A Tale of Terrorists, Roll Bar Foam, Black Flags and Conspiracies

February 26, 2008

By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

One of the biggest complaints by fans of NASCAR in past seasons has been the seeming lack of parity when doling out penalties and enforcing rules. Starting with Waltrip at Daytona, NASCAR took dramatic steps toward remedying that issue and making it clear that “rules are rules”. With the unveiling of the Car of Tomorrow, NASCAR took even greater strides in fixing that problem. They made it clear that messing with the new car would not be tolerated, period. They said illegal and unapproved parts would be subject to fines and penalties, and they were. The pattern continues this season with the penalties leveled against Robby Gordon for an unapproved nose.

At issue is a nose cover installed on the #7 Dodge. The part, shipped to the team and installed by the crew, had been submitted for NASCAR approval, but had yet to be blessed by the sanctioning body of the sport. The fault for the wrong nose being installed goes all the way back to the supplier who shipped it thinking it had been approved, and to the logistics side which gave it a part number very similar to that of the approved part. The unapproved nose even fit the template. It is clearly not a case of intentional cheating and the part didn’t offer an advantage over the older nose the rest of the Dodge boys were running. It was a combination of clerical errors and a rushed team who just moved to a new manufacturer. In some ways, the penalty can be attributed to terrorism.

What?

The trouble now befalling one of NASCAR’s last owner / drivers stems partially from the last minute cancellation of the Dakar Rally. The Amaury Sport Organisation, in charge of the 3,700 mile rally cancelled the event amid threats by al Qaeda. The cancellation of the endurance race precipitated a Gordon / Evernham collaboration which resulted in his move from Ford to Dodge. That 11th hour and 58th minute change in turn contributed to the escalated pace that apparently resulted in the unapproved nose being attached to the #7 Jim Beam Dodge.

As a result of this turn of events, Gordon is understandably upset by the $100k, 100 point +crew chief suspension penalties that have become the de facto standard for COT infractions. The Hendrick and DEI teams were equally upset last year when unintentional but unapproved parts or modifications were found on their cars resulting in nearly identical penalties. Gordon is appealing, just as teams in the past have appealed. But what makes this different is the level of rhetoric that has accompanied his complaints.

The most outrageous is that there is a vast NASCAR conspiracy against him. He implied in a statement last week that NASCAR intentionally called a debris caution as he hit pit road to penalize him. While the caution did indeed hurt his track position and threw his pit strategy out the window, it’s quite a stretch to suggest that NASCAR flew the yellow simply because they have something against him. It is conspiracy theories like this one that take credibility away from his plausible argument against the penalties.

As stated above, the yellow threw his pit strategy out the window; but it’s something else that flew out the window that makes his complaining a bit harder to take. In 2006 Robby was in the middle of another caution controversy when he was fined $15,000, 50 owner and 50 driver points by NASCAR for intentionally causing a caution by throwing a piece of roll-bar foam out his window. Other incidents, such as his behavior during the Nationwide race at Montreal last season, make listening to Gordon bash NASCAR a bit less tolerable.

At the heart of Gordon’s concern is the impact that the penalties have had on his team and his perceived impropriety of the penalty. While the financial impact is certainly an issue, it’s the points loss that has hit the #7 team the hardest. Gordon has dropped to 40th in the point standings after an impressive 8th place finish at the Daytona 500. For any team, that is a huge blow. For an owner / driver team, it is a season crusher, just ask Michael Waltrip.

Gordon’s contention is that NASCAR should use common sense and take all the facts into consideration. He says they should factor in the “I didn’t mean to” and the “I didn’t know” defense. If this was an episode of Law & Order or Matlock, then I’d say he was correct. This however is NASCAR. For better or worse, NASCAR is judge, jury and executioner. They made it clear last season that weren’t playing games with unapproved modifications to the COT, and NASCAR is sticking to its guns. While I certainly understand Gordon’s frustration, I am glad to see that NASCAR is standing firm on this one. While Gordon is free to appeal the penalty, the credibility of the NASCAR policy of zero tolerance is at stake, and for their sake, I hope they stand fast.

Gordon’s best bet may be to add a little levity to the situation. A contributor to a NASCAR call-in show made the perfect suggestion. Take on Breath-Right nose strips or any other nasally oriented entity as a sponsor.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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