Comments on: Cheating is a Team Sport

By: admin

admin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:21:41 +0000

CVT: I don’t know about this specific situation, but I do know that in a lot of cases the teams have picked up the tab for fines levied on crew chiefs. NASCAR will not let you into a track if you have not paid any outstanding fines.

In this specific case, as mad as Joe Gibbs was, he might make these guys pay their own fines. And I know that he even added some fines of his own.

By: cvt

cvt — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:16:25 +0000

If it’s a team sport does that mean the team pays the financial penalties?

By: "Mike the cry baby hater"

"Mike the cry baby hater" — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:59:59 +0000

Some have said the penalties against JGR are to harsh because what they did did not affect the outcome of the race.

I agree, but it could have affected the outcome of several races hereafter.

“Mike the cry baby hater”

By: Steve C

Steve C — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:08:05 +0000

Ok All, I was listening to Sirrus NASCAR tonight. They had Ballash the Nationwide head man on. Buddy Baker asked him to explain how the magnets got there and if the drivers had anything to do with the cheating. He answered that NASCAR has a real good idea who put the magnets in the cars. He stated that there is no possible way the drivers could have put them there. Both drivers were talking with the media when the magnets were put into the cars. The real sad thing is that Ballish said that the magnets were useless, when the cars were run on the dyno the horsepower was what they expected without the magnets, all engines were equal. No additional changes will be neccessary at this time. the saddest part is it has caused 7 people to be suspended from NASCAR and has cost JGR $100k and it has put the name cheater in from of JGR. For nothing, what a waste of time and money. It goes to show you how far teams will go to beat the system. Ballish also said that NASCAR feels this was far more serios than MWR and the fuel issue at Daytona.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:25:03 +0000

I have a hard time believing that Smoke would want to go out of his way to help JGR at this point, especially when he is going to be competing with them as an owner. If anything I wouldn’t be surprised if Tony wasn’t the one that told Nascar to look under the pedal. I did not see the reports that the drivers were suspected of doing this but that isn’t even one of the more ridiculous things I have seen reported about this story. Fox and ESPN have been really awful in their coverage of this story and sadly thats where most other media outlets go to get their information. Thanks for answering my question. Peace.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:40:07 +0000

Eric, it’s not so clear anymore. The first reports said the drivers put the magnets in place before exiting the car. Now different stories are coming out. Nobody knows for sure. I am sure though that the team would sacrifice a team member to make sure their driver did not take the fall.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:58:17 +0000

Bobby, how is it clear that the drivers played a part in the cheating?

By: Bass Masters

Bass Masters — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:56:13 +0000

Sure there are gray areas in sports–all sports not just racing. Nobody’s going to say you’re cheating if you try to get a little advantage by moving early on a faceoff or exaggerate a fall in the penalty box a little bit. The thing is, this was not in that gray area. If you’ve got an NBA ref taking bribes, it undermines the integrity of the sport. In this case, there is no common engine, so NASCAR does have to play a role in ensuring the basic package is fair from make to make–just like they used to do with the bodies before the common template. Tampering with their ability to do so does, it seems to me, undermine the integrity of the sport just as much as soaking tires or traction control. It’s not gamesmanship. It’s not gray area. It’s cheating. Imagine you’re a Chevy team trying to catch these guys, and you spend a ton of time and money trying to catch up because you “know” you’re not getting beat on horsepower when in fact you are. It’s just wrong. I’m all for pushing the rules to the limit, but there is such a thing as cheating, and this is it.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:45:03 +0000

JT if NASCAR were really interested in fairness cup drivers would not b in the Nationwide series at all!!

On a brighter note I will be attending the forst Nationwide series race next year at my home track, Iowa Speedway, it’s a great track ya’ll!!!

By: Jim D.

Jim D. — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:48:57 +0000

Steve C. & Zieke,

NASCAR put the regulations on the Toyota teams specifically because they were extracting more horsepower out of their engine than the other teams. This was done in an attempt to “level the playing field” as NASCAR calls it.

Back in the day they were allowed to extract all they could out of a motor provided they used the approved parts, but in the “New Age NASCAR” equal is what they desire. Which I might add, I don’t agree with either. I believe in the old adage of “Race what you brung”. Equal cars leads to racing in big packs, big wrecks (which goes against NASCAR’s safety program), and overall boring racing in my opinion.

Teams spending 70 hour weeks trying to get “more HP’s” out of the motor will do them no good and prove to be a wasted effort. If they get more horses out of the motor, NASCAR will just put another (and bigger) restriction on them again. Those teams that are still looking for more horsepower are spinning their wheels and missing the point of the “level playing field” entirely. They’d be better off spending the time working on spring packages and car setups instead.

They may be super smart when it comes to building engines but they seem to be missing the Big Picture…

For J.T.

NASCAR has already hinted at the possibility of a universal engine. The COT was just the beginning and forcing teams to switch over to a generic car and motor package all in the same year would be too expensive. If memory serves me right, I believe 2010 was when NASCAR said they would begin to introduce the Universal Engine program.