September 1, 2008
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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Cheaters never win, unless they own a NASCAR team. Cheating is nothing new in NASCAR and is something that has been around since the official birth of the sport in 1949 when the first official Strictly Stock race was held in Charlotte, North Carolina on June 19th.
Driver Glen Dunnaway modified the rear springs of his Ford, providing better traction. Dunnaway led laps 151 through 200 and lapped the field three times en route to winning the race. He was subsequently disqualified and the win awarded to Jim Roper.
Allegations of cheating come with every generation in NASCAR. From the days of Smokey Yunick, who started his car and drove away in it after NASCAR race inspectors removed the gas tank to the most recent allegations against Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series.
After the Nationwide Race at Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR inspectors found magnets under the gas pedals of the JGR fielded entries.
In an AP article on foxnews.com, Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition said, “It was magnets that were about a quarter-inch thick that prevented the accelerator from going 100 percent wide open. The intention was to manipulate the numbers that we get when we get our information and data off the dyno.”
President of Gibbs Racing, J.D. Gibbs, seemed remorseful after the allegations were leveled against his team, claiming he had no first hand knowledge of the cheating.
"Let me just say that, first and foremost, that that was a really poor, foolish decision on the part of our key guys there at JGR," Gibbs said. "I want to apologize to NASCAR, to our partners, to Toyota guys. A couple guys chose to make a decision there that really impacts all of us."
But should Gibbs reputation be considered tarnished forever in light of the many incidences of cheating in the history of NASCAR?
In this new era of political correctness, cheating is something that will no longer be tolerated. NASCAR officials want to clean up the business now that stock car racing has become the second most watched sport in the country behind football.
In a David Newton article for NASCAR.com, several team owners were quite candid about their stances on cheating.
"I'm going to sit here and lie to you,” Robert Yates said. “I'd never cheat.”
“King” Richard Petty, winner of 7 Cup Championships and 200 races during his career and now owner of Richard Petty Racing, doesn’t seem to mind cheating.
“I always told my guys, ‘Cheat neat and you'll get by with a bunch of stuff,’” Petty said. “I don't particularly tell my guys to cheat. I just tell them not to get caught.”
Now that NASCAR has achieved mainstream prominence, many top officials fear that cheating may have tarnished the sports image. Regardless, it shows no sign of letting up any time soon. As the sanctioning body, it has become NASCAR’s job to stop the scoundrels running rampart in the garage and slap them on the wrist, but officials certainly have their work cut out.
With such great pressure to win races, teams will go to any extent to secure an advantage, be it fair or unfair and cheating among teams seems to have become a competition within itself.
The advent of the Car of Tomorrow and its identical templates for every team was supposed to remove the ability to cheat, but such is not the case.
Countless incidents of cheating have occurred in NASCAR’s storied past and will more than likely be around as long as stock cars continue making left turns.
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