The latest update from NASCAR SCENE DAILY:
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – NASCAR officials say they will not intervene in the dispute between Roush Fenway Racing and an unspecified Toyota team that allegedly took a part from the Ford organization.
Team owner Jack Roush is asking NASCAR for “relief” on the issue, but NASCAR Vice President of Competition strongly dismissed that idea on Friday.
“If they’ve got issues with each other or other teams, then they’ve got to talk to those other teams,” Pemberton said. “I didn’t take a part or a piece, all right? Nobody in this [NASCAR] trailer took a part or a piece.
“We know Jack said that, and apparently some other team acknowledged having a part or a piece. Those people need to work their deal out.”
Roush said a Toyota team took a sway bar home from a Septebmer race at Dover last season. If that’s true, Pemberton said, “Then shame on a team that has that person working for them.”
“If you’ve got a guy that takes a part or a piece from another team, then, in my opinion, I wouldn’t have a guy like that work for me,” he said.
Still, that doesn’t mean NASCAR is going to do anything about it.
“[The teams] have to work together,” he said. “We’re not going to build walls in here. We’re not going to separate everything. We’re going to run this garage area just like it’s been run. If you have issues, then you’ve got to work it out.”
***************
Grumpy’s take: Say what? NOW we have an issue that NA$CAR does not wish to get involved with? Now we know the part in question was a sway bar, not a spring. I wonder how a crew member from a yet unnamed Toyota team got his hands on it? Maybe this explains Jamie McMurray’s poor performance. Say Jack, check the 26 for a missing sway bar.
Now, we need the rest of the story. Would someone please identify the team who had the part?
7 Comments
“Hey, Mikey — McMurray called — he wants his sway bar back …” lol
No, seriously — no idea if it was MWR, though I highly doubt Gibbs would be interested in Roush’s freakin’ SWAY bars, lol … sorry — just can’t seem to stay too serious about this one.
But, ok — here’s something a bit more serious: the absolutely UNBELIEVABLE lack of coherent, rational response from NASCAR/Pemberton.
I mean — I haven’t been able to stand Pemberton since the IMPAXX stuff, when he lied so shamelessly about the shit catching fire, etc., but … is it just me, or does he become less and less articulate with every passing month?
Even when he does make at least a little sense, he’s mostly surly and arrogant, and he just sounds stupid … or, no — actually … maybe he just IS stupid, and there’s nothing he can do about it. Poor sod.
ANYway, grin — I’m all for teams and drivers working out their grievances on their own — on AND off the track, by the way — but, this isn’t really a “grievance”. It’s a proprietary issue — a legal issue, at some point, unless some Toyota employee just accidently picked that sway bar up, stuffed it in his back pocket on the way to the hauler, then sorta’ sat on it later, remembered it was there, pulled it out and said, “huh! That’s funny … this doesn’t look a THING like OUR sway bars (on this COT that’s pretty much boilerplate-everything anyway) …”
lol … I’m really not helping, am I?
Guess my only real question isn’t even a question — more like an observation.
NASCAR NEVER misses an opportunity to exert its control over every aspect of the sport it can get its fat little hands on. I’m thinkin’ the only reason they’re “willing” to sit this one out is because they’re involved.
Involved in what, though, I suppose I’m still trying to figure out … is this “sway bar” some sort of radical design Roush is worried Toyota’s gonna’ copy? On the COT??? Where the only thing radical on THAT thing is … well … now that I think about it, maybe the sway bars ARE radical, considering all that slidin’ and swayin’, etc. they’re doin’ out there these days …
Ok, ok!!!! I’m done now, lol …
Holy crap, grump, lol … take a look at THIS article about it all!
Gordon’s laughin’, Jack’s about to go postal, and Darby’s sayin’ ‘hey, it’s all just stock car parts, man — our garages are open and people can take anything, any time …”
This is insanely funny … funny-ha-ha, and funny-WEIRD, lol!
Oh my gawd! did John Darby really say this?
Darby said with all the traveling teams do, and all the equipment they bring everywhere they go, and the ease with which things get mixed up, it’s no big deal.
“Our garage is open. Somebody can walk up to anybody’s pit stall and look and see and photograph and measure and smell and touch any part they want to in the garage and we’ve always been that way,” he said. “These are just stock cars and stock car parts.”
**Note the last line** Hmmm, just stock cars and just stock car parts. Now I get it.
Note to angler: these are STOCK CARS, John Darby said so.
Actually, Waltrip admitted to him having the swaybar. Too lazy to look up the link at the moment but he did and brushed it off as a mistake.
About the only “personality” I’ve seen taking this more seriously than Jack is Dale Jr:
Marc, thanks for your input. I did not see the comment from Dalr jr. Nor did I see Mikey’s name anywhere concerning this. I must admit, I haven’t done a very deep search looking for the answer. Silly me, I keep expecting Jack to come out and tell us WHO he is accusing of the theft.
That said, I will go on record as one who agrees with Dale jr on this. I don’t know what John Darby is smoking. If someone comes into my garage space and pulls out a tape measure, camera or starts handling parts and pieces, he might need medical assistance to leave the area.
Grump … lol on the ‘STOCK cars’ — that one had me rollin’, too. Do these guys take stupid pills every morning, or simply assume that WE do?
And Marc — thanks for that!! Didn’t know it was MWR, but that was my first instinct, anyway, grin …
As far as Jr.’s comments go, I think if you read between the lines, it’s more like — “like HELL someone’s just gonna’ come into my garage and steal a part … I’d kick their ass!” lol
In all seriousness — whether Jack’s making too big a deal out of it or not probably isn’t the point if it went down as he said it did, at least in terms of the bar being sanded down to obscure who’s part it was, then taken to a mutual vendor to be retooled (or something like that — I’m too lazy to look right now, too, lol). If that’s the case, then it really is a bit more than an “oops — picked it up by mistake” deal.
And, if that’s the case, sigh … that’s a different sort of dishonesty than simply trying to outsmart the rules, which I think should remain part of the sport. Once you’re into grabbin’ other teams’ parts, spy cams & shop bugs, grin … that’s another deal, and I believe it’s called espionage.
Maybe NASCAR’s staying hands-off on this one because of the laughingstock F1 has become over their McLaren/Ferrari cloak & debacle. Too many big statements, not enough teeth, and it’s still a total cluster almost a year later …
With something nearly impossible to prove one way or the other, at least without a criminal investigation long after the fact (about as useless in application as the COT) … perhaps they figure it’d only bring the sort of negative publicity that’s “detrimental to the sport”. If they let Roush’s fury die off, and thus the stories … it just goes away without them having to admit that they don’t have a handle on intra-garage security, etc.
Though I’m betting that Roush’ll hire a crew of retired Secret Service guys to protect his sway bar stock from now on, lol …
Ahhh … just ran across the MWR response, which makes the idea of “espionage” pretty funny, at least on the surface, grin …
Post a Comment