NHRA DRIVERS REACT TO DIVING MEMO
NHRA POWERade competitors
received a memo on Monday afternoon from the NHRA’s Graham Light addressing the
issue of team orders and influencing the outcome of a race based on point
standings.
Light took an aggressive
stance on the issue in his memo, which
our sources report he had help in composin
To All NHRA
Professional Teams:
With the growth of the
sport, NHRA has seen the development of multi-car teams in each of the four
professional categories in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
We know that every
driver and team’s mission is to win. With that said, NHRA does not
condone or approve of any team not competing at the highest level as a result
of “team orders” handed down to advance one driver over another driver at any
national event. Actions of this nature are not in the best interest
of the sport.
NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing provides the highest level of competition in the sport of drag racing
worldwide. NHRA intends to provide and preserve a level playing field and
to require good sportsmanship from all participants. Team actions that do
not meet this standard, or that might negatively affect the integrity of the
sport, will not be tolerated. Such actions will be met with significant
penalties that may include, but are not limited to, point deductions, fines,
disqualification, and suspension.
We are confident that
every participant in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series understands the
unacceptable nature and severe consequences of such actions and will respect
the sport and the integrity of the competition.
Sincerely,
Graham Light
Senior Vice President
Racing Operations
Many Say The Gesture Is Noble,
But Enforcement Is Unlikely
NHRA POWERade competitors
received a memo on Monday afternoon from the NHRA’s Graham Light addressing the
issue of team orders and influencing the outcome of a race based on point
standings.
Light took an aggressive
stance on the issue in his memo, which
our sources report he had help in composing.
To All NHRA
Professional Teams:
With the growth of the
sport, NHRA has seen the development of multi-car teams in each of the four
professional categories in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
We know that every
driver and team’s mission is to win. With that said, NHRA does not
condone or approve of any team not competing at the highest level as a result
of “team orders” handed down to advance one driver over another driver at any
national event. Actions of this nature are not in the best interest
of the sport.
NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing provides the highest level of competition in the sport of drag racing
worldwide. NHRA intends to provide and preserve a level playing field and
to require good sportsmanship from all participants. Team actions that do
not meet this standard, or that might negatively affect the integrity of the
sport, will not be tolerated. Such actions will be met with significant
penalties that may include, but are not limited to, point deductions, fines,
disqualification, and suspension.
We are confident that
every participant in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series understands the
unacceptable nature and severe consequences of such actions and will respect
the sport and the integrity of the competition.
Sincerely,
Graham Light
Senior Vice President
Racing Operations
NHRA
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Many of the racers that
Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com contacted felt the letter was a noble gesture but
largely unenforceable. Others pondered the reasoning for issuing the letter when, as they put it, enforcement
appears to be a joke.
Gary Scelzi said he couldn’t believe his eyes when the letter turned up in his e-mail in-box.
“I think it is pretty comical,” Scelzi said. “Your team car is going to magically smoke the tires or break on the starting line. Let’s get real here. How are they going to know what is legit? I think they hurt themselves by sending a letter like that.”
Whit Bazemore, a former teammate of Scelzi’s, said the practice of team orders is nothing new to this sport. Bazemore said he’s curious to see how the NHRA can determine what is real and what is staged.
“I don’t know how they will enforce it because it’s unenforceable,” Bazemore said. “It has been going on for a long time already in the modern era. One team in particular in the modern era has never admitted they did it. There has always been the big cover-up thing. They still don’t like to admit it.”
“You take a situation like we had in Denver where either Hot Rod [Fuller] or myself could have easily smoked the tires and it could have looked like team orders. It wouldn’t have been. I just don’t see how you could enforce this.
“In this class you smoke the tires, cross the center-line and hit cones. How can you discern? It’s not enforceable.”
Jim Head was one of the few drivers that took the memo seriously and looks forward to the NHRA policing what he deems “an unethical practice.”
Some might say enforcement is impossible, but I don’t think anything is impossible,” Head said.
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Head admits that he
sometimes takes situations to the extreme to prove a point. This situation is
no different. His assessment is if the big teams can do it, what’s to stop him?
“Yeah, let’s create a situation,” Head said. “Let’s say the 9th
qualifier is another independent racer like I am and I qualify 8th
in Indy. What if I walk over to that low budget privateer team with decals and
money and tell them I want them to be my teammate and I get the desired result?
“You can’t do that. If I do, then what’s the point of the points chase? If teams are going to buy out others, what is the difference between one team being aligned for 24 hours or 24 months? It presents the same end result.”
Multi-team owner Don Schumacher has been on both sides of the tracks when it comes to team orders. He’s levied allegations and he himself, has been the target of a few. When it comes down to it, Schumacher said his teams will race to the finish line.
“I agree and support the NHRA and Graham Light on the letter because we owe the fans and sponsors a true race every time we pull to the starting line,” Schumacher said. “I understand what they are trying to accomplish. I hope all of the teams and owners out there respond to it and every time their cars pull to the starting line, they race.
“There will always be allegations out there. Everyone will have to deal with it the best way they can. I applaud the NHRA for being the one to make the tough decision. They can either accept it or not accept it.”
Schumacher said the NHRA’s enforcement shouldn’t be impossible. He said he feels the racers will do the best job of policing themselves.
“There’s not many secrets out here,” Schumacher said. “Ultimately, I tend to feel if (a race) is thrown, someone will talk somewhere down the road. NHRA put it out there that they will make the decision. I support that – even if it is against me or one of my teams. They make the decisions. They have put themselves in the position of being judge, jury and executioner in this situation.”
Head has largely been critical of the NHRA’s management for years, but he said this is something that he applauds them for.
“I think it is one of the more positive moves they’ve made in a long time,” Head said. “I think Graham recognized a problem and dealt with it rapidly, which is to his credit. I see it as a huge problem in the NHRA.”
Head said he was initially a huge proponent of the Countdown to the Championship, but quickly realized that it would only increase the likelihood of team orders.
“I realized that instead of one opportunity to dive, it actually gave them three,” Head said. “You have eight to four to one. The multi-car teams have a ridiculous advantage if it is taken to an extreme. There’s no chance that we can have fair and open competition. In my opinion, it’s no championship if someone dove for you once, let alone two or three times.
“I felt really strong against the practice, but it never affected me because I hadn’t chased after the points since 1998. This new format came along in January and I really felt like giving it a try. We did and made it. I’m proud of that fact.
“Suddenly I realized the repercussions of teams laying down for one another. I tend to take everything to extremes. What bothered me is not that it happened and could have adversely affected me, what bothered me is that most of my peers in the sport thought it was okay. That’s my biggest issue. It has never been okay and will never be, either.”
Many of those drivers we spoke to are non-committal about how they will handle team orders if the situation presented itself. Others say they will race in the spirit of the sport or not race at all.
Sources indicate it was the comments following Jeff Arend’s first round match against team owner Del Worsham in Reading that prompted the memo. Worsham was still in the running for a spot in the playoffs and Arend had already been eliminated.
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Worsham denied any
knowledge of a plan to throw the race, although Arend said he and the crew
[without Worsham’s final approval] made the decision. This was prompted by the
early elimination of Head.
Head would have been the only driver affected by Arend’s decision to leave the starting line a full two seconds behind Worsham.
Arend’s comments were blatant in content.
"Personally, I think we'd have to be the dumbest people in the world to let one Checker, Schuck's, Kragen car, that has absolutely no chance of making the post-season, take out the one that still has a chance," Arend said. "We are one big team here, all representing CSK and all of our great sponsors, so we made the decision on our side of the pit. Del never asked, never even brought it up, but Marc Denner, Chris Cunningham, and I talked about what we thought was the best thing to do, for the team and for our sponsors.”
In one instance at Reading, the team of Morgan Lucas and Melanie Troxel raced heads up even though two points separated her from the eighth spot. Lucas defeated Troxel and effectively eliminated her from contention.
Bazemore has always been an outspoken critic of team orders and said, even though he has a teammate, he couldn’t fathom the idea of throwing the final outcome of a race.
“I wouldn’t want to,” Bazemore said. “You go to the races to win. There are ethics and morals involved. It’s a sport. Too many sports have negatives. We don’t need that in drag racing. It is a positive sport. The idea of team orders in drag racing is not healthy. It’s robbing the public from a true sport. It’s not a real contest. It becomes more about the end result, not getting there.
“Part of winning the U.S. Nationals is not the end result, it’s the journey. It’s the effort you go through. The testing and even before that – putting together the budget just to go there. It’s building a career. You compete and you win the trophy. You look in the mirror and realize, I won Indy.”
“No one can take that away from you and that’s why I can’t understand a team that wins championships by laying down. Why would anyone want that? Who would want a trophy like that? I wouldn’t lay down for a teammate and likewise, I wouldn’t want a teammate to lay down for me either although it would be tempting and convenient.”
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Bazemore isn’t so naïve
that he misses the point that drag racing is a sport that has a business side
to it.
“You just have to find the level between business and sport. Business and sport don’t always go hand in hand. That’s the toughest thing. You have to find that balance.”
“Would a sponsor want to be in the Showdown? Absolutely. If a teammate could lose a round here and there, would it benefit from a business standpoint? Absolutely. But, as a driver would I want that? No. Would I want to cost myself a chance at winning the race to help my teammate? Not really.
“People say that I’m not a team player if I say that. If that’s what it takes to be considered a team player then I am not interested in being one. This is not a team sport like soccer. It’s an individual sport. People try to make drag racing a team sport. In the true sense of the word, it is not a team sport. It’s not a team, you just have different cars to help one another and share information.
“From a business standpoint, it’s better to have a few more cars on a team. You have more income and your cost per car gets smaller. It’s good in that regard. When it all comes down to it, it is an individual sport.”
Regardless of the opinions formed, Schumacher said his teams will race straight up.
“My teams will always race, no matter how much it may affect the outcome ultimately,” Schumacher said. “I have different sponsors on each of my cars except for the US Army bikes. I guarantee you if the Army felt I was advancing a team under improper means, they would be very angry. That’s not how they operate. That’s not how I operate.”
Scelzi has already formed his opinion on it regardless of the official statement offered by Schumacher.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Scelzi said in a sarcastic tone. “Neither would John Force or Don Schumacher do that -- right?
“I absolutely wouldn’t take a dive. If it meant [teammates] Ron Capps or Jack Beckman over John Force and one of his teammates, I wouldn’t think so much. I would do everything in my power to help the other team win.”
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Head said the sponsors could have the final say so. But one thing is for certain, as Head points out, honor and integrity should make the final decision. His assessment is that the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow just isn’t rich enough to sacrifice those attributes.
“You are committed to race and if you have sponsors with any pride, they won’t tolerate it. It’s a slippery slope and once you do it once, where do you stop? You win in the name of what? As far as I am concerned, (the money) is chicken feed at the end of the season. We don’t race for a lot of money and it’s just not enough to swap your integrity.
“You can say a lot of things about me, I might not be the best racer out there but I’m a good businessman. I make business decisions every day and they do not include fraud.”
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