MW's crew chief suspended indefinetly

[jslone]

http://www.sports.espn.go.com/rpm/ne...d=2&id=2765503

Hopefully it goes through,its on ESPN's web page if you cant get in,but tis severe and Nascar is not playing around.

[Craig]

Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Scott Riggs and Elliott Sadler have also had their crew cheifs suspended and have been handed fines and deducted points. I can't load the link above but I presume it's a similar deal?

http://www.racingone.com/article.aspx?artnum=33290

[FIRE]

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93765

[jslone]

Both show the previous infractions,not Mikey's,again sorry if it cant load but go to ESPN's web page to see the full story.

[rustyfan]

Jayski has a pretty good summary of the things going on.

And while that previous thread that Fire links to is about roughly the same thing, I'd say 'WaltripGate' deserves a thread of its own. We haven't even heard half the details yet, but it's obvious already that this is big. No, make that huge.

[jslone]

So far Rusty,its been the crew chief being suspendee and Bobby Kennedy being escorted off premisis,as for MW himself and the team,who knows,its still ongoing.

[AU N EGL]

"
Waltrip's crew chief banned indefinitely

By JENNA FRYER, AP Auto Racing Writer

document.write(getElapsed("20070214T220634Z"));2 hours agoUPDATED 1 HOUR 17 MINUTES AGO
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Michael Waltrip's crew chief and team director were thrown out of the Daytona 500 and suspended indefinitely Wednesday because an illegal substance was found during inspection for the season-opening race.
Waltrip, docked 100 points, will be allowed to participate in Thursday's races that determine the field for NASCAR's biggest event of the year.
David Hyder, his crew chief, was thrown out of the garage and fined $100,000. Team director Bobby Kennedy also was kicked out.
NASCAR officials would not reveal what they found in Waltrip's intake manifold, but a person with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press it was a form of jet fuel.
``I don't think this is anything that we've seen in the recent past,'' said competition director Robin Pemberton."

source: http://www.comcast.net/sports/motors...14/587190.html

[jslone]

Also updated,Mikey is docked 100 points as well,but he can race in the 500

[broadrun96]

isnt this a little like baseball now cracking down on supplements? seems like everybody involved knows theres rampant cheating but now suddenly since nascar is cracking down the teams are surprised and upset. if they are really cheating do what other series do and boot them at least for the race they are cheating in.

[jslone]

Would you rather have them do nothing like in the past or very very littles when teams got caught?

[chemhead1]

Originally Posted by jslone

Would you rather have them do nothing like in the past or very very littles when teams got caught?

Exactly. NASCAR has been saying for a LONG time that they were going to start cracking down HARD. Teams knew that whatever they had coming to them was going to be a LOT harder than what the 48 team got this time last year. I think this is a wake-up call that NASCAR is not playing around anymore. Whether or not teams wise up remains to be seen.

[rustyfan]

I'm surprised they didn't hit Waltrip harder - a penalty of 100 points isn't even the record (Mayfield and the team he was driving for was docked 151 points each several years back for a similar infraction, if I'm not mistaken).

Then again, a deficit of 100 points - along with the ones they miss out on by most likely not getting into the Daytona 500 - for a completely new team will be very hard to overcome in order to at least get into the top 35 in points, so from that perspective I reckon it's a very hard penalty nonetheless.

[duke_toaster]

100 points? Lunacy. I would have just banned the car from Daytona.

He cannot control what "controlled substances" his crew cheif uses. Fine the crew cheif, but leave the driver alone.

[muggle not]

Toyota issues warning to teams: Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition, was emphatic this [the #55 infraction and penalty] was a team issue and not a Toyota issue. While embarrassed over the incident, Toyota officials insisted they would maintain a relationship with MWR. "This is not the way you want to enter NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series by any means," said Jim Aust, the president and CEO of Toyota Racing Development. "For this to happen to him is extremely disappointing and extremely disappointing to Toyota. ... He has certainly apologized to just about anybody that would be associated with his organization. He's beside himself with what's happened." Toyota isn't resting on an [Waltrip] apology. Company officials are expected to send a letter out to all Toyota teams next week stating Waltrip's organization has used two of the company's three strikes. The next team that crosses the line will face the loss of the manufacturer's support. Lee White, the senior vice president for TRD, said TRD worked with NASCAR throughout the process. "I can honestly tell you from an ethics standpoint and integrity, along with character and honesty, those things are paramount in our company," he said. "We hold ourselves to a high standard and we hold our teams to high standards. We hope we've picked the right ones."(ESPN.com)
AND: Jim Aust, vice president or Toyota Racing Development, was asked if this was his worst nightmare. "I would say that's pretty close to accurate," Aust said. "This is a week we had looked forward to for many years. To begin this way certainly takes some of the limelight and happiness out of it." It also doesn't help the Toyota guys win over some NASCAR followers who didn't want them here in the first place. That marketing campaign just got a lot tougher.(ESPN.com)(2-14-2007)

[N I Tram]

Toyota trying to play innocent is always an embarassing and annoying sight. I thought they'd at least get through one race without an infringement.

[AU N EGL]

Originally Posted by N I Tram

Toyota trying to play innocent is always an embarassing and annoying sight. I thought they'd at least get through one race without an infringement.

That is a toyota load of crappola. Toyota is one of the BIGGEST cheaters in motorsports. http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpa...s_art_id=10682

[chemhead1]

Originally Posted by AU N EGL

That is a toyota load of crappola. Toyota is one of the BIGGEST cheaters in motorsports. http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpa...s_art_id=10682

PROTIP: Toyota Motorsports/Toyota Team Europe IS NOT Toyota Racing Development. Toyota Motorsports/TTE's involvement with the WRC Celica scandal and the alleged stolen Ferrari information has no weight on what TRD is doing in the U.S. And last time I checked, it was only the #55 car that had been found with the "illegal substance" I don't see Allmendinger, Vickers, Jarrett, or any other Toyota disqualified.

Now, compare this, to, say, the Evernham team. All 3 cars were disqualified and were sent to the back of the field. Last time I checked, Evernham is in theory the Dodge factory team. Is anyone going back to Dodge's past allegations of cheating (The Dodge Daytona......?) about it. No.

I don't want to start a whole "it's nothing but sour grape" shtick because it'd just be a waste of energy and time. Let the guys race, and let NASCAR deal with Toyota should the manufacturer as a whole blatantly cheats. I just wanted to make it very clear that there is NO connection other than manufacturer between Toyota Motorsports/TTE and TRD.

For reference, see "Toyota in NCTS".

[AU N EGL]

Well Chem, it is now two parts of Toyota's racing ( or contractors ) that were caught. You tell me how that looks to the company as a whole??

Toyota makes great street cars and trucks, no dought about that.

[kelvin88]

last time i checked, and i was working in the UK for a japanese tuning specialist, all the bits i ordered came in TRD boxes straight from Japan. TRD is Toyotas racing arm, whatever it choses to call itself. We will never know how involved in this it really is, but to just assume they dont cheat is fantasy. MWR must have known they would get caught for this, its not something i believe they would have done without pressure from above.

[chemhead1]

Originally Posted by kelvin88

MWR must have known they would get caught for this, its not something i believe they would have done without pressure from above.

So you're telling me that Toyota, rather than have all their major teams try this out and just have it reported as an "entire misinterpretation of the rules" risks it on one car in one team try this out and be a potential scapegoat?

Well, now that I say it out loud.........

[kelvin88]

Originally Posted by chemhead1

So you're telling me that Toyota, rather than have all their major teams try this out and just have it reported as an "entire misinterpretation of the rules" risks it on one car in one team try this out and be a potential scapegoat?

Well, now that I say it out loud.........

hahahahahahaha!!!


yes.

I'm not saying that TRD suggested the cheat, just the result. the perfomance result, not the being caught!

[jslone]

So the way you are saying is that TRD has their standards,and NAscar has theirs and the 2 it seemed did not meet in the middle?

[chemhead1]

Originally Posted by jslone

So the way you are saying is that TRD has their standards,and NAscar has theirs and the 2 it seemed did not meet in the middle?

Well, yes and no. I think TRD, should it be found that they had a key role in convincing a member of MWR to pull off this stunt, would position themselves to say what you said, jslone, that they each have their expectations from one another and someone fudged up somewhere, whether it was NASCAR being too strict, or MWR-TRD not trying hard enough to keep their car legit.

Not that I'm saying that NASCAR is being too strict (I think it's pretty obvious now which party f'd up.), but between NASCAR and MWR-TRD, this is what the general feeling would be between them: "I did everything right, what about YOU?"