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.
[END EXERPT]
(Excerpt) Read more at insidethepitbox.com ...
Do you believe everything you read?
...and if you really payed any attention at all lately, you'll know that the DEI cars have ruled the restrictor tracks in the past few years. "Wire-to-wire" would not be a far stretch (especially with the lack of competition in a Busch race) and it proves, more than likely, that any adjustment by the crew member had no effect at all in the outcome.
Oh come'on man! Don't play dumb!!!! You and I both know this was done in the dark of night when all the other teams were in a deep, deep slumber dreaming of dancing tires and wrinkled sheet metal after drinking a magic sleeping potion concocted by Harry that he poured into their beers.
Jr. takes any line he pleases at Daytona all the time. DEI has the track figured out.
But a post-race adjustment wouldn't help.
As far as having the name of the THREE NASCAR OFFICIALS, all you have to do is walk up to them in the garage area and look at their credentials, which are on the badges they wear around their neck all weekend long.
This is a weak case. I think the author was just having a really bad hair day.
Of course it could. And it would have been much harder to prove, too.
Personally, I think the officials were looking the flames on the side of the car.
"Ours go to seven."
The problem they will start seeing at Daytona & Talladega is that the 31 team is starting to dial that car in also and Robby Gordon will not settle for pushing Jr. and Michael around the track.
It could have been a one car race.
Ummm...first, I merely posted the article for discussion. In it, the reporter describes something he personally witnessed. If you've got a problem with the story, email him.
Second, as to reality, in case you haven't noticed, sports are a huge part of life all around the world. Professional sports stars get paid immense sums, presumably because we, the paying and viewing public, believe that the feats they accomplish are genuine.
Third, when it comes to a sport like NASCAR, lives are on the line — lives not only of the drivers, but pit crews, officials, and spectators, as well. Just in the last few years, we lost Adam Petty (whose wonderful smile and brilliant talent I still miss), Kenny Irwin, and Dale Earnhardt Sr., among others. Cheating on those racecars has the potential to cause death if an illegal part breaks, or if something is left off a car that should have been there — or if some dopey crewman thinks he's helping the aero by illegally reshaping the hood and fenders, and the different aero load leads to tire failure putting the car into the wall. That didn't happen, thank God. But what if it had?
Given what happened at Daytona 2001, I should think Earnhardt fans would be the FIRST to want to protect Junior rather than make excuses for this foolish crewman and those NASCAR officials who looked the other way.
Let us not forget that the DEI cars were also dominent at Daytona the day the Dale Earnhardt died there. Was that part of a big conspiracy, too? Sheesh.
If he [the author] really saw this happen, he should be calling FOX to tell them about it, since NBC won't take his calls. If he really saw it happen, then where are the pictures of the crew member actually doing it while he sat there and witnessed it? And don't tell me he didn't have time to take them. If he had time to take the pictures of the officials that allegedly laughed their heads off, then he had time to get pictures of the crew member lifting up the fender.
This story is stupid and it isn't worth the paper it's written on.
As for my concern about NASCAR having a written rule book and an evenhanded way of enforcing its rules, that is a long-, long-standing debate/complaint — not only of fans, but of drivers, owners, and other observers of the sport. I come down on the side that says they should, and that's the reason this particular story interested me.
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