NASCAR: Will the Kangaroo Court be Called?
I first got wind of the linked story via a website that posts Dale Earnhardt’s “radio chatter” after each weeks Cup event. At one point Junior remarked that he had recognized someone in the stands during a caution period.
The implication being he spotted his suspended crew chief Tony Eury Jr taking in the action from the stands. (presumably incognito and wearing his best “Bubba Costume”)
Word now is he wasn’t alone. There exists some evidence both Chad Knaus and Steve Letarte were on the NHIS premises Sunday. One report even said Letarte participated in a Saturday team meeting with Gordon.
If true, just how stupid can you get? And that’s especially true in Eury Jr’s case, Sunday was his last race under suspension and faces an extension if reports are found to be true.
That said, the crew chief suspensions are a bit of a sham regardless of what occurred Sunday. With the TV coverage and instantaneous commutations available today anyone can perform the job of crew chief from thousands of miles away each Sunday.
France said the crew chiefs being on property and participating in at-track activity is not in the spirit of a suspension and that he met earlier Tuesday with NASCAR president Mike Helton to discuss the matter.
“If that all is accurate, we will be addressing that shortly,” France said.
My guess, unless they can find a photo or video image of any, or all three nothing will be done.
But… to prevent the potential of it occurring the Daytona Suits must be much clearer in defining the penalty, no more “spirit of a suspension” garbage. They must specifically ban anyone under suspension from coming within a set distance of (say 100 miles) of a NASCAR event and ban them from participating in a teams garage activity during the week.
A total ban from any and all activities is much easier to enforce, and conversely catch a miscreant, than prohibitions that allow some things and not others.
NASCAR, NEXTEL Cup, Sports, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle
All good points Luke, except…
The assertion a driver sitting out an event would hurt ticket sales. I don’t buy it.
Or maybe I’m an extreme case. Assuming I had a “favorite” driver (which I don’t) and he was to sit for a week, or six, it wouldn’t prevent me from attending a race. And I suspect the vast majority would do the same.
If this proves that crew chief bans dont work, which it does, because we live in a communication age, I have a simple solution. Driver bans! Make the driver liable for the actions of his team & remove all this plausible deniability b/s. If a driver like jr were banned for a race or two, what kind of message would that send out to teams & crews thinking of cheating? Answer, we had better not do it.
I find the whole, you cant ban a driver because the venue will complain that said drivers fans will not attend to be laughable. Either your serious about enforcing the rules or your not.
To give an example, & this is not a case of cheating, in Euro single seaters a driver is responsible for the behaviour of his pit/pit crew, a driver was suspended in F3 for 2 races for the actions of his father. The old man, in the middle of a race, stormed into another pit & pushed some team staff physically; who got the ban? the driver.
I say make the driver accountable, that will put the fear of penalty in them. Thus, a driver will be inclined to ask his crew, “Is this car kosher, before I go out, is there anything I should know”. Drivers acting as if they had no idea of what is going on is b/s
Final point, this is just another example of how NASCAR has gone from race promoter to race producer.
Unfortunetely that was proven long ago by allowing those suspended to work on the cars during the week. The only thing they were missing was sitting on the War Wagon on Sunday. And that means jack-shit what with SMS and all the other communication devices available.
Well, buy the ticket sales thing or not, those are the words straight from Robin Pemberton himself, and echoed by promoters/owners the likes of Bruton Smith and Co.
And yeah, there are people who will not show up just because their driver isn’t there. Not saying they’re right, but they are out there in enough numbers to make a difference.
Mileage bans won’t work, unless we were invaded by some stinkin Commies while I took a short nap. (Checks outside) Nope, still have the Stars and Stripes illuminated and flying high on the pole.
I’m not saying fans that would stay away are right either, I just fail to see it happen in any significant numbers.
In fact with the current downturn in attendance you’d be hard pressed to prove it one way or another.
BTW… how’s that fish pond? It’s GOT to be full of water by now.
Well, since you’re askin…
It’s full to the brim, and doing just great now.
Restocked it about 8 weeks ago with 400 catfish, 250 hybrid bluegill, 100 bream, 100 bass, 3 carp, and about 10,000 minnows.
Catfish, bluegill, and the bream are coming up to eat the food I’ve been slinging for em, and next summer/fall we should be in business for a fish fry.