Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 3, 1993 TAG: 9307030126
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
"There was certainly no intent on our part to try to cheat the system," said Jimmy Johnson, vice president and general manager of Hendrick Motorsports, which owns Schrader's car. "The part just got on there by mistake."
"It's a bad deal," Schrader told the media Friday morning after emerging from his hauler at Daytona International Speedway.
Schrader, preparing for today's Pepsi 400, said he didn't know that his Chevrolet Lumina engine had been illegally altered in an attempt to bypass the carburetor restrictor plate.
"I wasn't the only one that didn't know about it," Schrader said. "It's not real good for my crew chief [Ken Howes], either, because he didn't know."
The entire team was more or less pleading ignorance Friday, citing the fact that its restrictor-plate engines come from a vendor.
And at this point, they have to hope that their story will persuade a three-member panel of the National Stock Car Racing Commission to reduce the four-race suspension NASCAR levied against Schrader and Joe Hendrick, who is listed as the owner of the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy. Joe Hendrick is the father of Rick Hendrick, who owns the motorsports company.
Schrader said he had no idea that passageways had been drilled in the carburetor and intake manifold of his engine in an effort to get more air to the power plant by circumventing the restrictor plate.
Actually there were two illegal parts - the carburetor and the intake manifold - but Johnson said he considered them one piece.
"It's not complete without another part, so we had absolutely zero advantage," Johnson said. The missing part, he said, was "a drilled stud that causes the intake to suck air."
The system was designed to draw air through the illegal passageways bored in the carburetor, into and through the hollow center of the stud, through the illegal passages in the intake manifold and into the engine, thereby going around the restrictor plate.
It was the biggest cheating scandal in the Winston Cup series since car owner Junior Johnson and crew chief Tim Brewer were suspended for four races after NASCAR inspectors found a slightly oversized engine in their Ford Thunderbird following The Winston in May 1991.
Schrader stands to miss four races in the midst of one of his hottest streaks. Although he hasn't won since 1991, Schrader is seventh in Winston Cup points on the strength of four consecutive top five finishes before the Michigan race two weeks ago, where he finished 16th.
If the suspension holds, he will plummet in the standings, probably to 20th or lower.
He and Hendrick also stand to lose a bundle of money, as well as exposure, while embarrassing the car's major sponsor, Kodiak. In the past four races, for example, Schrader won more than $190,000. Top drivers usually split purses 50-50 with the team owner.
"I just hope I don't have to miss four races," Schrader said. "We've really been moving up in the points, but we'll take a pretty quick nosedive if we have to sit out four races. I guess we'll find out next week whether it's right or wrong."
Because of the appeal, the suspensions would not begin until the July 11 race at New Hampshire International Raceway, if they are upheld. The appeal is scheduled to be heard at NASCAR headquarters here at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Johnson said team members did not know about the illegal parts because the motor was provided by B & R Engineering of Winston-Salem, a vendor of racing engines that is partially owned by Hendrick.
Johnson said Kenny Bingham, a partner in the company, had experimented with this system about two years ago and bored the passages in the carburetor and intake manifold. Somehow, those parts accidentally ended up on Schrader's car. "He was going to fill the holes in but he never got around to it," Johnson said.
"The holes drilled in the carburetor are pretty obvious," he said. "It's not something you feel like you can get by with."
"When we tried it, it needed a part that was too obvious" to pass NASCAR inspection. "It's obvious when you qualify 15th, you damn sure weren't cheating. If we had done it [purposely], we would have done it on the No. 5 car [driven by Ricky Rudd] and the No. 24 car [of Jeff Gordon], too."
Schrader's qualifying run was disallowed, and when he requalified Friday, he had the slowest speed of the weekend for any car - 182.567 mph. That was a loss of more than 7 mph. But Schrader still made the field with a provisional starting spot, which all regular Winston Cup competitors are allowed to use.
Crew chief Howes admitted that "some machining was done on the manifold and carburetor," but indicated he was unaware of it.
"There's some things a crew chief can control and some things he cannot," Howes said. "Again, it's a big surprise - something we were not prepared for. We're kind of scrambling around trying to figure out what to do with it and trying to keep our spirits up. We'll survive."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB