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Save the drama, NASCAR teams cheat - uh-huh, all of them
Save the drama, NASCAR teams cheat - uh-huh, all of them, By: Tom Sorensen
The Charlotte Observer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Michael Waltrip was contrite Thursday. He also was accountable, valiantly accepting responsibility for his team's blatant cheating. He was sensitive and sad. And there was a moment, a poignant moment, in which he looked as if he was going to cry.
Whether Waltrip spoke from the heart or from a script, only the man and his drama coach know. But what he said was as predictable as it was wrong.
You know what Waltrip should have said? He should have said, yes, we cheated, of course we cheated. Everybody in the sport cheats. We want to go faster and, if we find a trick, we'll use it no matter what the rules say.
How refreshing would that have been? As Jeff Gordon answered questions about cheating after his victory in the second race Thursday, his car failed a post-race inspection.
It's everybody. Little Debbie is the sweetest-sounding race team in NASCAR and I bet even the Little Debbie cheats.
Felix Sabates, how many of the 43 cars in Sunday's Daytona 500 will include a piece, part or substance that violates NASCAR rules?
"Forty-three," says Sabates, a long-time owner who has a piece of Chip Ganassi Racing.
So race teams cheat. You know who else cheats? We do.
Basketball players take an extra step, baseball players take steroids and football players take steroids and grab the jerseys of offensive linemen.
We cheat on spouses, taxes and expense accounts, park in places we have no right to and get onto the airplane before our row is called.
Professional wrestlers pull a conveniently placed metal folding chair from beneath the ring apron and use it to whack opponents, a clear violation of the rules of God, man and World Wrestling Entertainment.
The difference between the race teams and the rest of us is that some race teams get caught.
Five crew chiefs, including Waltrip's, have been suspended, and so was Waltrip's director of competition. Waltrip, who owns three teams, also was docked 100 points.
What distinguishes Waltrip is that his team cheated spectacularly.
NASCAR needed three days to determine his penalty, and each day the story grew. It became huge nationally and, if not for Anna Nicole Smith, it would have been even more huge.
Waltrip's team put a foreign substance into a foreign car. This is Toyota's first season in Nextel Cup racing, and some red, white and blue Americans are hurt that a foreign car will sully their red, white and blue sport.
Waltrip still hasn't identified the culprit. "Nobody has fessed up," he says.
NASCAR still hasn't identified the substance.
Maybe it was gel.
Maybe it was jet fuel.
Maybe -- and this would be better -- it was rocket fuel.
"We don't have the fuel to send rockets into space anymore," says Sabates. "It's all in the NASCAR garage."
Dumping banned additives into an engine is like injecting banned additives into an athlete. It's unethical and it's dumb.
And it's not about to stop.
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