The Spin Out Zone – Silly Season & Mark Martin Get Bumped

Hold on – here is the bump and the SPIN OUT!

Before the SPIN OUT, I have to give a huge BURN OUT to Johnny Benson. What a
mountain you have climbed and I am so glad you have that MONKEY off your back.

I live in Michigan and the talk of the state for so long has been about
Johnny’s winless streak. We all knew it would happen, we just didn’t know when!
To have it happen in the same year when you miss races because of injury makes
it all that much SWEETER! You’ve done Michigan PROUD Johnny! YOU DID IT CLEAN,
WAY TO GO!

THE SPIN OUT – SILLY SEASON

NASCAR.com is reporting that Winston Cup silly season is in full swing. WHAT?
Are they serious? Maybe it was in full swing a few months ago, but to call Jimmy
Spencer, Casey Atwood and the problems at Travis Carter silly season issues, I
would say that NASCAR.com is reaching for a story.

In reality, if these issues deserve a specific label, it should be called the
HOUSE CLEANING SEASON or the DUMPING SEASON. Now I know some of you are going to
send me an email and tell me that I am being too insensitive, but let’s remember
this is a business. Just like everyday hard working Americans, if a driver or
team member do their job, they’ll keep it. If they don’t – they’re gone!

I do want to hear from the people who sent me email and told me that I was
WRONG on some of the past issues that I’ve written about. Like the hand full of
Jimmy Spencer fans that called me names and told me that I had NO CLUE what I
was talking about. This was regarding the August 14th issue of THE SPIN OUT
ZONE, when I said Jimmy Spencer would be GONE at the end of the year. Check one
for the SPIN OUT GUY!

What about the Travis Carter backer’s who emailed me after the September 26th
issue of THE SPIN OUT ZONE? One of you, AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, told me that I
had no knowledge of the sport or how to maintain a sponsorship. Well, NOW that
we know Discover Card isn’t STAYING for 2003 and the FUKUYAMA factor didn’t pan
out YET, maybe the SPIN OUT GUY does know something about retaining a sponsor.

My POINT folks – sometimes NASCAR INSIDERS lose the focus. They work like the
DICKENS to make it to the show, but once they are there, they forget the FANS!
Sponsors are looking for drivers like Dale Jarrett, Michael Waltrip and Kenny
Wallace. Sponsors want to SPEND money marketing a driver to ATTRACT US to their
products or services! With some the drivers out there, they’re FLAT OUT
UNMARKETABLE. Some in the GARAGE forget this! In the case of Travis Carter
having Todd Bodine in his car, it NOW brings a huge potential risk. A risk that
even Discover Card did not want to take. Will they be back? Yes, someday with
another team! But, what sponsor would invest millions of dollars on a driver who
could be thrown out of NASCAR if he made another mistake? NONE!

So, what’s SILLY about replacing a driver who DID NOT perform? What’s SILLY
about an OWNER protecting his or her investment? What’s SILLY about a SPONSOR
demanding a higher performance level based on the funds their spending? The
answer is PLAIN and SIMPLE – It’s NOT SILLY at all.

THE SPIN OUT – MARK MARTIN

Actually, this SPIN OUT goes to Roush Racing president Geoff Smith and the #6
team, including Mark Martin. I do not understand how a team, who has been in
around for a LONG TIME and knows the rules of the game, can keep breaking the
rules and then play Mr. Innocent.

In a post-race inspection after Sunday’s race at The Rock, an unapproved left
front spring was found on Mark Martin’s #6 Ford. On Monday, NASCAR docked Mark
Martin 25 driver points, putting him 112 points behind Tony Stewart in the
Winston Cup Championship. Jack Roush owner of Mark’s #6 Ford and three other
Winston Cup teams, was also docked 25 owner points. Mark’s crew chief Ben Leslie
was fined $5,000.

Afterwards, Mark Martin said the following:

* "I feel like we just got the death sentence for shoplifting" *
"Everyone in the garage knows that it was an honest mistake and provided
absolutely zero advantage at that track" * "This is a pretty steep
penalty for what is essentially a meaningless violation"

Hey Mark, you should know better than most, that if you break the rules and
get caught, you’ll be punished!

To address your first above point, if you call loosing 25 points for cheating
a death sentence, then DON’T DO THE CRIME!

Second point, if it was an honest mistake then someone didn’t do their job
and take it out on them! With all the PAST news of losing points because of
parts violations, you would think that when someone takes a spring out of the
box, they would DOUBLE CHECK to make sure it meets requirements. To go on and
say that it has "absolutely zero advantage at the track" is totally
irresponsible. Let me remind you, HELLO it’s a RULE! Plus, you finished 2nd in
the race, so maybe it did do something!

Third point, NASCAR has made the example before, if you break the rules in a
way to increase performance, YOU’LL LOSE POINTS! You’ve tasted this PILL before!

The NASCAR rulebook states that the spring should have the minimum of 4 1/2
coils and the left front spring found on Mark’s car had 4 3/8ths coils. So as we
see it, this team gets caught breaking the rules and now they are on a campaign
to minimize the issue and blame the manufacturer and NASCAR. Mr. Smith the
president of Roush Racing is looking at appealing the penalty issued on Monday
or taking legal action against the manufacturer of the spring. Talk about SILLY
SEASON, this is an example of being DOWN RIGHT SILLY!

Finally, Mark also said this week "I am heartbroken over what the fans
will think — that we were cheating. The sad part is they will think that is why
my car ran so good."

This week’s SPIN OUT goes to MARK MARTIN. If this would have been the first
time it happened this year and the other Roush teams (#17, #97, #99) would have
had spring problems at The Rock, then maybe I can see the "unfortunate
oversight" argument that Ben Leslie, Mark’s crew chief is making. But,
breaking the rules and you did, whether it was on purpose or not, still means
you cheated and unfortunately for this team you got caught. What’s really sad
Mark, its going to take loosing 25 points and maybe a championship to get
someone over at Roush to do their job! Its called QUALITY CONTROL! STILL SMELLS
LIKE 1990!