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Roush Rabbleby Chuck Abrams ~ April 1st, 2008. Filed under: Chuck Checks In!. |
So Jack Roush has a swaybar go missing and it winds up at Michael Waltrip’s racing team. Roush is a Ford man and Waltrip, Toyota. So while Jack basically accuses Waltrip and/or Toyota of espionage, neither team is without its warts in recent history.
Waltrip had some odd fuel additive in the 2007 Daytona 500 that has gone down in fan folklore as rocket fuel, thanks to a Geoff Smith accusation at the time. That additive has still not been identified.
Roush has added his own fuel to the fire by declaring the battle with Toyota as a war.
Since then Roush had an oil cap “fall off” of Carl Edwards’ car costing the team valuable points.
In both cases, the denials by team owners were vehement. Waltrip had no idea how the substance got into his car and Roush claims that the part just fell off during the race and there was no intention of cheating.
In the new swaybar situation, Waltrip acknowledges that his team had the Roush part but claims it was an accident, no ill will was intended and the part was returned as soon as Roush asked for it. Roush also claims the part had its Roush colors removed to disguise its origins. A claim that Waltrip of course denies any knowledge of.
So what is the truth with these two team owners?
The truth is, cheating is rampant in NASCAR. No one will admit it, but it is and it has always been a part of the battle between team looking for an advantage and NASCAR trying to make sure the playing field is level.
Michael Waltrip has been involved in two very suspicious events in the last couple of years. I have no idea how one team comes into possession of another teams’ parts, especially a competitive make. Maybe it has happened before, but I have never heard of it. Waltrip’s “aw-shucks” demeanor has served him well throughout his career but when it comes to these “infractions it makes him seem less than honest to me.
I am not accusing Waltrip of personally cheating. That seems a bit beneath him. But with his organization at the heart of two rather odd events I have to wonder if where there is smoke, there’s fire. Roush can not hide his distaste for all things Toyota and needs to get back to the task of putting his cars in the top 10. Greg Biffle has a chance to be the man and that is where his focus should be.
I hope we can move back to the topic of racing soon. Like Jeff Burton is the point leader! In fact all three RCR cars are in the top 10. And Hendrick suddenly has three cars in the top 10. As does Joe Gibbs Racing. Isn’t that what the rabble should really be about?
Let me know your thoughts on all this.
Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.
Feel free to send Chuck your thoughts on this and other race topics at chucka@turnleftracing.com. The blog at www.turnleftracing.com is down now due to spammers. We will have that back up as soon as we can.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:25 pm
When it comes to believability - what about Roush? What about his history of accusing anyone who was beating his teams on the track of cheating?
Have you forgotten “tire gate” where Roush accused Ray Evernham and Jeff Gordon of soaking their tires in “something” or of putting “something” other than air into them? He was so sure that they could not beat his teams unless they were cheating. To me, it sounds like arrogance.
When Roush is caught cheating, his first instinct is to lash out and accuse someone else of doing something worse than what he did.
Does he not realize that he is tha laughing stock of the garage? (See the comments by Elliot Sadler and Jeff Gordon).
I say we just ignore him.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:09 pm
jack roush is jack roush and that is what it is.
the sad part of this “theft” is that its one more black eye for waltrip. it looks like with “dj” leaving that the next to follow is ups. mikey is a champion huckster for his sponsors , but , he seems to miss the point that the performance shown by the whole team is far from what the big dollar sponsors demand. maybe mikey should give serious consideration to stepping into a management role and getting another driver into the seat to support “root”. with a few exceptions mikey is a mid pack competitor. he’s got a great up and comer in “root” but the guy needs time and equipment that performs. adding a rookie is no help to the organization at this point.
before mikey loses everything he’s built i’d like to see him make some serious changes. his credibility has taken three major hits now and how much more will prospective sponsors take? daytona,the accident, the deal with roush,all of those have diminished mikey across the board. i think he’d do better to salvage his name,save his investment by stepping aside and put a serious veteran in the car and get the whole deal more competitive.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:35 am
When you consider how Toyota ruined Champ Car by threatening to pull their sponsor monies out of the series unless Champ Car changed the rules in midseason so Ford and Honda would be forced to use a spacer plate to reduce turbo velocity…Roush and any NASCAR fan has to be concerned, very concerned. Toyota is dumping over $200 million into teams and at least that much into the right places to get the right rules. What made NASCAR, despite the France Family Ego, was the competing brands…plain and simple, Petty Dodge, Wood Brothers Mercury, Jr.Johnson Chevys..then when the sport took off in large part is was Elliot bringing back Ford fans who had been ‘rule book’ out of NASCAR…. Toyota has no internal racing capabilities, look at F-1, Champ Car, look at midgets they hired away Ford engine builders, NASCAR they took Dodge. Add to that the fact that the guy heading up Toyota is a former Roush employee…sooner or later another Sanctioning body will come along and return stock car racing to the car and engine builders….I hope.
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I am wondering (my own conspiracy theory here) if Jack Roush has someone in his pocket at MWR. I mean he did say he wss gonna “Take down Toyota”. It seems every negitive thing that has happened to Toyota has something to do with Jack.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:36 pm
You all make very valid points. While Americans “run” Toyota here in the states, they answer to Japanese owners. And look how Japan got into electronics here — they dumped under-priced products in the marketplace to drive out competition and then owned the market. Industrial espionage is the way it works in Japan. If you ain’t cheatin’ you ain’t tryin’ is as common in Japan as it is in NASCAR. I am not being xenophobic here, it’s just the way it is.
And yes, Jack Roush has had more than his share of controversy that he has generated as far as cheating goes. I don’t think anyone will deny that.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:31 pm
I agree with becki4jb. Jack may be behind this.
April 4th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
If Jack had an inside person at MWR, I think MWR would have figured it out by now. But then again, they have not proved to be the sharpest knife in the drawer….