Brock Yates interviewed car owner Bud Moore for his 1972 book, SUNDAY DRIVER: The Writer Meets the Road - at 175 mph.
Brock asked Bud why it cost so much more to go NASCAR Grand National Racing than it cost Bud to field cars in the SCCA Trans-Am Series?
Answered Bud, "Cheating is expensive!"
William - as a high school boy in 1964, I remember my first NASCAR membership package came with two bumper stickers.
One bumper sticker read, "If You Want to Race, Daytona is the Place."
The other yellow bumper sticker read, "If You Want to Race Join NASCAR."
Perhaps you NASCAR members from that period remember those bumper stickers.
Dad very reluctantly let me put both bumper stickers on the rear of the family car. I was so proud to have those two bumper stickers displayed showing I was so cool and was a NASCAR member.
I can't imagine sporting that NASCAR sticker on my vehicle today.
Like you, William, my heart was always at the weekly track level and most of those Friday and Saturday night adventures far exceeded the racing I saw in the GN/Cup and Busch/Nationwide ranks.
I'm not sure it ever got any worse than having to listen to all those 6 cylinder Buicks navigate Dover during NASCAR's ill-fated experiment in the Busch Series some years back.
On the subject of nitrous oxide and the penalties for using it, this excerpt from Bleacher Report shows how different the penalty was for DK than the one imposed on AJ Foyt and Darrell Waltrip. Who you are and how NASCAR wants to use you to promote the product have always been part of the deal. Certainly nothing fair here compared to DK's suspension from Labor Day to the end of the season.
The 1976 Daytona 500 started out with NASCAR disallowing the speeds of the three fastest qualifiers for the Daytona 500, leaving unheralded Ramo Stott on the pole. A.J. Foyt, Darrell Waltrip, and Dave Marcis had to re-qualify for the race after NASCAR officials found evidence that Foyt and Waltrip used nitrous oxide (so-called laughing gas) to enhance the performance of the engines and add horsepower.
Waltrip admitted concealing his bottle of nitrous oxide, but Foyt was furious at NASCAR's decision. He was seen angrily lecturing NASCAR president Bill France Jr. before Bill France Sr. showed up. France Sr. had retired in 1972, but he still was rough and tough "Big Bill" to everyone in the garage area. Few people had the guts to confront Foyt one-on-one, but France Sr. was one of them. When Foyt and France Sr. walked out from behind closed doors, France had his arm around Foyt's neck and Foyt was saying, "Yes, sir, Mr. France." Dave Marcis, the third-fastest qualifier, also had his lap disqualified, in his case because of an illegal blockage of the radiator.
Remember the wreck DK had on the backstretch at Darlington in the 1978 Southern 500 that peeled the driver's door sheet metal off exposing a nitrous oxider container hidden in the door? That one resulted in a suspension for the remainder of the 1978 season. Can't remember if there was also a monetary fine.
I was just reading 2009 news coverage of Long's appeal to NASCAR and noted that the last car before Long's found with a "big" engine was, of all people, Junior Johnson, lol!
And Long was also suspended for 12 races, even if he had paid the fine.
And car owner, Bob Jenkins goes merrily along? Wow! Talk about not fair.
From 2009 Associated Press Coverage of Carl Long Appeal:
Although the National Stock Car Racing Commission said it was tempting to give Carl Long and his crew chief penalties they could "more-readily bear," the driver's appeal was denied Tuesday.
Long was penalized for having an oversized engine at Lowe's Motor Speedway last month. Long and his wife, car owner DeeDee Long, were suspended 12 races and docked 200 points. Crew chief Charles Swing was fined US$200,000. All are NASCAR records.
Long appealed in hopes of leniency for his part-time, low-budget team. He got some relief, but not quite what he was looking for.
"I'm truly disappointed in NASCAR," Long told The Associated Press. "The sport I love and grew a part of has really given me a sour taste in my mouth."
The commission isolated Long's suspension to the Sprint Cup Series, meaning he can find work in one of the sanctioning body's lower levels. The problem with that, though, is Long's full-time job is working with the Front Row Motorsports No. 34 Chevrolet in the Cup series.
Long said team owner Bob Jenkins was working on a solution.
Although the commission suggested that the fine might not fall to Long if Swing can't pay it, Long believes NASCAR will eventually hold him responsible for the $200,000.
Long, who made 23 races between 2000 and 2006, bought the engine from longtime builder Ernie Elliott and said all the paperwork showed it was within NASCAR specifications. It malfunctioned May 15 during practice for the all-star race, prompting NASCAR's inspection.
Had Long suspected the engine was illegal, he could have loaded up his car and gone home instead of turning the engine over to inspectors and trying to qualify for the non-points race with a backup motor.
NASCAR measured the engine at 358.17 cubic inches, 0.17 more than the legal limit.
Long argued Tuesday that the infraction may have been due to an error on the part of the engine builder or expansion due to overheating or general wear and tear on the engine. He also made it clear he was incapable of bearing the suspension and hefty fine.
NASCAR countered that an oversized engine is one of the most egregious of rules violations and warrants the harshest of penalties.
The commission sided with NASCAR, saying the race team is ultimately responsible for all components on the race car, including any supplied by third-party vendors.
"While it is tempting to consider penalties that this driver and team can more-readily bear, the sport would not be well served by having a sliding scale of penalties calibrated to a given team or member's resources," the commission said. "Penalties of this magnitude for this type of infraction are warranted in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series."
It was the first oversized engine NASCAR had found since car owner Junior Johnson and crew chief Tim Brewer were suspended 12 weeks for violations at Charlotte in 1991. Their suspensions were reduced to four weeks on appeal.
Long was hoping for a similar reduction.
"I had a feeling that some stuff was gonna be changed," Long said. "That's what I was expecting. But they're being bullies, big bullies."
Long could appeal again, taking his case to the National Stock Car Racing Commissioner, Charles Strang. Long hasn't decided his next step.
"If it works just like it did in this one, then it's a waste of time," Long said.
Thanks, Bobby. NASCAR wasn't nearly as concerned with the size of RJR's favorite car owner, Junior Johnson's engine when DW detonated it after crossing the line to win the first "All Star" event, The Winston in 1985.
"Fairness" has long been doled out according to who you are and what you bring to the party.
Let's hope they hire a different company to fix the fences than the ones "fixing" the website.
When NASCAR took its website completely in-house and away from Turner Media, we immediately noticed issues such as difficulty navigating and the lack of continuity to pull up old stories and info from the archives.
The "new" NASCAR.com took a real beating from fans in its "Comment" section following each story.
I notice now that it is impossible to make a comment at NASCAR.com.
The following disclaimer is posted:
We apologize. We are having technical issues with our comment sections and fan community and it is temporarily unavailable. We are actively working on these issues and hope to have it up and running soon. We are also working on enhancements to provide a better forum for our fans. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience.
Let us hope that they are truly trying to remedy the problems and not just ducking posting input from the fans.
