Editor’s Note: Anyone who knows me well, knows two things: 1) I am not an anti- NASCAR guy. I understand that governing a sports body is a difficult job that requires difficult calls. 2) I am not a member of the “black helicopter” crowd. I think most conspiracy theories are a bunch of hooey.
With that said, I want to give a message to the powers that be at NASCAR. It reads, “You have 1 missed call.” John “Dawg” Chapman offers up his perspective on the matter of Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin, and I must say that I concur.
At the heart of the issue is consistency on NASCAR’s part in ruling on tolerances. It would seem they’ve taken the NBA referee’s approach and decided to “let the players play.” You have to wonder if it had been Joe Nemechek and Robby Gordon that the same consideration would have been extended.
All the conspiracy theorists, as well as the Hendrick, Johnson, and Chad Knaus haters are fired up. I’d include Martin haters, but I’m not sure Mark has any haters.
Let’s define cheating. The dictionary defines it as "an act of deceit, lying, fraud, or deception, used to gain an unfair advantage." It’s not like Chad hasn’t gone way beyond creative in the past. This would seem to be simply a case of Chad and Alan Gustafson pushing the envelope. That’s what sets great crew chiefs apart from simply good ones. The crew chiefs that play it safe by staying more closely to the middle of the specs usually have cars that run closely to the middle of the pack.
I do, however, have a couple of unanswered questions.First, the "48" (Johnson) and "24" (Jeff Gordon) operate out of one garage.The "5" (Martin) and "88" (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) out of a separate one. How is it that Chad and Alan choose to take full advantage of the tolerances, while Lance Mc Grew and Steve Letarte apparently chose to play it safe? Did they not feel that Dale Jr. and Jeff needed help also?It would seem to me that these two needed it the most.
The trouble with pushing the envelope, is it’s a little like blowing up a balloon. Push it too far, and it’s liable to pop!
Next question. If my information is correct, NASCAR has a wing tolerance of .070 off the body center line. The "5" car was right on, but within the tolerance. That should get them an "Atta boy!" The 48 on the other hand was found to be .006 out of tolerance. While I don’t personally think this falls under the definition of cheating. It would seem to fall outside the rules.
In the world of the NHRA, if someone cuts an .000 light, they’ve done their job to perfection. If they cut a -.001, the red light comes on. Then they load it up and go on to the next race. According to NASCAR, the pit road speed is non-negotiable, black and white . If a driver exceeds the pit road speed, plus the tolerance. It’s a penalty, end of story. Right Juan? (Yuo remember the Montoya incident from Indy right?) Could someone please explain to me how the "48" being .006 over tolerance is different?NASCAR has repeatedly said that there was no "wiggle room" with the COT.
Now it seems that there is just a "little wiggle room." I didn’t bother to look up a definition for "can of worms." I’ll leave that for them to figure out.
This looks to me more like an "Atta boy," and an "Oops."Is NASCAR being just a little too hands off?
If someone explains it to me. I’ll be sure to explain it to Carl Long. I expect he’s curious as well.
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The problem with measurements is that a definitive “yes or no” is impossible, it always a matter of precision, hence tolerances. The dimension in question is a measurement off the center-line of the car and the allowance is 0.070″; a US nickel is on average 0.0725″ (having measured 10 of them and taking the average value), but the dial caliper I’m using only has a precision of 0.001″ (a standard piece of copy paper is 0.003″ thick). So imagine trying to determine your height to a tolerance of literally the thickness of two hairs: that is the issue here. The 0.076″ that NASCAR measured, compared to the 0.070″ in the rule book; this is likely close to the limits of their precision. One could speculate it’s why they issued a warning, not a penalty, because NASCAR would not be able to defend their numbers if contested.
Ah, a debate in the land of “Innumeracy” (it is the parallel to being illiterate); reading the various articles and blogs on this topic sounds like the Three Stooges explaining nuclear physics: amusing but less than imformative.
Thank You Prof.
If you’re comparing me to any one of the Three Stooges, I consider that high praise indeed. Nuck, Nuck Nuck.
As for the “Inumeracy” Guilty as charged! Be honest, did you make that up?
I’m reminded of a conversation I had with a Bull Rider one time. He said, “my Dad has a machine shop. He wanted me to come in with him, but you have to be so damn precise all the time”
John,
Funny line about the machine shop; my father was an engineer and plant superintendent for a company that made huge excavation cranes: he was fanatical about precision, and the company he ran reflected it.
You should arrange to get a behind the scenes tour of the Hendrick shop, their winning ways simply reflect how everyone there works; then for contrast go to another second tier team. The trained eye will see a thousand little details that explain the success of the Hendrick cars.
“Innumeracy” was coined by Douglas Hofstadter in a Scientific American column in 1959, and then John A. Paulos used the word as his book title in 1988.
Prof pi
I totally agree with the points you are making in that according to NASCAR there was going to be no wiggle room on the COTs and have punished and fined all other teams for barely crossing the limit. Being and engineer .006″ is a huge for something to be over the limit, especially when the tolerance is .070″ I work with plastics where the plastic has a .004″ tolerance, typically in metals you can control something within .0005″ without much effort.
It’s funny you used Robby Gordon and Joe Nemechek as examples, because I used Robby Gordon and Michael Waltrip as examples on another site earlier this week; in that had it been either of them, we would be reading about fines, points docked and suspensions.
I wonder how Carl Long would feel about this.
it pisses me off. how many times had chad cheated in the past? another nascar baby taken care of.carl long should go ask nascar whats up with this.
I don’t hate Mark, just don’t like him much. Seems strange that as soon as NASCAR tells them to back off Jimmy and Mark are no longer Superman!
How many other things does NA$CAR let slide when it comes to the 48? NA$CAR wants one thing, a four time Chump, and will do what it takes to get it. Think not? Then why was there no penalty when the car was out of spec? .001 is out of spec and if NA$CAR wants to rule with a hammer then they should be swingin’ at .006. Right Carl?
Wow, this said what I had thought all along, but to be honest, my ass is tired of the fact that NASCAR allows the lee-way when it comes to Hendrick cars (and I am a Jr. fan). If Carl Long isn’t fuming out of his ears right now, he shouuld be. There definitely is no “what’s good for the goose, is good for the gander” approach in NASCAR and it needs to stop. It’s a crooked, broken machine that seems no better than organized crime at this point. Allow me to jump on the conspiracy theorist bandwagon by stating that, “We have to have Jimmie win that fourth consecutive championship, right”.
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