Riggs, Sauter penalized 150 points each for wing mount violations at LMS
Quote selected text Published May 28th, 2008 in NASCAR News
The Haas CNC Racing teams of Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter were docked 150 championship points each and their crew chiefs and car chiefs have been suspended for the next six weeks due to violations discovered on the wing mounts last weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
In addition, crew chiefs Bootie Barker [Riggs] and Derrick Jennings [Sauter] were fined $100,000 each, and owners Joe Cutter and Margaret Haas were docked 150 owner points.
Riggs will drop to No. 35 in owner points that determine the top 35 guaranteed a spot in the field each week. Sauter and the No. 70 car will fall to 44th.
The 150 point penalty is one of the largest in the history of the sport, exceeding the 100-point penalty given to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team for a wing mount penalty last season.
Haas officials could not be reached for comment, but in all likelihood they will appeal the decision.
Barker told ESPN.com on Sunday he’s been running all season the same wing mount setup on Riggs’ car that was confiscated on Saturday after NASCAR officials decided it was illegal.
He reminded that the car passed two inspections on Thursday and wasn’t impounded until somebody in the garage fingered the Haas teams.
Bookmark to:
- Haas CNC crew chief Barker says wing mounts have been the same all year
- Riggs, Sauter caught for illegal wing mounts, moved to rear of 600 field
- National Stock Car Commission upholds Haas CNC penalties
- NASCAR hands down penalty to the # 5 and # 70
- NASCAR hands down points penalty and suspension to the #2
Fisha695 wrote:
Doesn’t matter if its illegal its illegal no matter if they catch it at first or not.
If I have a Kilo of Coke and I get stopped for speeding and the cop doesn’t find that Kilo then, but another cop finds it later (whether it was pointed out to them or not) it’s still illegal.
Heck if I was NASCAR after hearing Booty brag about having those mounts on all year I would say, fine you’ve had those on for all the races this year then your team is admitting guilt in cheating and must forfeit all driver/owner points and purse money that you have gotten this year.
This situation is just like Biffles intake manifold in 2000 during the truck championship.
He used it all year but only got caught at Vegas.
as John Bickford once said,
“If you sped down the interstate every day for 10 years and got away with it, the instant they catch you , your illegal”
I still want to know WTF you could do to a wing mount that would really help, unless it was made to allow more or less angle of attack than the NASCAR spec.
Like you guys said, just because you didn’t get caught before, it doesn’t mean you weren’t breaking the rules!
SOUNDS LIKE JEREMY???????
Am I missing something here or is there more to this story them just rear wing mounts???
Now I understand most of this stiff penalty to Haas CNC Racing including 150 driver and 150 owner points for each car (#66 and #70), crew chief and car chief suspended for 6 races, $100k fine, already I expected that.
However, here’s were this penalty is wrong, they took and kept both (#66 and #70) cars, why would would you do that, that’s not justifyed, that’s were I can’t understand. Sorry I just don’t get it over rear wing mounts.
How can you not understand that they took those cars? They took them to inspect them fully to see if any other parts of the car where cheated up.
If the cars are 100% legal other then those wing mounts then Haas will more then likely get the cars back, but if there is anything else illegal with the car NASCAR will most likely (and should) keep them.
Fisha695…
I don’t understand why they kept the cars, Haas Racing isn’t getting there cars back, that’s were the problems is, not taking and inspecting them, but keeping them period.
If I understand it correctly, it was only the rear wing mounts that were wrong, so were does NASCAR get to keep the cars???
Haas is getting the cars back if there is nothing else illegal with them. If there is something illegal with them then those cars should be destroyed.
As for why did they take the entire car in the first place, thats a simple one and it was done for two reasons. Reason one is plain and simple to make a point to follow the rules or else, and point two has more to do with a longstanding saying in racing and that is “Make something so illegal all the focus is there so you can get away with other stuff”, and that brings me back to point one that I made.
Also as for why NASCAR can take the cars, its a simple little legal reason that you’ll find at almost every local short track/sanctioning body, right up to the FIA, NHRA, NASCAR, ARCA, etc…. And that is that from the time that a team is signed in till they sign out at the end of the race weekend/night the track/sanctioning body reserves every right to confiscate anything they want for any reason they want and do anything with it they want. If you have ever heard of a “Claim Rule” at your local track (or some touring series have it as well) thats the basic reasoning as to why the Claim Rule is a legally binding sale of your EQ. If you are not familiar with a Claim Rule its pretty much a rule stating that another competitor can buy a part from your car all the way up to your entire car for a small amount of money. While the cost varies track to track, division to division, it can be as simple as $75 for the engine or $300 for the complete race car minus the seat/belts.
Also another thing, it’s not like this is going to hurt Haas one bit money wise, Haas racing is the wealthiest team in NASCAR by a long shot, however they are also just around for the sole reason of doing R&D work for both Hendrick, Chevy, as well as Haas Machining.
The penalty press release I received…The penalty also includes NASCAR’s confiscation of team 66 Serial Number HMS 12 06 415 race car and team 70 Serial Number HMS 04 08 507 race car. (NASCAR PR)
First, Haas Racing is not getting the #66 nor #70 cars that were confiscated back.
Second, I don’t have a problem with NASCAR confiscating a teams car if there is something illegal, however since it seems that it is only the rear wing mounts, I don’t believe they should keep there cars forever.
That’s it.
Dude, Racedriven, they’ll get them back. Where in that press release that you quoted does it say NASCAR is keeping them?
The textbook definition of confiscate is “to seize by or as if by authority”. Nowhere in there does it say anything about keeping it forever! They’ll get them back. All teams do, if like Fisha said, the cars aren’t found to be totally rigged up.
It’s just like if you get busted for some absurd speeding like 100 in a 55. They might take you to jail for a little while and they’ll impound your car, but after they go through your car looking for reefer, you can get it back.
And something I just thought of, and this is actually more of a reason that they should take the cars. The entire template Grid is positioned on the car off of the Spec NASCAR Wing Mounts. If you have the wrong mounts, and the template grid still fits on, then the body of the car has been messed with.