tool name
closeSome fans quick with excuses, but Gibbs team isn't
THATSRACIN.COM OPINION
DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008
Some thoughts on NASCAR, motorsports in general and more from The Charlotte Observer's beat writer:
MY TWO CENTS
Never have I heard so many "the dog ate my homework" excuses as I have this week from fans who don't think Joe Gibbs Racing did anything wrong by trying to outwit NASCAR's dyno testing at Michigan.
Not a living soul who works in the management of the team has said anything other than it was embarrassed that somebody would stoop to using magnetic shims to try to prevent the throttle from being opened 100 percent so a true dyno reading could be obtained.
That, however, didn't stop fans from dreaming up all forms of alternative versions of that truth.
The shims were there all along during the race so the car couldn't be "overdriven" into the corner, some said, allowing drivers Tony Stewart and Joey Logano to ease into the corner more smoothly. Yeah, that's right.
Stewart and Logano need so much "help" in driving the cars so some genius devised this poor man's version of traction control.
If flies in the face of logic to believe the No. 18 and No. 20 cars raced with horsepower-limiting devices on their throttles, but that hasn't stopped some fans from arguing that a) that had to be what happened since teams weren't allowed to touch the car after the race and b) since the car raced that way, it's perfectly legitimate for it to be tested that way on the dyno.
First of all, the idea that cars selected for dyno testing could be isolated from crews getting near them after a race is absurd. How did the cars get from pit road or the garage to the dyno? Did NASCAR levitate them? No, they were pushed by the team.
I don't know how the shims got in the cars. I do know that anybody who assumes the drivers had to be in on it is making a cockeyed leap to judgment. But ultimately it doesn't matter how or why. What matters is the shims where there and NASCAR found them. What matters is that by trying to defeat NASCAR's dyno test, the team showed disregard for NASCAR's authority to officiate the sport and disrespect for fellow competitors.
The team understands that.
"A poor decision was made by some key members of our organization," Joe Gibbs said Wednesday when penalties were announced, "and 100 percent of the blame rests with us."
What part of that don't fans get?
OBSERVATIONS
Chevron's marketing budget going elsewhere
Chevron, the parent company of Texaco and Havoline, will end its NASCAR sponsorship after this season, leaving the No. 42 Dodges owned by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.
Chevron made "only" a $6 billion profit in the second quarter, and while $24 billion a year is barely scraping by in the oil bid'ness these days, it's not like the company can't afford racing.
Sponsorship dollars aren't donations. Companies, even oil companies, need results and Chevron feels that it can get better results by spending its marketing dollars another way.
It's not always the economy, stupid.
Best prerace show? That wold be Bristol's
The prerace ceremony before the August Cup race at Bristol is the best one all year, hands down, highlighted by the children from Motor Racing Outreach singing the national anthem. If that one doesn't make you smile, you're in trouble.