problems and damage in such a way that to actually get reliable measurements is stretching things a bit. And just how were the measurements taken and at what points in the engine? Taking measurements at the wrong points can give erroneous results. And if you’ve ever played with something that’s digital, you’ll notice that if you look at the numbers at certain angles, 3,6,8, and 9 can all look alike. Even with normal non-digital measuring tools, if you look at the “hash marks” the wrong way, you can be off in your measurements. But NA$CAR obviously doesn’t seem to think that it’s important enough to go into detail about how they arrived at their conclusions on the engine being oversized. Besides, Faux King Brian is looking out for the little guys. He said so himself.
Of course, when it doubt, you always go to an expert, so I called my good friend and mentor Rex White on Monday to get his take on this whole deal with Carl Long. Rex has been on the road lately, so I was lucky to catch him at home. We caught up on family things, health, and a few other things before we got around to talking about racing. Rex is of the same opinion I am about this whole deal. “Something about this just doesn’t smell right” is what Rex said. Based on the fact that the .17 was split between 8 cylinders, “there was no way they could get a micrometer in there to do any sort of actual measurements“. Plus something else Rex pointed out that the learned scribes of the lamestream media either overlooked or forgot to mention. NA$CAR allows for a certain tolerance on the engines for “fair wear and tear” because of the simple wearing down on the rings and cylinder walls because of friction. And Rex would know a thing or two about this as he had to build his own engines back when he was racing. Granted, the materials and engine designs may have changed some since Rex raced, but the basic principals haven’t. As the old saying goes, “Something doesn’t smell right in Denmark”.
Something else Rex brought up was the sad state of racing and he specifically mentioned the Busch Series. “The reason why the racing in the Busch Series is so bad is because of them running that restrictor plate. The guy who gets up front can’t be caught because of it and it’s also what’s causing some of the wrecks because they have no throttle response“. He also doesn’t expect to see the Busch or Truck series around much longer either simply because of the high cost of racing and the Cup teams turning it (the Busch Series) into the Cup Lite Series. We also talked about one of my “favorite” subjects, the God awful Uni-Car. Rex doesn’t see it helping the teams out at all and sees it actually hurting racing and he specifically mentioned the branding of the cars. Rex doesn’t own a computer and doesn’t go on the internet, so he really doesn’t know what I’ve written about the Uni-Car since it’s appeared. He also hasn't read anything that's been written by the supposed "unbiased" media or other folks out there like myself. He’s formed his opinions from what he’s seen at the track, what he sees on TV, and what he sees and hears for himself when he visits some of his friends at some of the race shops. Rex calls things the way he sees them and if he doesn’t see any good coming from what’s going on or thinks something isn‘t right, you can take it to the bank.
While I was having to wait between doctors’ appointments, I decided to check in with some of my "eyes and ears" and see what was happening in the garage area and get some of their observations. I mentioned recently that if they went to the factory fuel injected engines and computers that NA$CAR would have to go out and get some highly qualified people to be able to do the inspections. Well, they need to be doing that right now. It seems that the people who are doing the inspections on the cars right now couldn’t tell a dipstick from a drive shaft. NA$CAR doesn’t hire people who actually have knowledge and experience working with automobiles much less with race cars. Why? Because they’d have to shell out some big bucks. So instead, they hire people with little to no knowledge of mechanics, much less of automobiles, and teach them the one little area that they have to inspect. The guy who inspects the chassis can’t inspect the engine. The guy who inspects the transmission can’t inspect the body. They may not know diddly squat about how many teeth there’s supposed to be on the rear end gear but by golly they’ll quote you page, paragraph, and verse about their little area of expertise.
One of the things that go on a lot is politics. The mega-teams are doing a lot of politicking in the garage area with the officials and His Highness’ Merry Band of Henchmen. It makes me have second thoughts about shaking hands with some of these folks as I don’t know where their hands have been in the process of them playing politics in the garage area. Yes folks, it’s that bad. They’re giving real politicians a bad name.
The last observation has to do with the actual inspection process. It seems that some crew chiefs are quite adept at either keeping the inspectors amused or distracted while their cars are being inspected. They talk about family life, real politics, tell jokes, or use the gift of gab to keep the inspectors distracted. And it works. One of the mega-teams cars was a hair low but because the crew chief kept the inspectors amused with his jokes, they missed it. Another mega-team had a questionable gasket on their engine at a restrictor plate track. But because the crew chief was skilled at being a “Master of Distraction”, the inspectors passed it even though it was questionable. Now, what do you think would’ve happened in either incident if it had been the car of Carl Long, Robby Gordon, Kirk Shelmardine, or Morgan Shepherd? You know they would’ve been nailed. But between the politics that are being played and the Masters of Distraction being good at their craft, the little guys don’t stand a chance and the mega-teams are getting away with a lot.
Something I noticed during one of the pit stops at Sears Point was a tire rolling away while a car was pulling out of its pit stall. A crew member did manage to snag the tire. Luckily, whoever the official was that was standing there used some common sense. He better hope His Majesty doesn’t find out because the driver could’ve been penalized for leaving the pits before all equipment was returned.
I was reading that Detroit’s “NA$CAR people” (Whomever they are. Is that like Frank Zappa’s Pajama People?) are thinking about using crate engines in the Truck and Busch Series. Oh Joy! Bad enough they’ve got them both running restrictor plates now they want to do this? I guess they want to see just how small the crowds get before they try it in the Cup Series. Supposedly, NA$CAR isn’t interested. I seem to recall somebody in the Ivory Towers talking about engines with interchangeable parts for the Cup Series and based on what’s being reported, that’s basically what this spec engine would be. It would be put together using engineers from the auto manufacturers. I don’t see why they need more than the Big 3 since the 4 th one already uses parts from the other 3 in their engines. Of course, you have to wonder if NA$CAR’s lack of interest could be because they’re trying to protect the 4th manufacturer and the money they paid to “buy” the rule book and keep them from being sued over copyright and patent infringements by the other manufacturers.
Interesting the talk about Chip and Dale Racing going to the Japanese named cars. You can bet Dale Sr. is probably doing about 10,000 rpm in his mausoleum right now. Had Jr. stayed there, would they still be talking about switching brands or would they have stayed with GM? We’ll never know for sure. I get a chuckle when I see EGR because I don’t think of a race team. I think of an EGR (Exhaust gas recirculation) valve. So Chip and Dale works better.
Speaking of Dale Sr., Jules the Engine Guy brought up some interesting points. Ever since Dale Sr. died, NA$CAR and its racing have gone to hell in a hand basket. What was once a sport has become a shadow of its former self. It’s gone from racing to racer-tainment. Iron Head kept the Frances in line. With him gone, Faux King Brian has run amok wreaking havoc with the cars, the drivers, the tracks, the race dates, revised the history, tried to dump all the over 35 drivers for pretty young faces, made the drivers as PC as can be, ruined the points system, instituted a play-off system that doesn’t work, and really made a mess of just about everything in and connected to what was once a great sport. Hype has replaced substance and results. Certain teams are rewarded simply because they’re there instead of having to work for their rewards. One thing that hasn’t changed since Dale Sr. passed on is bending the rules to please a certain maker of car although the make of car has changed.
You have to wonder just who will replace Truex Jr. when he leaves Chip and Dale Racing and takes his sponsor with him. They’re having a hard enough time finding sponsorship and with Truex Jr. taking his sponsor with him, you have to wonder if this will spell the end of Chip and Dale Racing due to lack of sponsorship. Maybe they could merge with yet another team and have a name like a big law firm.
One thing I was surprised about was TNT doing a piece on Dan Gurney last weekend. Dan was probably the #1 road course ringer ever to grace the NASCAR (before it became NA$CAR) circuit. Dan won in just about everything with wheels on it and is one of the few drivers to win driving a vehicle that he himself designed and built. When he did the road course races, he drove the #121 car for the Wood Brothers most of the time although there were a few races that he drove Fred Lorenzen‘s #28 car. Yes, back then they had 3 digit numbers on the cars. Because of Dan’s height, they had to modify the Ford GT Mk IV he drove at Le Mans with a slight bubble over his head so he could fit into the car. F-1, Indy, sports cars, GT cars, and stock cars all seemed to bow to his mastery. They definitely don’t make ’em like Dan anymore.
I thought it was pretty decent of TNT to wish
Johnny Benson a quick recovery. It’s looking like
at least 6 weeks before he’s back on the track,
providing he has a ride to go back to. One thing
Johnny said that has proven to be true, it’s
become a sponsor driven sport. It doesn’t matter
how good you are, if you don’t have a sponsor,
you don’t have a ride. Pretty sad when a Series
champ can’t get a sponsor.
I caught about 15 seconds of TWIN when Chad
Knaus said that they should be thanking
Badyear for bringing a good tire to Sears Point.
Then I remembered why I quit watching it. The
Co-Owner of Motormouth Motorsports opened
his yap. So I flipped over to WWE Monday Night Raw. The non-motorized version of NA$CAR. Dump the Human Shill, bring in Schrader and Benson, and start having a good show again Speed and maybe you‘ll get some folks watching again.
I mentioned SB 663 in my last rant and I want to thank everyone who contacted their elected officials in DC to support this bill. Right now, the only thing holding it up is a certain Hawaiian Senator. So if we have any readers out there in Hawaii, get a hold of your Senators and let them know that the World War II era Merchant Marines deserve to be recognized for their service and need these benefits that SB 663 would give them.
Motherhood, Apple Pie, and John Wayne
Mad Mikie, Curmudgeon at Large
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