Backseat Blonde - Cheating or Creative Engineering?

March 14, 2005

Cheating or Creative Engineering?
By Allison Wagda

About 63% of NASCAR teams “bend” the rules, according
to a recent garage survey done by the folks over at
NASCAR.com.

And that only accounts for those willing to admit to a bit of
perfidy in order to obtain the holy grail of racing…a trip to
victory lane.

Yet as NASCAR takes center stage in front of a national, and occasionally
international, audience, at what point does NASCAR have to take a more serious
stance on cheating?

And what exactly, in NASCAR-land, is considered cheating?

Kevin Harvick’s crew chief Todd Berrier, in comments that were startlingly
unabashed, apparently admitted he cheated in his qualifying set-up on Friday, and
he didn’t try to avoid the issue or pass it off as a misunderstanding. His team rigged
a fuel tank to appear full when it was not, so the team could redistribute the weight
saved. When NASCAR discovered the slick set-up, they promptly sent Harvick to the
rear of the field. Penalties, if any, are expected to be doled out Tuesday.

From all the different quotes I’ve read in various news sources, Berrier seems more
sorry he was caught, versus sorry for skirting the rules. And to be honest, the
situation amuses me far more than it alarms me. I have to give them credit for the
ingenuity.

At last, someone actually admits to a little nefarious conduct. It’s refreshing. But if
this goes on all the time, how come we never really hear about it?

Sure, we get an occasional press release from NASCAR announcing fines. I’ve
never seem NASCAR actually point a finger at a team and say they “cheated.”
Instead, NASCAR couches punishments in ambiguity. They dig into team coffers,
and occasionally deduct points. But call a spade a spade?

Some might think if a team is fined, they must have been cheating. Not true. Teams
have been fined for safety lapses as well. Even the ubiquitous “actions detrimental to
stock car racing” category can cover anything from an unapproved fire suppression
agent to unapproved gear ratios. And fines often vary wildly for infractions that sound
awfully similar, leaving fans wondering if someone stepped on Mike Helton’s little
toe that particular day or if it one team cheated while another made a mistake. How
do we know? We don’t.

Check out these sample 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series penalties. You make the
call…cheating or not?

•        Harold Holly (No. 32 Chevrolet driven by Bobby Hamilton Jr.), fined $1000
because of an unapproved fuel cell well (violating Section 12-4-U) found during the
initial Daytona 500 inspection on Feb. 11. There were false panels inside the well.

•        Pete Rondeau, crew chief on the No. 8 Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr.,
was fined $10,000 for an unapproved third gear transmission ratio. The violation
was discovered during the initial inspection for the Budweiser Shootout on Feb. 10.
The No. 8 was in violation of Section 12-4-A and 12-4-CC (unapproved rear end gear
or transmission gear ratio).

•        Bob Temple, crew chief for Robby Gordon, fined $50,000 because of an
unapproved intake manifold on the No. 7 Chevrolet discovered during the initial
Daytona 500 inspection process on Feb. 11. Robby Gordon’s car owner Jim Smith
was also penalized 25 car owner championship points. The No. 7 was in violation of
Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and Section 12-4-Q (car, car
parts, components, and/or equipment that do not conform to NASCAR rules). Robby
did not even make the race.

•        At Fontana, David Hyder, crew chief of the No. 49 Dodge driven by Ken
Schrader, was fined $5,000 in violation of Sections 12-4-A and 12-4-CC (unapproved
final drive gear ratio).

•        Jimmy Elledge (No. 41 Dodge driven by Casey Mears), fined $1000 because of
an unapproved window net (12-4-Q) found during initial Budweiser Shootout
inspection on Feb. 10.

This week will doubtless bring more fines. Not only will Harvick’s #29 team likely
face some sort of a fine (don’t count on the same $1000 penalty given to the #32
team for fuel cell antics), but it looks as if Jimmie Johnson’s win may be tainted a bit.

Both he and runner-up (and teammate) Kyle Busch failed the post-race inspection. If
they passed pre-race inspections and NASCAR had an official in their pits during the
race, then when did they cheat? Or did they? I have more questions than answers on
that one. I still remember when Junior would stand on top of his car after a race and
the roof would cave slightly, and he’d fail post-race inspection. (Now we all know
NASCAR wanted the roof for big blue bottles). Don’t remember if he ever had to pay
up.

Oh, and those fines? They are redistributed back to the teams as part of the
championship awards at the end of the season. Hardly seems like much of a
penalty, but at least NASCAR doesn’t simply pocket the cash.

But they day is coming when NASCAR is going to have to take a stand on cheating by
defining exactly what it is and making it clear to fans who did and who didn’t
intentionally break the rules.

NASCAR’s wants a squeaky clean, all-American family sport image. They can’t have
it while turning a blind eye to cheating. It’s a horrible standard to set to kids. Look at
the backlash in baseball. For years, everyone has suspected steroid use among
players. Rumors abounded, and fans kinda knew, but didn’t. Many argued it didn’t
matter, and claimed steroid use made the sport more entertaining (now where have
we heard that before?).

Now baseball is in crisis, its image in tatters. Records are questioned. Kids are
watching their idols fall from grace. Barry Bonds yells at the media, and the media
yells back. Congress is ordering old drunk losers like Jose Canseco to Washington
to snitch. It’s chaos.

I almost feel its unfortunate NASCAR is going to have to take a tougher stance on
cheating. Not that I condone cheating. I just know they won’t make the changes they
way I’d do it. They’ll just raise the fines and perhaps bench a driver or two to make a
point. Get tougher. We’ll get a gleaming new “car of the future” and cars will evolve
into templates and any team differences will slowly fade into nothing.

I’d rather see NASCAR encourage creative engineering. I don’t know all that much
about the mechanics of cars, but I do know NASCAR has a lot of rules that seem
awfully pointless.

Some rules are necessary, but NASCAR has gotten so nitpicky about every little
detail. I don’t understand why they require cars to qualify on a full tank of gas. If
everyone can choose how much gas they want in the tank, no one has an advantage.

The more NASCAR tries to enforce this idea of parity, the more teams will do
whatever can to get a competitive advantage, aboveboard or not.

And that’s the way I suspect it’s always been. Creativity and ingenuity among team
and manufacturer engineers have long kept NASCAR on its toes trying to keep any
one team from overpowering the rest of the field.

I like having teams work harder to be better than the rest. I want knowledge,
perseverance and experience to create champions. I don’t want a bunch of identical
cars circling around the track every week. It’s why I’ve come to dislike plate racing.
When I first got into NASCAR, I loved it because I felt like I was always sitting on the
edge of my seat waiting for something to happen. It was virtual rubbernecking from
the comfort of my sofa. Nowadays, I would much rather watch a team succeed based
upon the merits of everyone involved…a driver who wheels the car with daring and
courage, a pit crew that gets the job done, an engine team creating performance and
longevity, and a crew chief keeping everyone mentally focused and prepared while
reacting to changes throughout a race.

Is it about speed? Has NASCAR gotten so controlling because cars started going to
fast? There’s some merit to that cause (safety for the drivers and the fans has
always got to be of paramount importance), but it still doesn’t explain some of these
asinine ideas. In that case, have a few key rules to keep speeds reasonable for
everyone, and let the teams go and do what they need to do.

So what if one team stumbles on to something that makes them dominant. If Ryan
Newman can engineer himself a better-handling race car and lap everyone by 5
laps, so be it. Or if Chevy comes up with a new tranny giving those teams a
significant edge, good for them.

In that case, I would suggest the other manufacturers get their shit together and
catch them boys, or pick up their toys and go home.

At least I wouldn’t have to worry if my driver and his team play fair.

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