make it a habit!!
Best,
angler
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