Subscribe to this blog's feed« Biffle wins big in Texas | Main | Aspiring NASCAR star »
April 18, 2005
Sauter's penalty
Sunday, before the Cup race, we learned about the penalty for Johnny Sauter and the Busch race, it was big. NASCAR decided that it was a blatant attempt to cheat and disqualified him, no points, no money, no anything. Plus, monetary fines and suspensions could follow according to NASCAR.
According to Jim Hunter...This post-race inspection in finding the carburetor illegal falls in that category of 'blatant.' I don't want to speculate on whether we would take away a victory, but if something is obviously designed to improve the performance of the car, we will do whatever we need to do.
So what exactly does this mean for the future? Could they be setting a precedent here? If I remember correctly, Sauter was one of the ones they set the profanity precedent with.
One question that comes to mind. Why was this not caught in pre-qualifying or pre-race inspections? The cars were impounded after they qualified on Thursday, they couldn't touch the cars, so how did this illegal part get on there if it wasn't there before? Did they miss it completely? If they noticed it before qualifying or before the race, why let him race at all?
What 'parts' will fall into the category that will result in a disqualification? Obviously carburetors, but what other parts will fall into this category? I would be really interested in how NASCAR would answer this.
They mentioned that they don't know if they would ever take a victory away, why not? What if the race winner had an illegal carburetor? They would take the points and money away, because of the precedent, but not the win? How crazy is that?
I know NASCAR is 'trying' to get tough to get everyone to comply, but I think they are opening a can of worms here. Remember all the outrage when they set the precedent early last year and because of it they fined and docked Jr. 25 points because of the word "shit"? What do you think would happen if they took points and money away from Johnson, Gordon, Jr., Wallace, Martin, Busch, Stewart, etc.? Their fans would go crazy. And if they didn't follow the precedent they set, the fans of other drivers would go crazy crying favoritism.
It will be very interesting the next time NASCAR finds parts that don't conform to their rules.
April 18, 2005 in NASCAR Busch Series | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451bce769e200d8343f3cd553ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Sauter's penalty:
Comments
Sounds like if you are going to break the rules you had better win and not finish 14th. Sauter was a warning; break the rules and get DQ'd. No more roof lines that are more than an eighth off the template or compression ratios that are too high after the engine heated up and then cooled off (#2 car a couple of years back)? Or will it have to be something balant like what the crew chief for the #29 did at California? I know it was not during the race but it does not matter. If it is found before the race is he parked that weekend? Maybe have nots will be able to catch up if the haves stop spending money to circumvent the rules.
Posted by: Todd | Apr 18, 2005 8:51:58 PM
I think this is NASCAR getting fed up with teams blatantly trying to cheat. After what happened with Todd Berrier, cheating and then rubbing NASCAR's nose in it, I think you've got to be pretty desparate to try something as blatant as an oversized carburetor. That's just plain stupid. I think intent is the whole deal. If you knowingly cheat to try and gain an advantage and get caught, then you're screwed.
Posted by: Jim | Apr 18, 2005 9:22:02 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Advertisements
