Checkers or Chess

2010-10-25T23:21:00.002-05:00

Richard Petty said "I ain't goin' nowhere" this weekend at Martinsville Speedway. Trouble is - he doesn't get to make that decision. Sure, he's the RP in RPM, but he's also a minority owner and therefore doesn't have the voting block to do or undo anything.

Say what you will about George Gillet, but he seems to be another one in the long list of guys with too much money getting involved in businesses they know nothing about. It doesn't take long for them to fail. His business ventures have included TV stations, newspapers, ski resorts, golf courses, food producers, sports franchises, marine transportation, landscaping and gardening products, an auto dealership and more. I'm sure that qualifies him to run a NASCAR team. Did he seek advice from Bobby Ginn?

For now though, Mr. Gillet controls the destiny of RPM and will ultimately determine whether RPM survives, merges with another organization or just goes away. The four generations of Pettys have have given too much to this sport to have their exit from it be dictated to them or to have it be a matter of unfortunate circumstances.

I for one hope that Richard gets a chance to say "King Me" once again.

60 Thousandths Of A Cheerio Too High

2010-09-30T19:40:00.003-05:00

Do I think that Richard Childress Racing (RCR) intentionally took a car to Loudon that they knew was outside of the parameters established by NASCAR regarding how the body was mounted to the chassis? Of course not. Mr. Childress and his organization have been involved in this sport too long and with too solid of a reputation to start deliberately cheating now. There is absolutely no reason for them to do so.

In fact, for some to suggest that this was intentional is just crazy. It belies common sense. Why would a race team knowingly bring an illegal race car to a race where they have been told in advance that their car was going to be subjected to a more thourough inspection afterwards, regardless of where they finished? They wouldn't. And - if they were so naive as to do so, then they deserve every one of the penalties assessed.

The two questions I'm left with then are these: Facts and performance.

Facts: Was the car out of tolerance? Yes. Not even Mr. Childress disputes that. Illegal is illegal, period. NASCAR does not need to embark on a subjective determination of either intent or cause. Illegal car = Certain penalties.

Performance: I'm not a race engineer, but I do remember that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. It's high school physics. If the rear of a car goes up, the front must come down. Real race engineers will tell you that this current car will turn better if the front end is closer to the ground. Real race engineers will also tell you that they key to fast lap times at a flat 1-mile track like Loudon is getting the car to turn in the middle of the corner so that you can get back to the gas off of the corner sooner than everyone else. So - it would seem to me that if the rear of your car was higher, then the front would be lower. This would lead to improved turning ability, and therefore an earlier acceleration point and faster lap times. The performance improvement would seem to then exist.

Here's the big problem for RCR now: Distractability. Don't appeal this any further. Yes, there is one more level in the appelate process, but fighting this battle now is a distraction to your team, your sponsors and your fans. Appealing further also prolongs the start of the suspensions for your crew chief and car chief if the suspensions are ultimately upheld. If your employees are allowed to participate in this weekend's race in Kansas pending further appeal and then are required to serve their original 6-race suspensions, they will be back for only the season-ending race in Homestead, FL. If you're going to be a championship-contending team, you're going to need them for more than that.

I understand and appreciate the fight shown by Mr. Childress. If I was a driver, I'd want an owner who did so as well. It shows he's got the backs of his employees. I also would certainly appreciate my teammates supporting me as they did when other drivers opined that the car was intentionally made incorrectly. I get all of that, but it's time to move on and fly UNDER the radar for a while. Perhaps .0060 under...

The Unrestricted Plate

Checkers or Chess

60 Thousandths Of A Cheerio Too High