When Did Cheating Become Legal?? By-Rob Faiella Welcome to InsideThePitBox.com!! Check out ALL our sections and features here!! There is plenty to keep you busy on our main page! On Monday, the day after Rockingham, most of the NASCAR related articles were written in regards to the issue of the Red Flag, or lack there of. Matt Kenseth's spotter, Mike Calinoff, even wrote an article himself about the situation on our network site StockCarCity.com. Mike is the publisher of that site and his article Calinoff's Capsule Comments: My Take on the Red Flag Situation addressed the issue from an inside perspective. With all this hype over the Red Flag, one thing, one big thing, was lost in the mix: Matt's car failed post-race inspection, yet he was allowed to keep the win and the points. How can this be fair? Granted, a $30,000 fine was levied against his crew chief, but since the race paid $157,000 to win, the $30,000 is no big deal. So, why is this allowed? Allow me to give you my opinion. First, the issue of cars failing inspection due to a low roof is not new. The practice of levying just a fine and not stripping points or finishing positions is not new either. Jerry Nadeau's crew chief was fined $25,000 after the Twin 125 Qualifying race this year at Daytona for the car being an 1/8th " too low. Dale Jr's crew chief was fined $25,000 after the Talladega race for the same thing. John Andretti's team was fined $20,000 after the Food City 500 at Bristol last March for the same thing, however, that decision was appealed and overturned as the car had broken chassis welds that contributed to it's lower height. The NASCAR rulebook, Section 12-4-T, pertains to " ...any car found to be under the specified height requirement after the completion of time trials or the race...". Section 8-7 of the Rule Book states that NASCAR Officials have the flexibility to exercise discretion in matters pertaining to racing conditions or racing contact and to evaluate each claim on a case-by-case basis. NASCAR bases its decisions on whether or not parts were designed to break or malfunction to achieve the lower dimension. The committee hearing the appeal felt that the chassis welds were not designed to break. Last year at Rockingham, Jeff Gordon finished 3rd, but was found too low in post race inspection and his crew chief was fined $25,000. His crew chief, Robbie Loomis explained it like this in a Hendrick Motorsports Press Relase, "I take full responsibility for what happened at Rockingham. An oversight in pre-race preparation led to a mechanical failure. A setscrew that secures a jackbolt loosened during the race - allowing the car to lower and become extremely tight. Unfortunately, I feel this incident also cost us a chance to win the event. My congratulations go to Steve Park and DEI for a great victory." Jerry Nadeau's crew chief Tony Furr was suspended for 4 races and fined $10,000 for the car being too low following last year's qualifying for the Daytona 500. Jerry's qualifying time was also disallowed. I found info on Roof height penalties as far back as Mayfield in 2000, $25,000 and Rusty in 96, $25,000. This is a very common violation. (Thanks to Jayski.com and his "Penalties Page" for most of the info. Check it out if you haven't, you will be amazed at all the fines and penalties levied just last season alone. So, I see a few points in this debate. 1) By only imposing fines, is NASCAR allowing teams to "buy" the win? 2) How much advantage does a 1/8" or ¼" make? 3) How does the car pass pre-race inspection, but not post-race inspection? Editors Note: If you would like to have your opinion on this or any topic heard, join the ITPB staff this Wednesday night 2-26-02 for the first of hopefully many "Fan Forums" in our chat room, which allow you, the readers, to tell us what you think and interact with the staff. Click HERE to register your nickname and then join us at 6:00 EST on Wednesday 2-26-02!!! Hope to see you there!!! 1) The Penalty: If a team knows going in to a race, that historically all they are facing is a fine of $25,000, then isn't it worth the gamble? Dale Jr. won a million dollar bonus at Talladega plus the race purse. The team was fined $25,000 for the roof. Not a bad trade. Should the penalty be more strict and strip points? Or finishing positions? Or both? More on this is a moment. 2) What is the advantage? Ray Evernham spoke last year about Jr's deal and said that at Talladega, in qualifying, it would be a big deal. In race trim, in the draft, with those big air foils on the roof, it really made no difference. I can guarantee you that the FORD supporters would disagree. At Rockingham, a much smaller, tighter track, would it help? What about at Bristol, where Andretti's team was fined? The appeals committee ruled that the height difference would not give an advantage. Anyone have any input on this? 3) How do you fail post-race, if you passed pre-race? There are several factors involved in determining the roof height. But the biggest issue is the fact that the requirement for post and pre race is identical. This puts a question of "How?" and "Why?" into the equation and allows the gray area of the rule to be exploited by both the teams and NASCAR. Basically, the teams know that the car is going to settle some during the race. Maybe a ½ inch, maybe a ¼, maybe more. I am not sure of the actual numbers, but I can assure you that the teams have a very solid idea, as does NASCAR. If you set your roof height to exactly 51", you will pass the pre-race inspection. However, you know going in that you will fail post-race. The car is going to settle. So, you set the car to 51-1/4" and hope it settles around ¼" and you wind up at 51". Sometimes, it settles more and you fail. You can set it at 51-3/4" because you know it wont settle that much. But, then it comes in at 51-1/2" and you "Gave-up" a ½" that you could have legally used. So, the teams try to find that happy medium and sometimes it bites them. To me, this IS NOT cheating and they should not be stripped of the win or points for this. Unless it is found that they had manufactured a specific way of getting the car to drop, or made "break-a-way" parts, then it really was just a gamble that didn't pay off. Should they lose the win for that? I don't think so. My solution? NASCAR and the teams need to sit down and collectively determine a "realistic" value of which the car settles through out the course of a race. Then, take that number and set a pre-race height of 51" plus that number. So pre-race is 51-1/4" and post race allows for the settling and is 51". Now, you can legally pass the pre-race inspection and if you fail post-race then obviously you have done something above and beyond the scope of the rule. Now, no judgment calls come into play and everyone is happy, right? It would make me happy. You?? Thanks and keep reading! Rob RobFaiella@insidethepitbox.com Thanks for visiting InsideThePitBox.com!! Check out ALL our sections and features here!! There is plenty to keep you busy on our main page! (Editors Note:The views and opinions of our writers are just that, theirs. If you have comments, write to them. We take no responsibility for their articles... Do you blame us?) Article archives Return to the Main Page