Cheater… Says Who?

                March 9, Chico, CA--- They say there is a “Code of Silence” within the garage area; someone forgot to tell Lee White, GM for Toyota Racing Development. It seems he thinks the Roush/Fenway owned Ford of Carl Edwards was cheating and they knew just what they were doing, and he is not shy about telling anyone that will listen.

NASCAR hammered Carl Edwards on Wednesday March 5th, announcing for the first time it will take away a winner's 10-point bonus should that driver make the Chase. NASCAR also penalized Edwards 100 points, Jack Roush 100 car owner points, fined crew chief Bob Osborne $100,000, suspended him for six Cup races and placed him on probation until Dec. 31 for a violation found in Edwards' winning car after the Las Vegas race on Sunday. The penalty is for not having a lid on the oil reservoir tank encasement.

 

Reports are saying that White has stated the #99 team knowingly caused a lid to come loose on an oil tank in his Ford because it increased the car's speed during last Sunday's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway which gave the #99 car the victory.  Now Roush/Fenway team say the cause of the lid missing was due to a vibration during the race, and a bolt broke off the oil tank lid therefore this made the lid come off.  I never remember seeing a caution for an oil tank lid being on the track, but maybe I missed that part. In a podcast I heard earlier in the week, David Poole, of the Charlotte Observer said that he was told throughout the garage area from crew members of other race teams, that if this is indeed what caused the 4 bolts to break, yes 4 bolts, than it would have made the bolts that hold the seat on come out and a number of other parts on the car. Also that a vibration that bad would have been reported by Edwards himself during the race.  A Roush/Fenway spokesman said that they were not certain how the oil tank cover being off gave them a racing advantage. White said the manufacturer's testing at wind tunnels in Germany revealed removing the cover on the oil tank (located in a steel box behind the driver's seat) resulted in 170 extra pounds of downforce.  White also said video of a pit stop showed a member of Edwards' pit crew pulling on a right rear fender to open a 3-inch gap to an inner panel. NASCAR officials said the fender was not an issue in post-race inspection. The war of words between Jack Roush and Lee White is getting very heated and they are having no problem fighting this battle in the media.

The history of Jack Roush and Lee White is a long one. White worked for Roush back in Jack Roush’s road racing days, and when Roush made the move to stock cars, he left White behind. Roush has reportedly said that White was not welcome because he “improvised” parts on his car.

It’s no secret that Jack Roush is not a big fan of the foreign car manufacturer. Roush has been the front man for the competing teams that fear Toyota will outspend everyone, steal all the good people in the garage and crush the competition.

Roush called White "an ankle-biting Chihuahua." White said he was a big boy and could take any insult Roush dished out.

Roush/Fenway Racing President Geoff Smith issued the following statement:

“The bolt holding the lid in place failed in its purpose as a result of vibration harmonics generated by the car and the race track during the race.  The bolt was secure enough to survive  225 miles of practice, perhaps up to 399 of 400 miles of the race and the scrutiny of numerous inspections.  It’s a tough business for any race team to have to pledge $100,000, 100 points and a six race crew chief suspension as an indemnity payment to NASCAR against a promise forced from us by NASCAR that no bolt will ever fail its purpose under race conditions.  We are currently evaluating whether or not the circumstances justify submitting to the unpleasantness of the appeal process, but from a competitive standpoint, we believe it is in our best interest to have Bob Osborne begin serving the penalty now.  Chris Andrews, our chief engineer, will be at the track on Friday and Saturday to lead the No. 99 team and general manager Robbie Reiser will join Chris on the pit box Sunday during the race.  We are confident that we have the depth of talent in our organization and the strength in Carl Edwards and  the No. 99 team to overcome this penalty, should that end up being the final outcome of this unhappy episode.”

White is not the only one coming out against Roush. Driver Elliott Sadler who drives a Dodge for Gillett Evernham Motorsports said, “We did it half my career, in the 21 and the 38 car,” referring to running without the oil-tank cover. “We spend $3-4 million a year in testing at the wind tunnel trying to get a gain or take an advantage, when all you’ve got to do is take the oil tank lid off and get 100 count of downforce. I’m just impressed by how well they did it.”

When Elliott Sadler was asked if he felt the #99 team was trying to cheat said, “I think that it insults my intelligence as a race car driver when you try and tell me that you accidentally left the oil tank lid off. If you go to any owner, any engineer, any driver any crew chief and ask them is that an advantage, ‘heck yeah it’s an advantage’.

“Let me try and put this in perspective for you. We spend three to four million dollars a year going to the wind tunnel trying to change body shapes, trying to do underneath the car, changing crush panels and doing stuff like that all the time – trying to get a gain and trying to get and advantage - when all you have to do is take the oil tank lid off and you get 100 counts of downforce.

“There’s a beautiful picture of Carl Edwards doing a back-flip – I’m not taking anything away from Carl Edwards, he’s an amazing race car driver. But someone took a picture of him doing a black-flip in the right side of the car and the oil tank lid is eight inches off the top of the tank. That’s not just one bolt. And the right side safety window latches were loose – that’s were the hot air was going. They did a good job and figured it out and made it work. I’m impressed on how they did it – it was smart and it worked out for them – they won the race.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr's take on the Roush situation (Dale Jr. finished second to Edwards at Las Vegas), "I don't know whether I could have beat Carl or not with the lid on his (oil tank). Did you all see the picture of him doing the flip where the side windows are unlatched as well? That's not by accident. Those guys are learning things and doing things. They were wild and crazy enough to try it. I got to applaud them for the effortt they made to try to win the race. I, myself, have been guilty of pushing the rule book and breaking the rule book and I can't stand here and be hypocritical toward how Carl won the race. We got outran and got outfoxed not only behind the wheel but in the shop as well. We just have to figure out a way to get that advantage within the rule book. I'm sure that's what Carl and them will do, they'll find a way to find that advantage in the rule book.

"The frustrating part for me was (Roush President Geoff Smith) saying that it was a mistake in the bolt failing. That's ridiculous. That's comical. That's really comical actually. They should not allow him to make those kind of comments. They should have the crew chief get in there and say the honest answer and they'd been better off. I enjoyed reading his version on the story.”

Now I couple questions come to mind when I read these different opinions and quotes. Should NASCAR determine if a team had intentions to cheat or not? Should penalties be handed out because of intent?  Robby Gordon earlier this week had his penalties overturned when he brought his case to the Stock Car appeal board. His argument was that the manufacture sent him the wrong part, therefore he was not trying to cheat, and it was an honest mistake. So how is having the oil lid cover breaking during the race any different? It could have been a mistake that a crew member didn’t tighten the bolts, or maybe the wrong kinds of bolts were used. Honest mistake right?

Another thing that makes me think is how does Toyota know just the amount of downforce having that lid off makes? Why would a team test this in the wind tunnel? It’s not to NASCAR rules so why test for it? That’s like changing the body of the car to see what wind tunnel numbers they get, but knowing that the car will not past inspection. I just don’t see the sense in doing that, what would be the point? One of Roush’s drivers wondered the same thing. Greg Biffle said that he found it interesting when he read in the USA Today that Toyota teams have been testing with the oil covers off and the fenders pulled out, which is not to NASCAR rules.

Carl Edwards has said the whole thing is laughable. He stated that what happen was a bolt came lose and the team had no control over it. He will continue to go out there and concentrate on winning races.

Personally, I don’t see why Roush/Fenway Racing would take the oil tank lid off on purpose and rig the lid to come off. Knowing that NASCAR would find it, and putting Carl Edwards in danger in the event of a crash. If Edward would have wrecked in the race a fire could have been deadly with the lid off of the tank.

Now former Roush driver Mark Martin has spoken out about this saying that Jack Roush would never allow that kind of cheating. This is very high praise, and Martin has great respect in the garage and in the honesty department.

Jack Roush now says he's going make crew chief Bob Osbourne take a lie detector test. Osbourne has already started his 6 week race vacation. So much for trust in your employees.

As “oil tank-gate” goes on I will post updates.

Click above to view Carl Edwards Press Conference

---

Don Runkle has worked for Causey Motorsports in Hampton, Va. for 4 years, was a part-time Crew Chief for Rette Causey,  driver of #33 INEX/Legends car in 2005 at Langley Speedway in Virginia, as well as being a crew member for Brad Causey in Grand Stock division at Langley Speedway.  He's currently the webmaster of CauseyRacing.com.

Runkle has been racing "online" for about 5 years, served in the US Navy as a Gunners Mate in the Navy Seabees and is currently living in Chico, Ca. in the beautiful North Valley of California, with his even more beautiful wife, Kristina. God Bless all of the troops serving around the world!

For any question, comments, complaints, or just to say “Hi” feel free to email him at DRunkle@LongIslandMotorsports.com.