PRE-BRISTOL RACINDEALS

DO NOT REMOVE UNDER PENALTY OF LAW:
Two crew chiefs were fined and suspended this week for rules
violations. Specifically, violations having to do with the seat
belt harnesses in their cars.

Melling Racing has said they’re going to
appeal NASCAR’s ruling. Apparently, they trimmed some excess belt
material off of one of the shoulder harnesses. The only problem
is, the part they trimmed off apparently had the label with the
date of manufacture on it.

Chad Knaus, the #92 crew chief, say’s that
NASCAR is making an example of them.

At least he seems to have gotten the
message. Yes, you’re being made an example of. You say that you
can prove that the belt was new. How? Why do you think they put
those tags on there?

And I have to wonder about cutting off
excess belt material. Knaus says "We don’t believe rolling
up the excess material provides as safe an alternative as
trimming off the excess." If I were a driver, I don’t think
I’d want any sharp objects anywhere near the belts. If only a
little bit of the belt was cut by mistake, in an accident the
belt could … break.

Am I accusing the Melling team of doing
anything wrong? It’s not for me to decide, but NASCAR certainly
thinks so. At the very least, they used bad judgement in cutting
off the tags, in light of all the safety discussions that have
gone on since Daytona.

ROUSH’S BLACK HOLE: It’s
about time Kevin Lepage got behind the wheel of a decent ride.
He’s another Roush victim who, thankfully, wasn’t stuck too long
in one of their "C" team cars.

Look how long it’s taken Ted Musgrave to
get back up to speed. Wally Dallenbach still hasn’t recovered
from his time with Roush. Chad Little has had to end his second
attempt at a Winston Cup career and go back again to the Busch
Series. Kurt Busch was brought over way too early I think. He’s
well on his way to becoming another victim of Roush’s black hole.

PUBLIC RECORDS DEBATE:
This just keeps getting stupider and stupider. First we have an
Orlando newspaper with a "marginally" legitimate
request to have their expert view the autopsy photos of Dale
Earnhardt. Then some "university" students who run a
web site joined in the fray.

Now some other internet web site is
requesting all audio and video tapes of the autopsy. No wonder
you hear drivers like Sterling Marlin say they don’t pay much
attention to "that internet."

Can it get much sicker?

GETTING A "BREAK":
NASCAR has decided that the Ford Tortoise, .’er, Taurus needed
some help at Talladega. So they gave the Fords (and their illegitimate sibling, the Dodge) some aero changes.

I realize that NASCAR needs to keep the
competition close. After all, I’ve ranted on this site since day
one about the competition on the track. But I certainly didn’t
see any evidence that Ford needed any help at Daytona. They had
four of the top ten finishing spots. Dodge did pretty well too,
taking three of the top ten spots. Pontiac, although they didn’t
have any cars in the top ten, didn’t do too bad, with Ken
Schrader running 134 laps of 199 in the top ten.

So I don’t see the reasoning behind
NASCAR’s move. The teams with major resources will adapt and
overcome, and the teams with fewer resources won’t. Seems to me
that that’ll only make the disparity between teams (notice I said
teams, not makes) bigger.

NASCAR IN "CIA" MODE:
I keep reading things about how secretive NASCAR is being in the
investigation of Dale Earnhardt’s death. OK. Here’s what’s
happening: NASCAR had the attending doctor who worked on
Earnhardt talk to the media the day of his death. The doctor
makes some comments about the cause of death that are educated
guesses.

The next Friday, NASCAR has a press
conference where the same doctor, after having viewed the autopsy
materials, explains the cause of death. In the Sunday impromptu
conference, he said that the HANS collar and an full face helmet
probably wouldn’t have made a difference. At the Friday press
conference, he said that an full face helmet might have made a
difference after all.

Some so-called journalists, who, if you ask
me, are still sore at NASCAR for last year’s media credential
fiasco, have tried to say that NASCAR is hiding something,
operating in "CIA" mode. Can you blame NASCAR for
keeping mum?

In effect, the press is saying that NASCAR
doesn’t give them any information. But when NASCAR does give them
information, they think NASCAR is hiding something. Apparently,
wrong information fast is better than right information slow.

ADRIAN, ADRIAN: I could
make some comments about how CART racing is nothing but a bunch
of foreign drivers who can’t make it in F1, but I won’t. CART
driver Adrian Fernandez looked down his nose and made some
comments about something which he knows nothing about, namely,
NASCAR racing, and why it’s more popular than CART.

He said that American fans enjoy racing
with lots of passing. Well, he’s got that right. After all, the
whole purpose of the sport is to pass as many cars as you need to
in order to get to the front.

But his next comment just eludes me: "What
would you rather have: 50 passes or two good passes? I prefer one
good pass. In NASCAR, anybody can be passing. It’s more of a show
than a real fight."

I certainly wouldn’t call what he said the
remarks of a racer. If he’s content to start in 14th and finish
in 13th, then if I were a car owner (no matter what the series),
he’d be history.

It just irks me that someone living in this
country, making a living off of an American company, would have
the gall to criticize the most popular form of auto racing in
this country. Sounds like sour grapes to me.

BRISTOL IN 2K1: Here we
are in the 21st Century, and while they’re spending megabucks on
adding seats and other things to Bristol Motor Speedway, a driver
is still screwed if he qualifies badly enough to get put on the
back stretch pits. Unless some fluke happens, there’s virtually
no way to win if you pit back there. That’s pathetic.</p