View Cheating in NASCAR
CHEATING in NASCAR
Gregg Leary
Category:NASCAR -> Sprint Cup
Cheating probably goes back to the very first auto race…it certainly goes back to the very first NASCAR “Strictly Stock” race in Charlotte, NC on June 19, 1949. Apparent winner Glenn Dunnaway was disqualified when his moonshine car was found to have “altered rear springs.” He was DQ’d AND his $2000 first prize money was forfeited to second place Jim Roper. Car owner Hubert Westmoreland filed suit against NASCAR but the case was thrown out of court…NASCAR can set and enforce its rules as it sees fit.
Back in the day, NASCAR had no problem with disqualifying winners whose cars had been altered from “strictly stock.” Tim Flock and Fireball Roberts were disqualified from Beach/Road course wins. (Big Bill France had even disqualified Smokey Purser from a 1938 pre-NASCAR Beach race.) Today’s NASCAR is struggling with penalizing cheaters with points penalties, monetary fines and suspensions…nothing seems to work. Taking away wins, points and money would seem to solve the problem. However, it goes against NASCAR’s edict that “The fan who was in the stands or watched on TV does not want to think they have seen the winner of a race …then find out the next day that such is not the case.” Why the hell not?
Jensen’s “Cheating: An Inside Look at the Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,”chronicles the history of cheating in NASCAR…from Junior Johnson filling his tires with water…or welding extra metal to the rims to make them heavier to pass pre-race weigh in. (I wonder if the pit crew got hernias from changing that first set of tires/rims during a race?) He writes about filling frame rails and roll cages with buckshot to make weight…then “bombs away!” during the race through a trap door to release the bb’s. Buck Baker once commented on the released buckshot…”It was like driving through a hailstorm out there.”
He deals with nitrous oxide in fire extinguishers, oversize engines, running left side tires on the right side…Junior Johnson’s “Yellow Banana” Ford, Smokey Yunick’s Chevelle…driving it away after the gas tank had been removed by inspectors. He writes about Richard Petty’s oversize engine at Charlotte, “Tiregate” and other scandals.