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Roush Car Quacked Up at Vegas
3/11/08: SOZ Studios, MI - By Dennis Michelsen "DMIC" (RaceTalkRadio.com)
Have you heard the old story about determining whether a duck is really a duck? The old adage tells us that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then indeed it must be a duck! Roush-Fenway's No. 99 car was found with a part out of tolerance after the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That fact is not in question. Whether Jack Roush, Bob Osborne, Carl Edwards, or the Aflac Duck conspired to make sure the oil reservoir came loose or not, that does not matter! (Speaking of the Aflac Duck did anyone notice shortly after that commercial showing the duck molting that the No. 99 car lost its feathers?) Just like the duck…the Roush car quacked at Las Vegas! It was illegal according to NASCAR and they penalized the offenders.
Unintended Advantages
Race teams check every little detail on their car's designs. Each part has been analyzed and if it fails the team knows what the affect will be to the car's operation. Some teams have gone so far as to test illegal moves to see just how much down force can be gained, yanking on a fender on the old cars for example. That same team probably had someone in charge of leaning against that fender in Victory Lane too! So to suggest that Roush-Fenway had no knowledge of the affects if the oil reservoir cover came loose is absurd! No I don't believe Roush-Fenway would take a chance of this happening on purpose but I have a hard time believing they didn't know what happens when that cover comes loose! If the cover coming loose cost the car 25 horsepower in performance you know they would make sure it never came loose! Jack Roush didn't get to where he is by being unprepared! They might not have known that it helps the new car but they sure as heck knew that it wouldn't hurt their effort to win!
The Pride of Playing the Game
Every time a crew chief in NASCAR gets caught playing around the gray areas of the rules I am the first to applaud! Playing with tires or a rogue crew person adding things to the fuel is not playing around the gray areas. But getting creative, even as Chad Knaus and Steve Letarte did last season at Infineon shows that these guys are doing their job! In this pure and squeaky world of NASCAR this is no longer acceptable behavior. Crew chiefs know that if you get caught the penalty of losing points will have a consequence on your team's performance. Legends have been built because of creative interpretation of NASCAR rules! If something is not in the rulebook it is not illegal yet. There is a certain pride in playing the game because the job of a crew chief is to make the car go faster than the other guy's car! It really is that simple and if you are not pushing the envelope you are not making your car as fast as it can be.
Simple Cure to All of This
If NASCAR wants to get rid of what they call cheating there is one simple solution. Send one team home if their crime against NASCAR merits being called cheating and they will never have another team break the rules or even tap dance on the gray areas ever again! Treat this team as if they never showed up at the track and this issue goes away real fast! But NASCAR will not take this giant step because sending a big name home and changing the course of the season is not acceptable to their leadership. It would also bring instant reaction from that first sponsor that was sent home! Money makes the world go round and it makes NASCAR stockcars go fast too!
The Real Culprit
After days of arduous research and interrogations of those involved in the oil reservoir cover incident I have gotten to the bottom of the real culprit in this whole escapade. It wasn't Crew Chief Bob Osborne in the garage with the wrench. No the blame does not get affixed to the Cat in the Hat in the hauler with the pliers. Nor can we blame Professor Plum in the conservatory with the candlestick! The culprit is plain to see and I was happy to see Roush-Fenway racing take the appropriate steps to make sure this doesn't happen again. At Las Vegas the Aflac duck was inside the racecar messing with things. Roush got wise and put him ON the car for the Atlanta race so they could keep an eye on that crazy bird! Now you know the rest of the story! (My apologies to Paul Harvey, good day)
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