Waltrip's crew chief thrown out for illegal substance

[Don Vito Corleone]

I am not a NASCAR fan, but I thought this was really interesting.

From Yahoo!:

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Michael Waltrip's crew chief and team director were thrown out of the Daytona 500 and suspended indefinitely Wednesday because an illegal substance was found during inspection for the season-opening race.

Waltrip, docked 100 points, will be allowed to participate in Thursday's races that determine the field for NASCAR's biggest event of the year.

David Hyder, his crew chief, was thrown out of the garage and fined $100,000. Team director Bobby Kennedy also was kicked out.

NASCAR officials would not reveal what they found in Waltrip's intake manifold, but a person with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press it was a form of jet fuel.

``I don't think this is anything that we've seen in the recent past,'' said competition director Robin Pemberton.

The illegal substance was found inside the intake manifold of Waltrip's new Toyota Camry before qualifying for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. NASCAR seized the part and shipped it back to North Carolina for analysis, and spent all day Wednesday pulling parts and pieces from under the hood.

The manifold is a part of the engine that supplies the fuel/air mix to the engine cylinders. Waltrip's team coated the inside of it with an illegal substance that is believed to be a gelatin form of jet fuel, according to the same official, who requested anonymity because NASCAR had not announced its penalties at the time.

Waltrip's team maintains it was oil.

Isn't jet fuel basically kerosene? Can anyone with technical knowledge explain how this increases octane?

 

[KMurphy]

It probably had more to do with changing air flow patterns in the intake manifold since it was a gelatin form.

 

[MrBond]

Hey, they've got to do something so those crappy Toyotas can actually compete .

These crew bannings lately have been really surprising. It seems like NASCAR is cracking down on anything that might give a competitive advantage.

There is a high octane aviation fuel called Avgas that's used in some piston aviation engines. Maybe that's what they were using.

 

[EvilYoda]

From what I saw on ESPN (I also don't care about NASCAR), it was supposedly Sterno, the pink petroleum gel you use in chafing dishes...it was supposed to affect the fuel/air mixture upon hitting the intake runners , from what they said, by forcing it to a liquid state, which would help combustion and thus increase power output. I don't know how a liquid state would combust easier, but hey, chemistry was a long time ago. (Well, 4 years)

 

[IronWing]

Car doping scandels? We've become a strange society.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: ironwing
Car doping scandels? We've become a strange society.

Crews have tried cheating in races for decades. I remember reading stories about hidden nitrous kits and whatnot...

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: MrBond
Hey, they've got to do something so those crappy Toyotas can actually compete .

These crew bannings lately have been really surprising. It seems like NASCAR is cracking down on anything that might give a competitive advantage.

There is a high octane aviation fuel called Avgas that's used in some piston aviation engines. Maybe that's what they were using.

Jet fuel is pretty close to kerosene, a long way from avgas. Nascar already uses something like 110 octane.

 

[Spacehead]

Waltrip's team maintains it was oil.

Yeah, that's what Michael was saying when i caught some of the qualifying the other day.

 

[jupiter57]

NASCAR: The WWF of Auto Racing!

 

[SmoochyTX]

Speedweeks has been a soap opera so far. And I love it!

 

[SVT Cobra]

Yeah it sounds like it was a gel that got the gas/air mixture into liquid form...kind of like an extreme cold air intake, except it is not colder air, it is liquid.

That's now 5 major crack downs.

Oh and, LOL TOYOTA SUCKS LOL

 

[imported_weadjust]

NASCAR motto:

If you ain't cheating you ain't trying.

 

[BillGates]

Originally posted by: jupiter57
NASCAR: The WWF of Auto Racing!

same fans

 

[jme5343]

Originally posted by: BillGates

Originally posted by: jupiter57
NASCAR: The WWF of Auto Racing!

same fans

Nope, don't watch WWE

 

[FoBoT]

can jet fuel really make a car fly?

 

[jupiter57]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
can jet fuel really make a car fly?

Most cars won't run at all on Jet Fuel, only diesels, and they perform poorly on it.
"Jet Fuel" is Kerosene (Albeit per FAA regs., it must be filtered w/ 7.5 micron filters to qualify as "Jet Fuel").

 

[five40]

WHAT! Who doesn't rock around with jet fuel in their pockets these days. Stupid officials.

Seriously...who cares about this "sport"? Why don't they say...cheat all the hell you want, go as fast as you freakin possibly can. It is racing. Whoever can strap themselves into the 4 hour long left turn session at 300mph should win.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: five40
WHAT! Who doesn't rock around with jet fuel in their pockets these days. Stupid officials.

Seriously...who cares about this "sport"? Why don't they say...cheat all the hell you want, go as fast as you freakin possibly can. It is racing. Whoever can strap themselves into the 4 hour long left turn session at 300mph should win.

LOL, the first time Stewart bumped your car from the back going 195 MPH you'd literally sh!t your pants.. that is if you weren't sh!tting your pants already just going at 195 MPH.:laugh:

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: five40
WHAT! Who doesn't rock around with jet fuel in their pockets these days. Stupid officials.

Seriously...who cares about this "sport"? Why don't they say...cheat all the hell you want, go as fast as you freakin possibly can. It is racing. Whoever can strap themselves into the 4 hour long left turn session at 300mph should win.

LOL, the first time Stewart bumped your car from the back going 195 MPH you'd literally sh!t your pants.. that is if you weren't sh!tting your pants already just going at 195 MPH.:laugh:

I get nervous above about 60 if cars are within a few feet. Hard to imagine going bumper to bumper at 170+ for 3 hours.

On the other hand, I find the racing boring to watch; the engineering (and cheating) is much more interesting to me.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Gibsons

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: five40
WHAT! Who doesn't rock around with jet fuel in their pockets these days. Stupid officials.

Seriously...who cares about this "sport"? Why don't they say...cheat all the hell you want, go as fast as you freakin possibly can. It is racing. Whoever can strap themselves into the 4 hour long left turn session at 300mph should win.

LOL, the first time Stewart bumped your car from the back going 195 MPH you'd literally sh!t your pants.. that is if you weren't sh!tting your pants already just going at 195 MPH.:laugh:

I get nervous above about 60 if cars are within a few feet. Hard to imagine going bumper to bumper at 170+ for 3 hours.

On the other hand, I find the racing boring to watch; the engineering (and cheating) is much more interesting to me.

Before I got into NASCAR last year I had no idea how high tech and how much team work was involved. That along with the racing is what got me hooked.

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: Gibsons

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: five40
WHAT! Who doesn't rock around with jet fuel in their pockets these days. Stupid officials.

Seriously...who cares about this "sport"? Why don't they say...cheat all the hell you want, go as fast as you freakin possibly can. It is racing. Whoever can strap themselves into the 4 hour long left turn session at 300mph should win.

LOL, the first time Stewart bumped your car from the back going 195 MPH you'd literally sh!t your pants.. that is if you weren't sh!tting your pants already just going at 195 MPH.:laugh:

I get nervous above about 60 if cars are within a few feet. Hard to imagine going bumper to bumper at 170+ for 3 hours.

On the other hand, I find the racing boring to watch; the engineering (and cheating) is much more interesting to me.

Its probably alot less stressfull when you dont have to worry about some dumbass slamming on his/her brakes in front of you. At least in racing, you know everyone in front of you is gonna keep trying to go foward as fast as possible.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: Gibsons

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: five40
WHAT! Who doesn't rock around with jet fuel in their pockets these days. Stupid officials.

Seriously...who cares about this "sport"? Why don't they say...cheat all the hell you want, go as fast as you freakin possibly can. It is racing. Whoever can strap themselves into the 4 hour long left turn session at 300mph should win.

LOL, the first time Stewart bumped your car from the back going 195 MPH you'd literally sh!t your pants.. that is if you weren't sh!tting your pants already just going at 195 MPH.:laugh:

I get nervous above about 60 if cars are within a few feet. Hard to imagine going bumper to bumper at 170+ for 3 hours.

On the other hand, I find the racing boring to watch; the engineering (and cheating) is much more interesting to me.

Its probably alot less stressfull when you dont have to worry about some dumbass slamming on his/her brakes in front of you. At least in racing, you know everyone in front of you is gonna keep trying to go foward as fast as possible.

Some of the best driving happens when there is a wreck and those behind the wreck going a 190 MPH manuever to avoid the other cars which are braking , spinning or wrecked.

 

[49erinnc]

Cheating in NASCAR has always been part of the sport. I remember back when some teams were storing extra fuel within parts of the roll cage. Not too safe obviously but it got them a few extra laps on the track. It's a well known fact that every single team in NASCAR cheats to some extent. Some are just better at it than others so they don't get caught. I think it helps keep the sport interesting. Controversy is always good and NASCAR certainly has plenty of it.

Docking Waltrip 100 points was a harsh penalty. I agree with it but that's as bad as disqualifying him from the Daytona 500. But you can't do that because of the sponsors involved so they just took the driver/owner points instead. For the driver, that's the same as never unloading off the hauler for the race.

 

[jemcam]

After watching the Budweiser Shootout and seeing qualifying last weekend, I really have my doubts as to whether or not anyone on Waltrip's team is going to make the race.

I'm pretty sure that DJ can make the race as a previous Cup Champion though.

Anyone want to bet that Waltrip and Reutiman won't make the race?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Gibsons

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: five40
WHAT! Who doesn't rock around with jet fuel in their pockets these days. Stupid officials.

Seriously...who cares about this "sport"? Why don't they say...cheat all the hell you want, go as fast as you freakin possibly can. It is racing. Whoever can strap themselves into the 4 hour long left turn session at 300mph should win.

LOL, the first time Stewart bumped your car from the back going 195 MPH you'd literally sh!t your pants.. that is if you weren't sh!tting your pants already just going at 195 MPH.:laugh:

I get nervous above about 60 if cars are within a few feet. Hard to imagine going bumper to bumper at 170+ for 3 hours.

On the other hand, I find the racing boring to watch; the engineering (and cheating) is much more interesting to me.

Before I got into NASCAR last year I had no idea how high tech and how much team work was involved. That along with the racing is what got me hooked.

I'm actually going to watch the Daytona 500 for the first time in, well...ever! I'm watching because of Juan Pablo Montoya though. I don't care about the manufacturers or any of the hillbilly boys driving. I like Montoya. I've been following his career since his days in CART and I met him twice in the pits at the Long Beach Grand Prix. I hope he does well in NASCAR.

<--Long time Formula One fan.