I want to start this off by saying it is NOT directed at anyone in particular. There was NOT a certain instance that brought this about. It is something I have been gathering information on for a long time and from numerous conversations with drivers and fans alike. Now that we are through with that portion of our program let me start on to the next. I have been a quite naive person most of my life as people close to me have always told me but it's not naivety to me, it's that I can see the wrong in people and always believe they can be better or think that they really are good in ways we can't see right away. Basically, I believe in the goodness in everyone. I tend to live in a rose-colored world.
I was on a trip last year and the subject of cheating in racing came up. Not NASCAR racing but my beloved short track racing. I know there is cheating in NASCAR. I'm naive, not a fool, but when I ardently starting defending the sanctity of short track racing and declaring that there is not but maybe two or three drivers that maybe blur the lines a little is when I was set straight on some things and was when my heart became broken. There is something to racing to me that, even with fights, dirty fingernails and grease was wholesome and honest. I can't explain to you why, it just was. Maybe it was as American as apple pie for me or maybe it's the families I've seen but it had an innocence to me. Something I believed in, something I loved. The drivers have always been as normal and human to me as anyone else but I had more faith in them than anyone else.
As I learned that different drivers had done one thing or another to their cars to win I began to say "no they wouldn't" and yet I was heartbreakingly proven wrong each and every time. The question in my mind that I still to this day ask is "What kind of win is it if you had to cheat to do it?". I mean did you accomplish anything? You didn't win fair and square. You weren't a good sport. You just beat another man who could have been running by the rules and could have needed that money for something. Mind you, this is about the drivers at the track, I could care less what they do in their personal lives off the track. People do right and wrong all the time. I don't judge anyone's life. I'm only writing about the portion that is involved at the race track.
Tire prep is an example of something that is illegal at most tracks but is widely used. I know there are tire sniffers at most tracks but talking with some people recently I learned that there is a tire prep that they sell that will not be detected by a sniffer and when talking to a man who I respect his opinion in everything racing about what kind of difference it really will make he informed me that it makes about three tenths of a second difference. That can mean a world of difference in racing. And that's just the tire prep. What about the other things they can do to take a few more tenths of a second off? Those tenths of a second start to add up. What about that guy who didn't prep his tires though? What does he get for doing things right and by the book? Beat unfairly, that's what he gets.
I have asked another driver last year when it was brought up that he was cheating if he actually was cheating. His response? "As far as I know there is nothing illegal on this car.". What kind of statement is "as far as I know"? I do believe though that he isn't illegal but then again I thought no one ever was before either. It's too easy now to do little things to your car or even big things and not get caught. I know a guy you can send a motor to right now and he can do things to your motor where no one will EVER be able to tell. He lives prettty far North so you better have plenty of money for shipping and for the actual work he does. There are some people who can afford this but then there are some who can't. So if you do illegally tweak your motor and beat some driver who can't afford to, did you actually win a race? You just had more money. That didn't mean you were the better driver.
Cheating in racing has become high-tech and more expensive also. I have learned lately about GPS traction control. Racetronics sells one and it's not cheap, well to me it's not. I have heard certain drivers in short track racing around here and not around here run this in their race cars. How much are some of these drivers willing to pay just to collect a trophy? How much is it worth to you? I do not for one second believe all drivers are cheating and the ones I know or have knowledge of running by blurring the lines or running illegally will NEVER be blown out of the water by me. I come from the old school where we don't rat out others. It's their decision how they run not mine so it's not for me to tell anyone what is going on in someone else's pit.
Speaking of blurring the lines, I know that drivers are always looking for those little loopholes in the rulebook. I have no problem with this. If it's not specifically in the rulebook then by all means go for it. See how far you can stretch things until it can't be stretched anymore. Then when it becomes a problem at the track and they change the rules you'll have to search for that grey area in some other part of the rule book. Believe me, most of who is doing what on the track is common knowledge by everyone and they all know who's doing it and they're telling everyone else and if you don't think that then you are more naive than I was. If you are running illegally, I promise, everyone already knows.
So, what are you really getting if you have to cheat to get the win? It can't be for the money. Most drivers spend that before they even get in the gate. It can't be the trophy. You can get those anywhere. What is it?! Is it really a win?! I've lost some innocence through my past few years of learning more of the behind the scenes racing activities. I have also gained a lot more insight into a different part of this world and it's a little darker and I'm happy to wade through it and still love it. Like I said, I don't give two poops what a driver does in their personal life, I'm only talking about the part of their lives they are sharing with ALL of us on the Saturday nights they come to entertain us. I actually have had my eyes opened and I'm going to be better for it somehow. Or at the very least, less naive. The drivers that I do believe run by the rules, I will keep defending no matter what and the ones I know aren't, I won't say anything because like I said, it's not for me to tell their business. That's their's. I will just always have to wonder at the different tracks I go to if the winners actually won fairly or is this another case of who cheated better? My opinion is this, I am no longer going to care. I am just going for a good race and a good time. Visit your local track and you'll find the same.
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