Toyota’s White says he was told cheating on horsepower ‘prevalent’ in garage
Quote selected text Published August 18th, 2008 in NASCAR News
Toyota’s top racing official says the manufacturer doesn’t condone the actions by Joe Gibbs Racing employees who tried to manipulate NASCAR’s horsepower test of Nationwide Series engines following Saturday’s race at Michigan International Speedway.
Joe Gibbs Racing officials have said that no Toyota engineers were involved in the incident. The team is bracing for major penalties Tuesday after NASCAR discovered its employees rigged the throttle with magnets and spacers to keep it from producing maximum horsepower.
“I was pretty surprised to see what was happening and astonished and frankly incredulous,” Toyota Racing Development President Lee White said about the situation Sunday. “I couldn’t believe it was happening because it’s clearly defined in the entry forms that you don’t do this sort of thing.
“But I’m sure that [team owner] Joe and J.D. [Gibbs, team president] will take care of that internally, and whatever fans think they’re going to think, and we’re going to just keep working on our stuff.”
NASCAR had impounded engines after Nationwide races at Milwaukee and Chicagoland in the last two months to determine if the Toyota engine had a horsepower advantage. It implemented a rule in late July prior to the race in Indianapolis that forced the Toyotas to use a spacer that had smaller holes and allowed less air through the carburetor, cutting about 15 horsepower from those engines.
JGR had won 13 races up to that point and has won 14 of 25 events this year.
White said Toyota and its teams have been working to get that horsepower back. He said he could understand that JGR employees did not want the numbers to show how much they had gained when NASCAR took 10 cars to a chassis dynamometer, a typical occurrence after Michigan events in August.
“This sort of thing [in manipulating horsepower] is prevalent in the garage,” White said. “It’s not unknown. We had one of our truck [series] drivers ask us a couple of years ago, ‘Why aren’t you doing this because we always did it with our previous manufacturer?’
- NASCAR to clip Toyota’s wings?
- Toyota has horsepower advantage at Daytona-UPDATE
- Toyota’s White says No 99 team knew they were cheating
- Harvick says Toyota is ahead of everybody on horsepower
- Toyota gets engine tweaks to become more competitive
Of coarse I believe Lee, This was an internal deal that the boys from JGR did. There is no way anyone from TRD would have anything to do with it. like Tony said on Sunday let the chips fall where they fall. I hope Dave Rogers gets fired.
HOWIE
With that said, is it fair to penalize the drivers and what they have done this year, cause I have heard people chastize KB but yet others have not blamed smoke or logano or hamlin. Like you said if rogers did this then yeah actions need to be taken, but what about the crew chief for the 18 car. Is it really fair to blame someone yet when we arent really sure who is responsible yet.
Hmmmm, anyone surprised… EVERYONE knew somethings been going on, just hadn’t caught up to them until now. When has a team switched manufacturers and darn near run the table before? Without cheating never has and never will, though I still think there was a deal with the devil somewhere in theJGR shop to entice them to switch.
Run Tony, run! Let the brat pack have at it next year…
Haha the ol everyone else is doing it
So we had to as well excuse.
Boy if only I had a dime for everytime I heard
That in NASCAR!
ROWDY BUSH wrote:
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Find the culprit then nail him…
Needed: Scapegoat for JGR organization to
save further embarassment. Must be willing to lie
and say they conspired to do it all individually.
Will pay pat on back and one-way ticket out.
-posted in the JGR shop Monday
I am a fan of all the drivers in this sport as long as they are on a level playing field. I am not a fan of the “gray area” in racing. I have known Gary Nelson for years and he was one of the crew chiefs that for years has pushed the envelope on every race car he worked on. Well, he was so good at working the “gray area” that NASCAR hired him to police the garage area. This thing with Toyota’s is NOT about the drivers but about crew chiefs and engineers. The driver just puts on his suit and helmet and gets in the car and drives. He knows nothing about what is under the hood or under his foot. I do believe that NASCAR shouldn’t have let TOYOTA in this sport without developing a motor that they would put in there production car as well as there race cars. Anyone can design a 358 cu.in. motor that can produce tons of HP but that is not what stock car racing is about, its about the drivers talent behind the wheel and I just don’t think that’s been happening since TOYOTA has entered the sport.
I can’t believe I am going to say this but I actually agree with something Jack Roush said.
I agree that Nascar should have looked at the whole situation better before they approved
the engines. I don’t blame Toyota for coming up with a great engine within the rules, but it
seems like Nascar should have done all these tests before approving the engines. If they
had done this properly then there would not be a problem to begin with.
Exactly, TOYOTA should never have been able to come in the series with a motor that was not in any of their production cars. FORD, DODGE AND GM all offer their motors for sale to the general public but TOYOTAs is a secret
DUH
They all cheat It’s just the way it’s been in Nascar..Not that it is RIGHT.
But it’s just a fact!!.. It’s up to Nascar officials to find the cheaters and appropriately….Say I Don’t Think So!!!
And punish them in a
VERY “DON’T FORGET WAY”!! :-O
But it will continue… No matter what they impose upon them..:-P
Faster Than Moo>>>
Laura B Reed wrote:
Thats a broard statement but there are teams that dont cheat and I worked for sr. for years and RCR has never cheated.
Anonymous wrote:
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There’s you a job Rowdy, apply for it !!!
HOWIE 2 QUESTIONS,
Toyota hould have never been in the series cause they dont have a production, motor how about as you said before about hendrick possibly going to ACURA in 2010, should they be held to different standards after all of the issues with toyota?
Next you said RCR never cheated, Im not sure what eactly you meean by this, but correct me if im wrong, but didnt harvicks crew chief get caught last year tampering with the fuel tank and he was suspeneded last year and im pretty sure there was one more offense other then that.. If you dont mean RCR as an organization (RCR) cause it was a chice made by the crew chief, then how can everyone say GIBBS was cheating if it was a choice made by a crew chief, cause until now gibbs has a pretty good reputation as not being cheaters
I follow NASCAR events around the country…I sell pre oiled ball caps and button down shirts with the sleeves cut off…I retire in 2 years.
ROWDY BUSH wrote:
No it was back in 2005 when Todd made his fuel cell look like it was filled during a qualifing run and nothing happened that I know of
yea he was suspended for 6 races which is why that Bristol win was much heralded
as Richard Childress was on the pit box.
LOLOLOL
take a look at the comments on this article
http://autoracingsport.com/nascar/toyota-has-horsepower-advantage-at-daytona/
my how we change
This is ONE HUGE Snake that Got OUT of the Bag, There are many others still hidden. Lets kill this one NOW and move on to the other Snakes and Bring Racing Back to the Even Table and Stop leaning to the Manafac that NEEDS Wins, in this Case the Jap Car.
The Deal made between Toy,JGR and NASCAR has to be slammed shut now and all the Racing Fans are NOT Blind, nor Dumb to see what is going in the these Racing Stables. MONEY moves this sport, NOT GAS !!!
Also the News Media trys to make something into nothing and nothing into Something. I call they Toy Rose from WWII.
Balls to Stewart for getting out, he is a driver that takes no S h i t and was fed up to the Moutain top with all the c r a p. . He cut the noose and will make his own way. HOOAH,
NASCAR Stop Killing a Sport of Racing and Stop Lining YOUR Bank Accouts with Money that will only Burn in Hell with You.
Mel wrote:
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“Quote” There are many others still hidden. Lets kill this one NOW and move on to the other Snakes and Bring Racing Back to the Even Table and Stop leaning to the Manafac that NEEDS Wins, in this Case the Jap Car.
The Deal made between Toy,JGR and NASCAR has to be slammed shut now and all the Racing Fans are NOT Blind, nor Dumb to see what is going in the these Racing Stables. MONEY moves this sport, NOT GAS !!!
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Except Rowdy, he say’s nothing is going on with the Shrub…
For Anyone that believes this Sport is Not Tanted, needs to ReFocus and step back and Focus again.
It’s to Tainted, a Blind Jack ASS KNOWS his way home with blinders on in the pitch Black night pulling a plow through the lower forty…………..