I notice that Robby Gordon has a tremendous amount of fan support for the penalty he received from Nascar for a Daytona infraction. Tonight I saw the following on the Jayski.com site. There’s also a link to the Jim Beam site for signing the petition on that site. I’m not much of a Robby Gordon fan but I really think he’s being screwed by Nascar particularly considering the infraction was unintentional and gained him no advantage. Dale Earnhardt’s Nationwide team was penalized half as much for intentionally and flagrantly trying to gain an unfair advantage.
Sponsor throws support behind Robby: A campaign is under way declaring Robby Gordon’s innocence for what NASCAR said was an illegal part used on his car during Speedweeks. Representatives from Jim Beam, which sponsors Gordon’s #7 car, will canvas the Auto Club Speedway grandstands on Saturday gathering signatures for a petition demanding NASCAR reverse its “unfair” decision to dock Gordon 100 points. Crew chief Frank Kerr also was fined $100,000, suspended for the next six Sprint Cup Series events until April 9 and placed on probation until Dec. 31. Along with the petition, “Rally for Robby” T-shirts are being made for Gordon fans to wear during this weekend’s Cup events, said Sofia Lombardo, spokesperson for Jim Beam. Also, Thomas Flocco, president and CEO of Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc., has sent a letter addressed to NASCAR president Mike Helton, as well as other top officials, voicing the company’s frustrations.(NASCAR.com)(2-22-2008)
Saw on TV last night that it’s the same penalty that got Jeffy’s and Johnson’s teams in trouble at Sears Point last year; parts/body panels that didn’t fit the CoT templates. Why should the penalty be any different for Robby? Didn’t the two Juniors get panelaized for the same infraction somewheres last year, too?
The sad part is this is pre race tech. If it’s wrong throw the car out or make them fix it. Na$car is turning into a circus wanting nothing more than drones who look pretty and can do commercials. True talent is out the window. If i was the crew chief fine $100,000…someone, or mor than one would have carried an ass whooping around with them for a while!
you must have miss under stood what they said. They said it fit but the part number was not approved by nascar yet. And I am not a robby fan I am a Smoke fan and a Newman fan because his one engineer is from Western Pa
It’s my understanding the car did fit the templates. Here is a statement from Dodge.
Dodge Says Mistake Led to Gordon’s Penalty: Dodge officials admit a mistake led to Robby Gordon having the wrong nose on his car at Daytona and later being penalized 100 points and $100,000 for the infraction. Kipp Owen, director of Dodge Motorsports Engineering, issued a statement Friday about what happened to Gordon. “While the nose meets the template for the car of tomorrow, it has not yet been approved by NASCAR or use in racing,” Owen said in a statement. “The prototype parts were in the warehouse, and share the same basic part number as the approved … nose. It was an unfortunate series of human errors compounded by the very short time frame [Gordon’s team] had to get their cars changed to Dodge Chargers in time for the Daytona 500. Dodge has taken the appropriate steps in the warehouse to make sure that prototype parts can not be mistaken for approved parts in the future and hopes that the circumstances surrounding this error are considered.”(Roanoke Times)(2-23-2008)
I’m not an a huge Robby Gordon fan,he is another racer who race about anything.That is what I respect.Personally Dodge should pick up the tab since the part is being distributed and not approved.Nascar should also make up it’s mind when parts are good or not.
OK, here’s another one. Two years ago at the 500, I believe, Johnson’s car (rear window and C-pillars) didn’t fit the template on the old body style. They had installed a device that raised up the rear glass to take air off the spoiler going down the straightaway and then the driver could crank it down going into the corner for downforce through the turns. The device was discovered after pre-race tech and after qualifying for the 500, but before the Twin 125s (excuse me, the Duels). NA$CRAP didn’t do or announce anything until after the race, and only fined them 25 points and $25,000. They suspended Knaus for like 6 races, and that was it. Bulls**t. Pocket change for those guys. I said they should’ve made them boys load up and take 'er home for such a blatant cheat, and suspend the entire team, not just the crew chief, for about three or four races. Nope. NA$CRAP lets 'em start at the rear of the field, and what happens? They go on to win the race - and eventually the championship.
If a car fails pre-race/post-qualifying tech that bad, load 'em up. If they get caught after the race in post-race tech, suspend ‘em - the WHOLE team, not just the crew chief - for three races or more. That’ll put a hurtin’ on 'em.
Has anyone heard the Smokey Yunick story from, I guess about 1967 with the Chevelle?
Seems Smokey built a Chevelle that didn’t quite fit the NA$CAR templates of the day, and, in fact, the car was built to 15/16ths scale to poke a smaller hole in the air than the bigger Fords and Dodges of the day. Smokey had molded a small “spoiler” into the top lip of the rear window. The car also had a aerodynamic belly pan underneath, much like a sporty-car. NA$CAR tore that thing apart, down to the oversize fuel line that held (reportedly) an extra five gallons of fuel, along with the fuel tank. NA$CAR told Smokey to fix “all fourteen” infractions before they’d let him take the car out on the track. Smokey climbed into the car, fired it up - with the fuel lines and fuel tank sitting on the ground next to the car - and said, “Make that fifteen” - and drove the car back to the hauler.
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