How I would handle rule infractions
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Can you dig it?
NASCAR seems so set on policing this new car to the point that sometimes I think it's overreacting. This oil tank lid situation is nothing new. We've known for 20 years that evacuating air out from under the car makes the car have less drag and more downforce — we used to do it with the NACA Ducts. We'd put reverse NACA Ducts on top of the oil tank, in the floor, in the firewall and we would reverse them so instead of blowing air into the car we would suck air out from under the car or wherever and let it blow out the window. That in turn would decrease drag and increase downforce.
We've known about this advantage forever.
My point is instead of making a big hullabaloo about this whole oil tank lid thing, what would be the simplest thing to do? People talk about it being a "Work in progress" and NASCAR says "We'll tweak it if we have to." Then let the teams work on the car.
What everybody has been doing with this whole oil lid controversy is saying, "Look, here's a way to make the car better."
Now I want to ask you folks something. You are sitting up in the grandstand, watching the race on TV, or you are even watching the inspection line. Can you tell from looking at the outside of the car that the oil tank lid is off? Can you tell from working on the car that there's been something done inside the car that will make the car better?
No.
So rather than overreact and say, "You can't do that," why don't you just tell everybody to do it?
"Here's the deal: Evacuate air out from under the car and out from the oil tank — it'll make your car better."
In the end, that's what we are looking for here — making the car better. Listen folks, these teams spend millions of dollars on engineers to take every possible advantage of every possible situation. NASCAR's biggest concern is that they don't want anybody messing with the appearance or body of the car, but everything else should be fair game.
Right now, I say that if somebody finds a way to make this car better and it doesn't affect any of the things you are super-sensitive about, so be it. Somebody's going to be the first one to figure out something that makes this car better. Instead of overreacting and saying "You can't do that" and have to police it day in and day out, week in and week out, just let them all do it.
"Here's the deal, we found out through the wind tunnel, through testing, and through this cat winning the race that doing X is a really good thing to do."
Instead of taking it away from people, give it to them.
Back in the day, you'd go to NASCAR and complain about somebody's car and they'd tell you, "Hey, instead of complaining about this, why don't you figure yours out." That's where we should be with this new car. If it doesn't affect all the things that they are concerned about, doesn't jeopardize safety or the appearance of the car, then so be it.
You've got 43 teams with hundreds of engineers trying to work on this car to make it better. Let's get together and make it better.
Sing along: "Come together, right now..."
That's my take on rules. I think NASCAR does a wonderful job of making rules, but we cannot anticipate everything. We couldn't anticipate that Jeff Gordon's car was going to go in that hole on the back straightaway at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last Sunday, but once it does we see that it needs to be fixed and it will be.
It kind of annoys me that all the work that has been done in Vegas and everything that Bruton Smith has done for this sport — and we all rave about what he does for the fans, drivers, teams — but we found a fallacy in the track at Vegas and we make a big deal out of it. I say okay, there's a problem there and I guarantee you the next time we visit the track there won't be any problems.
That's what I say about this car. Learn as you go, take advantage of what the teams come up with, analyze it, look at it and say "Let everybody do it." I believe that's the solution to some of these issues right now.
We are in the development stage. This is a science project. You can't fix or change something to make it better if you are not open-minded about it.
I'm not blasting NASCAR, I'm just saying that these are times when you need to look at what you are doing and let everybody do it instead of penalizing somebody that figured it out first.
That's how I would handle this new car and what is perceived to be rule violations at this point until we get this car to where everybody is happy.
Oh, by the way
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Since I mentioned Jeff Gordon's Las Vegas wreck, I've been waiting and watching but I've still had a question mark about this car being safer than the old car.
But that lick Gordon took as well as the ones that Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch had proved to me that this car has achieved the primary goal of this car, which is safety. As hard as those guys hit the wall, and the way Jeff's car flew apart, they were all able to test the following day at Phoenix International Raceway.
I think that's a tribute to how far we've come with these cars. I've said all along that you can never get comfortable with safety. It's a moving target. Cars go places you can never imagine when they are running 190 mph. There's still stuff out there that we will say "We gotta fix that" in the future.
You will never be able to get your arms around all the possible dangers out there. So you have to be flexible depending on what the next big issues is.
I applaud the car. I was very pleased with those drivers being able to walk away from the car. It shows we have come a long way with safety, but we are not finished. It's a never ending journey that you have to continue to walk down and when something happens you learn from it, fix it and move on.
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