Nascar's rules ...

[e2mtt]

Here is a good article from ESPN talking about how Nascar's ultra-strict rules with "the new car" are hurting the sport;

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar..._ed&id=3556643

Some of the points made:

The great majority of violations, aka "cheating," over the past few years have been offenses that, just a few years earlier, would have been settled by inspectors telling the team to take the car back to the garage stall and fix the violation, and then bring it back through the inspection line.

Crew chiefs & engineers have a much less enjoyable job when they have to work to Nascar's ultra tight rules and aren't allowed to innovate or be creative.

Fans are turned away by loss of some of the fun & tradition of stock car racing, as well as upset by the huge fines and penalties against their favorites for trivial items.

The media & non-fans doubt the integrity of Nascar more then ever, because every week there are big "cheating" busts.

By trying to clean itself up, NASCAR has made itself look dirtier than ever before to the outside world, and too squeaky-clean to its traditional fan base.

[call_me_andrew]

They can innovate new ways of breaking the rules (i.e. throttle stops before chassis dyno testing).

Rusty Wallace did an interview with ESPN a few years ago. He said that in a race with 43 cars, 43 of them are cheating in some small way.

I believe I once heard a story about Smokey Yunick using wide base lifters in his engine. An offical wasn't sure his lifters were legal, and he happened to own the same model car Smokey was racing. He told Smokey to swap the lifters between his car and Smokey's. Smokey changed them as he was told to, and then changed them back when no one was looking.

[oldhippie]

the same nascar rules are given to every team - the teams can obey them or get a penalty
no doubt without strong rules and diligent enforcement nascar would be in utter chaos
imo whining and crying about the nascar rules is such a waste of time

[JSH]

He said that in a race with 43 cars, 43 of them are cheating in some small way.

It's only cheating if you get caught.

[carracing]

It's only cheating if you get caught.

That's what they say... good article tho - it echos a lot of what I've read on the boards by fans about the COT/rules.