Is Na$car fixed?

[TNFL]

Nice run by the USG Sheetrock ford at hmmmmmm the USG 400.

The 97 Sharpie has 2 wins at the "Sharpie sponsored race".

The 48 runs well at "Lowe's".

Gordan in his "Pepsi" car.

There are probably several others that could be mentioned. But just think if a sponsor throws down enough money they could not inspect or ignore illegal modification to cars, and there is no way for other teams to say Hey, "I" want to see if they are cheating.

Nascar is now an official sport when there is too much money involved for it not to be rigged.

[PERCHJR]

Hey TNFL, you might have something here!!! Makes a guy think doesn't it??? I am sure somebody will say that Jr cheated also!!!

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD FISHING!!!

[OUTDOORNUT]

Jr. cheated also!

[PERCHJR]

Thanks for coming through OUTDOORNUT!!!

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD FISHING!!!

[OUTDOORNUT]

I always thought it was funny when one of the manufactures sponsored a race and it usually worked out that a different make won the race.

Nascar had to let Jr. win, not having one of the two favorite sons in the chase would be killer on the ratings of the last ten races. Since the Curse has proved to be to powerful for even the France family, their next option was to make sure Jr. gets in. ha ha

I still keep a sliver of hope that NASCAR is the last pure professional sport.

[Guest]

Probably not worth responding to but,If Nascar helped Jr win the race then they must have paid drivers to cause a caution and then told Jr how to pit along with all the other drivers.Seems a bit of a stretch to me,but maybe someone may believe it.Why would Kenseth do it when he had a great car? Not to likely.All the drivers named above are very good drivers at different tracks and win alot so that would explain the wins.They could all win on any given Sunday.Dale Sr was very good at all the plate tracks sponsored by many sponsors over the years,he was just that good along with Gordon and others.

[JohnMickish]

Any of you guys been around long enough to remember Richard Petty's 200th win? July 4th with the president of the United States in the stands. They say that race wasn't "fixed" as in everyone letting him win but he had an illegal car. Thats what they say. Hmm, anyone remember a #8 car that could pull away from the field all by himself the first time they went back to Daytona after Dale Sr. died? I don't know if that race was totally on the up and up and we will never know. It just looked to perfect to be honest. IMO

[NAPAFISH]

How bout JJ winning 3 straight LMS races. Kyle Busch winning at LMS in a Lowes Truck. Conspiracy????

[JohnMickish]

I do think at the sponsor races that extra emphasis is placed on testing and making darn sure that the car is put together right. No mistakes but it does make one wonder. I really think that for the most part it's on the up and up but I wouldn't be surprised to hear of someone getting by with a bigger carb, fuel cell, gear or whatever once in awhile, you know for the "good of the sport".

Think of this, what if Martin or Rusty win the last race of the year? Maybe Rusty will get his plate win at 'Dega? Hmmm

[PierBridge]

Not big on conspiracy theories....I would say their is a ZERO percent chance that any Race is fixed.

And I would highly doubt that Nascar would intensionally let or be a part of cheating.

I think most teams try to stretch the rules and some have cheated and won without being caught.

There are too many variables and so much luck involved in winning a race that actually fixing one would be nearly impossible.

You hear the same conspiracy theories for all sports.

[Macgyver55]

I agree with Pier, even though I've had the thought cross my mind before on some of the "storybook" endings. When you think about how many people would have to be paid off to shut up or hold back it would be impossible. It would only take 1 guy to slip up and talk and even then there are too many guys who wanna win too bad to play along. Too many variables too like tires and engines and everything else that can go wrong. It would be way too big of a risk for Nascar to take in my opinion.

[NAPAFISH]

I was trying to be with the crowd, but I agree with you both

[woodyjdh]

Fixed? nah,...more like scripted! J/K-take your pills! Although...it could be fixed by aliens who are out to oust bigfoot and leprachauns from intergalactic gambling rings! I'd need some pretty hard evidence to believe Nascar is fixed. There are cheaters, and some get caught. But fixed-NO WAY!

[TNFL]

Quote:

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Hmm, anyone remember a #8 car that could pull away from the field all by himself the first time they went back to Daytona after Dale Sr. died?

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At least he's gotten better at not making it look not so obvious. Just hang out in the top 10 most of the day and then go up to the top 5, all of a sudden a surprise pit strategy and he's able to hold off the best car all day for 12 laps. Hmmm I'm sure Na$car officials inspected his vehicle and found "no irregularities". Just kidding, he's always had success at the 1.5 tri-ovals, errr I mean his team has really been on this year, errr well he is the czar of nascar ya know.

I know its near impossible to fix a race for a cetain driver to WIN, but its definately possible to fix it for a driver to finish well. If can't admit that then go back to your rainbow and sunshine everything is perfect world. I've just seen way too many blown calls and neat coincidences in my life to not be suspicious.

[woodyjdh]

Personally I'd like to see some outside group do the officiating. Or at least the inspecting of cars before & after they race. Of course I could be dreaming, but it seems to make sense! But then this is NASCAR-and common sense isn't very abundant! (Referring to the Brian France run part of the organization)

[JohnMickish]

I agree, I don't think you can fix it to win, and it would be hard for a team to build an illegal car as to many people would know, but do you think that maybe an owner and engine builder could get away with some stuff if they had permission? Now that we have that settled, is boxing fixed?

[eyepatrol]

mnfishinguy hit on basically the exact point that's been going through my mind. Fix a NASCAR race and you'll get a similar fan response and media response as boxing. If a race is fixed, who would care to watch? Most of the NASCAR fans come from the "good 'ol boy" down south states like the Carolinas and such. Good, honest, work hard for a buck type of people. If they found out that racing was fixed, I believe that would be the end of it for a number of fans. I just don't think NASCAR can afford that, and the sponsors...man would they have a hayday in the courts!!! They just can't afford to do that.

Now, to say that a team is given leeway or slack on the build of a car, perhaps there is a remote possibility, but in my mind you get right back to fixing a race, trying to give an advantage to someone. However, I have heard it said many times on tv from crew chiefs that if you aren't trying to cheat, then you aren't doing your job. It's the crew chief's job to try and sneak something by and it's NASCAR's job to find it.

Anyway, I'm probably talking out of my a$$ because my mouth knows better, but oh well!

[JohnMickish]

Did you guys read that after the race at Michigan they took the motors from the Three Dodge [#12, #9, #41],Four GM [#20, #15, #31, #48], and Three Ford [#6, #17, #38] team? All of the engines where said to be within one horsepower of each other. One horsepower, that's amazing.

[smallies24]

A couple points...First, yes Dale won at Daytona after his dad died...but didn't DEI go 1-2 in the 500? Look at the money going into this sport. Do you honestly think sponsors would dish out the dough ever year in a rigged sport if they didn't have success? Think about the money a company like Target has put into the sport, how many wins are there from a Target sponsored car? How come Kyle Petty hasn't had any recent success, did he win after his son died?

Also, there would be no point in the good ol' boys racing if it was rigged. I doubt you'd see Morgan Shepard, Terry Labonte, Randy Lajoie or Jimmy Spencer racing if it was rigged. It doesn't pay enough to run 43rd. If it was fixed why would Gordon have had 17 STRAIGHT top five finishes in '98 and 13 wins? That ticked more people off than anything.

The answer to cars SOMETIMES doing well when their sponsor is the race sponsor is this. They sponsor testing at those tracks, money makes a difference. As far as coincidences, there are coincidences everywhere you look, not just in racing. My last point - it would be next to impossible to get drivers to "let" another driver win when they're driving 150+ MPH inches away for 3 hours, especially at a track like Bristol (Sharpie 500). My 2 - or rather 25 cents.