THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 3, 1995 TAG: 9506030434
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Long : 120 lines
Tod Carson removed his glasses, wiped his sweaty face and embraced the trophy with the smile of a winner.
After a miserable season in 1994, when he virtually raced blind, the 32-year-old Limited Stock driver from Chesapeake could see clearly now, and that sure looked like a championship in his future.
This was two weeks ago, after he had taken the checkered flag at Langley Speedway for the sixth time in eight races - after winning only once all of last season.
But during victory ceremonies, Carson seemed as concerned with the foul luck of his closest competitor, Kevin Adams, as with his own good fortune.
Adams, the defending series champion, had encountered a mechanical problem early in the race to drop to the rear of the field. He charged back to finish second but was not close enough to contest Carson for the victory.
``I really hated to see Kevin have that problem,'' Carson said. ``It is a shame.''
A short time later, Carson was the one with the problem. A big one. The victory was taken from him and presented to Adams. No longer did he have a grip on the championship points race. Instead of being eight points ahead of Adams, suddenly he was 44 points behind.
What happened?
After the victory ceremonies, Carson took his car to the NASCAR inspection area, where he knew it would be scrutinized.
Inspectors had gone over the car the previous five weeks without finding anything askew, and Carson had no reason to suspect they would this time. But they did.
This time, they showed little interest in the other top-finishing cars, as they usually do. The inspectors seemed to know what they were looking for, and they went straight for it.
In the compartment under Carson's car that encased the clutch mechanism, they found an aluminum disc.
NASCAR rules state that aluminum parts in the clutch are illegal. Carson was disqualified and Adams given the victory.
Carson was aware of the rule but says the disc fell into ``a gray area'' that normally is overlooked.
``Every car out here has got something in the `gray area,' '' he said. ``That's racing. Everyone wants to go faster.''
Indeed, Carson said he had used the same type of aluminum disc since 1992 without it being noticed.
He put it on his car because a couple of veteran drivers had informed him that ``it's the way to go, everyone does it.' ''
Carson won the Limited Sportsman title that year and finished second in 1993. But he also used the aluminum disc in 1994, when he won only one race and Adams won 12 to claim the championship.
Last Saturday, Carson returned to Langley without the illegal disc and eager to prove he could win without it.
He was the fastest qualifier and barely edged Adams for the victory.
``I've been mad and fired up all week,'' Carson said before the race.
``The car is as fast, or faster, than it was with the aluminum disc. If it really was an advantage, I can't tell it.
``But I'm sure everyone thinks we won all those races because we were cheating. I've been waiting all week to prove them wrong.''
Track inspectors may have been the most surprised that Carson showed up in Victory Lane again without the illegal part.
That is the belief of Elwood Carson, who owns and maintains race cars for both of his sons, Tod and Kelly.
He says the inspectors have been after Tod all season.
``Tod won only one race last year and was winning so much this year they had to think he was cheating,'' Elwood Carson said.
``They have harassed us every week. They don't know the boy was blind as a bat in the race car last year. He's wearing his glasses now and can see. That's the big difference.''
Carson became aware he had a vision problem during the 1992 season, when he first got glasses. But he had difficulty wearing the glasses during races and put them away.
``My vision got worse in 1993, and I really struggled with the problem last year,'' Carson recalled. ``I didn't want to admit my vision was as bad as it was, and it was even worse at night. I would run good in practice during the day, but I couldn't see as well during the races at night and wasn't as fast.
``I wasn't comfortable in the car. I couldn't charge in the corners because I had trouble picking up the white line on the inside of the track.''
Along with not being able to see well, Carson had other problems last year. He blew an engine and crashed his brand new racer in the wall in the opening race. He wasn't injured, but his father suffered third-degree burns when the radiator hose burst as he was inspecting the damage.
Carson made repairs to his car, and Ashton Lewis, who owns Bill Lewis Chevrolet in Portsmouth, volunteered to build him a new engine to get him back on the track.
Despite missing several races, he finished fifth in the championship standings.
``That motor was just super,'' Carson said. ``We made improvements to the chassis over the winter, too, that helped. But the big thing is I started wearing my glasses. It is like night and day.''
Even with glasses, though, Carson no longer can see a championship this season as clearly as he once did.
``We could win the rest of the races but if Kevin finished second or third in all of them, he would still win the title,'' he said.
``The disqualification cost us 50 points, and it is difficult to make up that many because there is only a drop of two points per position.''
Carson is sure someone told on him about the illegal disc, but he does not think Adams was involved.
The two drivers have had some bumper-tapping duels, but both insist it has been nothing more than good, hard racing.
``It's been fun. It's what racing is all about,'' Adams said. ``We might bump each other trying to make a hole, but we don't intentionally try to spin out the other.''
Adams says Carson's penalty was unfortunate, but he is not counting him out of the championship race.
``It is going to come down to between him and me,'' Adams predicted.
Carson isn't giving up.
``This thing has got us fired up,'' he said. ``We are out here to have fun, and we are going to do that.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/Staff
Tod Carson
by CNB