THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 14, 1995 TAG: 9502140431
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Kyle Petty calls it getting a competitive advantage.
NASCAR calls it breaking the rules.
No matter what you call it, based on what has happened at Daytona International Speedway in the past few days, a lot of teams worked hard during the winter testing the limits.
``Maybe it's our testing policy, where we give them December off, that they get more ideas,'' Winston Cup director Gary Nelson said Monday.
A total of $90,200 in fines has been handed out since Friday, including the highest fine in the sport's history - $45,100. All of the money collected from fines throughout the year goes into the Winston Cup points fund.
Junior Johnson, who owns the No. 11 Ford driven by Brett Bodine, was hit for $45,000 for not having the air intake manifold bolted down. Crew chief Mike Beam was fined $100 and placed on indefinite probation.
Bill Davis, who owns the No. 22 Pontiac driven by Randy LaJoie, was fined $25,000, Lajoie $10,000 and crew chief Chris Hussey $100 for constructing an elaborate hydraulic rear deck lid lifter. Hussey also received indefinite probation.
Joe Nemechek, driver of the No. 87 Chevrolet, was fined $5,000 for tampering with the air filter. And Jeff Hammond, crew chief on the No. 40 Pontiac driven by Greg Sacks, was hit with a $5,000 fine for having 18 pounds of loose weight in the car Sacks crashed during Sunday's Busch Clash.
So the question is: Is NASCAR getting that much better at catching the infractions, or are the drivers pushing the envelope that hard?
``You've got to give NASCAR credit for looking in all the right places,'' Petty said. ``But you've got to give these guys credit for trying stuff.''
Said Nelson: ``I'd like to think our officials are always doing a good job and they are always on top of things when things happen out there. But in reality, some things you just flat out stumble on.''
Such as Davis' deck-lid hydraulics, which were discovered when a NASCAR official at the gas pumps thought the pins on the rear deck lid were loose and tried to tighten them up for LaJoie.
While the consensus is that NASCAR is getting more efficient at finding problems, there probably are more factors involved.
With Hoosier's exit from Winston Cup, at least four officials were freed up from overseeing tire distribution to work in the garage.
There also was a tremendous amount of movement among team members and drivers during the offseason.
``If you leave one place and you know they've got something they've been doing, you're not going to rat them out, but you are going to tell enough people that somebody's going to rat them out,'' said Robin Pemberton, Rusty Wallace's new crew chief, who spent four years with Mark Martin, two years with Petty and last season with Ted Musgrave. ``The best inspectors in the garage area are the other competitors.''
Nelson said NASCAR officials get their information from everywhere and track down every rumor to see if there is any possibility of truth.
So the next obvious question is: Why risk it?
``I call it self-defense,'' said Barry Dodson, Petty's new crew chief. ``You have to try to have an edge. I've done it too.''
Said Pemberton: ``I just can't believe what people are trying to do. I would think they would work harder at something they can use and use it all the time instead of something they can use once.''
Added Sacks: ``I think you have to be innovative. But that doesn't impress me. I'm impressed with the guys that are going fast today that haven't been caught.''
The severity of the fines has had a lot of tongues wagging. But the number is going to have to get pretty high before owners such as Richard Childress, Felix Sabates, Roger Penske and Junior Johnson are going to feel the pinch.
``Dollars to some people mean more than to others,'' Nelson said. ``If the fines aren't high enough to deter each competitor, we will keep raising fines until they quit.''
Suspension is an option but is rare. Even rarer is sending a team home from the track. The Stavola Brothers team was sent home from Richmond last September for drilling holes in the roll cage.
Several car owners and crew chiefs said $45,000 will get attention, but sending drivers home would get more.
Pemberton, however, said there is an even more sensitive spot.
``If it was $150,000, that would be a lot of money,'' Pemberton said. ``But money doesn't matter. Points is what matters.''
He should know. Twice, NASCAR has taken points from a team as well as issuing a fine.
Richard Petty was fined $35,000 and lost 104 points in 1983 for an engine-related infraction.
In 1990, Martin roared to a win at Richmond with Pemberton as his crew chief. Afterward, a spacer plate was found in the carburetor. Martin was fined $40,000 and lost 46 championship points. He lost the championship to Dale Earnhardt by 12 points that year.
``It hurt a whole lot more to lose those points than to lose the money,'' Pemberton said. by CNB