Posted on 07/07/2003 11:07:39 AM PDT by Wolfstar
Well, it's about that time of the year for me to write one of those articles that gets me in trouble. I don't try to do this, but sometimes it just happens. If you have read my stuff before you know that I write what I see and I hold nothing back.
Dale Earnhardt Jr's dominance in the Busch series continued this weekend. He led wire to wire and took the win at Daytona.
Anytime Dale Jr wins, the conspiracy theorists come out in full form and make up the craziest stories as to how NASCAR let Dale get away with it and how they favor him. I am always one to say that the rules are the rules and NASCAR can not fix the outcome of a race.
I still believe that.
However, I saw something on Friday that shocked me. Not only did Jr's crew do something so blatantly obvious during inspection, but the NASCAR officials let it go, and to top it off they laughed and joked about it.
[SNIP]
This weekend I was at Daytona with garage/pit credentials courtesy of NASCAR. After this, it'll probably be the last time.
Inspection finally opened up prior to the race and the cars were sent thru a maze in the garage area consisting of about 5 or 6 different areas that the teams pushed the cars thru. One checked body templates, one checked under the cars, one checked the weight, etc. I found it odd that they would move the cars to several different locations to accomplish this, but a NASCAR official escorted each car from station to station to ensure that no one did anything illegal.
When Dale Jr's car was going thru the station that checks the roof height and the valance heights and others, I walked over to that station and snapped off a couple pictures...
[SNIP]
Jr's team pushed the car up on the scales.
The NASCAR officials were having the teams disconnect and reconnect the sway bar at the scales. So, the 8 team, as others, lifted the hood and went to work on the sway bar. Then it happened.
One of Jr's crew members walked over to the passenger side and while the inspectors were looking at the computer to see the numbers and the other one was watching the guy wrenching on the sway bar, the crew member grabbed the hood in the area where it goes over the right front tire and bent it severely upward away from the fender. I sat there for a second thinking, "Why did he do that?"
Then the officials told them to close the hood and move on to the next station, they had passed this portion of inspection. At this point the same crew member closed the hood and now it didn’t fit with the fender anymore. So what did he do? He grabbed the fender and yanked it up at least an inch and a half to meet the newly shaped hood. As he yanked it up, the rest of the fender, above the tire twisted and contorted to this new shape. He closed the hood and it still wasn’t right, so he opened it and adjusted the fender some more until he got it where he wanted it. Then he closed the hood.
This was a major modification to the shape of the fender at a place where the templates are checked very closely.
To make it worse, there were 3 NASCAR inspectors watching this. One Winston Cup inspector and 2 Busch series officials.
They looked at each other and one said to Jr's guys, "That was a major adjustment there guys, I think you need to go back thru the templates."
I thought, "Ok, they are going to do the right thing."
Then they all laughed. The crew guy said, "OH, they never check that anyways." And they laughed some more. The main inspector looked at the obviously tweaked fender and shook his head and said, "I knew we couldn't trust you guys." And they all laughed again.
They pushed the car over to the next station and that was the end of it.
How could these officials let this team make such a blatant adjustment to a critical part of the car and not make them go back thru the templates?
[SNIP]
Now, I am sure all the Jr fans will write in and tell me that I am jealous of Jr or that I need to get a life. But I want you to seriously consider what happened. The rules specifically state that no adjustments can be made to the body of the car after it goes thru the templates or else you must go thru the templates again. A major reshaping of this fender was done and the officials just laughed it off.
I watched several other teams get sent back thru the templates and other stations for far less minor infractions.
Jr fan or not, a rule is rule and it must be enforced evenly. I place the blame here on the NASCAR officials and not on Jr's team. They did what they had to do and they got away with it. The officials did not do their job properly. I personally would like to see an investigation into this and find out why it was allowed. I have the names of all 3 NASCAR officials if anybody wants them. And, I actually had one person say that post race inspection would have found the infraction if there was one. They do not template the car in post race inspection. The cars bump each other during the race.
[SNIP]
If you look at the...photos you can see...the area where the fender was adjusted.
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(Excerpt) Read more at insidethepitbox.com ...
I've got a good friend that was a crew member on '75 rookie of the year Bruce Hill's team, man the stories I've heard.
Was that you earlier this year that theorized that Dale Jr's engine was "bigger" than everyone else's?
If you actually believe the crew member moved the fender an inch and a half, you're nuts.
Every weekend we're on a restrictor plate race you go on a conspiracy binge. You just can't accept the fact that DEI has Hendrick covered at Daytona and Talladega and you know nothing of Nascar and how it works.
Here's the true agenda. Several drivers dove beneath the yellow line aty Talladega, including Jeff Gordon when he passed Michael Waltrip. Park was the only one black flagged because his was so obvious as to his intention of improving his position. Get over this conspiracy nonsense.
Exactly. Liberals hate Nascar and this is just another liberal hit piece.
Ha! Just a couple days ago you said that Dale Jr is an "empty" individual with no regard for anyone but himself and speaks stupidly. This is your display of "respect" for someone?
What am I missing here? I don't know much about NASCAR, but didn't Greg Biffle win on Saturday night?
"In contrast, Dale Junior, who is probably the most popular driver in NASCAR right now, has done nothing to earn that popularity except be born Dale Earnhardt's son. Talk about behing handed everything in life on a golden platter! But Junior seems barely articulate, freely admits to drinking and partying too much with his guy friends, and otherwise is a pretty empty individual when not driving a racecar. Go figure."
I said nothing whatever about him "having no regard for anyone but himself." I did not say he speaks stupidly; only that he SEEMS barely inarticulate. I've seen him speak very well when wants to, but often he doesn't seem to want to. As for the term "empty," I meant in the sense that he seems to have no direction to his life off the track, although I think I heard or read somewhere that he may have purchased a farm recently — just not sure if my memory is correct on that point.
On the other hand, the personal lives of Junior, Jeff Gordon, and any of the other drivers are none of my business, except to the extent that they may choose to make certain things public.
Actually, it was stupid of me to add that paragraph to my post the other day about the charities, because it took away from the point I was trying to make. It's just that I get sick of people who have a double standard when it comes to the late Dale Earnhardt, and now his son, versus any of the other drivers. People who direct the most vicious, venomous bile toward Jeff Gordon, for example, while at the same time DEMANDING that no one ever say a negative word about either Earnhardt.
No. I very rarely participate on the NASCAR race threads.
YOU ASKED: Sheesh, now you're this (non) incident is a life and death situation!?
No. If you were capable of taking off your biased pro-#3 blinders for a minute, perhaps you'd get the point. Short of that, it's impossible to dialogue with you on this.
YOU COMMENTED: Man you are out there!
If spotting a topical article and posting it for discussion, and if expressing the concerns the article raised for me, are "out there," then I have to plead guilty.
Wow! Talk about wild conspiracy theories. That has got to be one of the silliest statements I've ever read on FR.
By the way, not to argue for the writer, who can do that for himself if you email him, but: You'll notice in one of the photos he points out the crewman who he says did the deed. You'll also notice he points out an inspector who he says discussed it with the crewman. Lastly, if you look carefully at the area of the fender/hood he says was modified, it does look more angular than the left side.
Now, if any of this is not true, the author has put himself in line for one whale of a lawsuit for libel. Both the crewman and the offical are not public citizens (a designation which makes libel suits extremely difficult to pursue successfully). So what you, as an obviously dedicated Earnhardt fan might want to consider doing, rather than wasting your time trading posts with me, is to bring Faiella's article to the attention of DEI. You would be doing them a favor — if the article is a lie.
So he used his arms and hands to redefine the shape! I don't think so.
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