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Teaching a lesson Cram, Furr draw four-race suspensions for rules violations
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- NASCAR's top policeman laughed when asked if catching 18 cheaters -- including two who received four-race suspensions -- would persuade teams to go straight from now on. "Am I naive enough to think they're going to quit cheating? No, no," technical director Gary Nelson said Monday, just six days before the season-opening Daytona 500. NASCAR handed out $40,500 in fines in addition to the two suspensions. Nelson hopes the penalties, mostly for violations of rules on fuel and suspension systems, will convince everyone that NASCAR is vigilant. Tony Furr, crew chief for Jerry Nadeau, was suspended for four races, fined $12,500 and placed on probation for the season. Kevin Cram, who calls the shots for rookie Jason Leffler, also was suspended for four races, but was fined $10,000 because he had just one violation.
Furr was punished for fuel cell and suspension violations. Nelson displayed a rear jack screw and spring plate assembly, generally used to raise and lower the car during pit stops. "The piece was designed to break away or fall out when the car was on the racetrack," Nelson said of a maneuver designed to lower the roofline. The lower a car sits, the faster it goes, because it encounters less wind resistance. Nadeau's car went fast enough during qualifying Saturday to make the front row for the race. But his speed was disallowed. So, instead of starting first -- with a guarantee of holding his outside pole for Sunday's race -- Nadeau will start last in a field of 26 in one of two qualifying races Thursday. He will have to finish 15th of better to assured of racing Sunday. NASCAR discovered the infraction after corner workers reported a piece of metal falling off Nadeau's car. Officials could not understand why Furr would do it without a method for raising the car back up for the post-qualifying inspection. "We went to the crew and said, 'What were you thinking?' We did not get an answer," Nelson said. Furr was fined $50,000 in July 1997 when illegal carburetor parts were found when he was at Cale Yarborough Motorsports. Nelson was asked if the crew chiefs would still be thinking about ways to fool NASCAR. "I'm not naive enough to think they're all out there baking Girl Scout cookies," he said. Mike Ford, crew chief for Bill Elliott's pole-winning Dodge, entered by Evernham Motorsports, was fined $2,500 for a suspension violation. His boss, Ray Evernham, was fined a record $60,000 for a more massive suspension violation as Jeff Gordon's crew chief in 1995.
Furr and Cram will begin sitting out Feb. 23, when the second Winston Cup event is run at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham. NASCAR announced the penalties late in the afternoon after the teams left Daytona International Speedway for the day. None of the teams issued any statements Monday night. "We're not even sure who did what," Nadeau said before the penalties were announced. "I'll just get in the car and drive it as fast as I can. "I think we've got a good car and I'm looking forward to a good race in the twin 125s. We'll just pay the fine and move on." "I really would like to get a message to the guys, especially on the major things," Nelson said. Cheating is as old as stock-car racing itself, but limited mostly to teams trying to interpret the rules to their advantage. Such violations are of little concern to NASCAR. "Those are gray-area things, $250 things that we'll discuss and try to make our rules better," Nelson said. "The flat out, 'We knew the rule, we broke it, we tried to keep you from finding out and you found us' guys. Those are ones we really want to make an example of."
© 2003 SportsTicker Enterprises, LP
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