McPhillips/Stewart disqualified (1 Viewer)

[Chili]

According to Jason Galvin on NHRA.tv, Tony Stewart was disqualified from the Charlotte event. Following their run last night, there was an illegal part on the car and the team was kicked out of the event. Not putting any blame on Tony here since he was most likely unaware of the situation.

 

[rick]

 

[Butch]

Probably discovered his plug wires where tied into a knot. Lol

 

[Chili]

The other MCPhillips car was not DQ’d so there may have been no intent.

 

[twostep]

Unapproved ignition parts? Good grief. What the hell could that entail that would cause a DQ? Also, there was no mention of a fine or an appeal; something that normally accompanies these type of infractions. Just get out; see ya in Madison.

 

[Ramjet]

View attachment 13551

Unapproved (Ignition parts) doesn't necessarily mean that they were cheating. Before you can run anything that requires being approved it has to be submitted to NHRA and approved by them. It could pass approval perfectly, but if you don,t submit it before you run it they will come down hard on you. Also: It could take a considerately long time to be passed because they don't do it on demand. If the rules say MSD 44Amp Magneto is approved it doesn't mean that ACME 44Amp Magneto (Sorry Wile E.) is approved. Also: Advertising with NHRA can go a long way in getting your product approved quickly.
P.S. Remember it has to be available to everyone before you can run it.

 

[Bobby Bennett]

NHRA CONFISCATES MCPHILLIPS RACING MAGNETOS; TONY STEWART DISQUALIFIED FROM RACE | Competition Plus

NHRA has disqualified motorsports icon Tony Stewart from the Betway NHRA Carolina Nationals citing what they describe as unapproved ignition parts on the McPhilips Racing Top Alcohol Dragster he pilots. The infraction was discovered during a post-run inspection. Because of the nature of parts...

competitionplus.com

 

[twostep]

NHRA CONFISCATES MCPHILLIPS RACING MAGNETOS; TONY STEWART DISQUALIFIED FROM RACE | Competition Plus

NHRA has disqualified motorsports icon Tony Stewart from the Betway NHRA Carolina Nationals citing what they describe as unapproved ignition parts on the McPhilips Racing Top Alcohol Dragster he pilots. The infraction was discovered during a post-run inspection. Because of the nature of parts...

competitionplus.com

Since I'm not up to speed on the nature of post-run inspections on A/FD magnetos, someone enlighten me. On the surface, I'd venture to guess someone ratted Team McPhillips out, possibly the team that sold them the mags. On the other hand, perhaps the parts in question were obvious upon initial inspection and it went from there. I'll choose Door # 1, Monty, until someone clarifies otherwise.

But still, rules are rules and some of them, as minor as they seem, are still rules. You'd have to run fast to convince me Stewart had a performance advantage so like Gates said, the infraction was likely because NHRA hadn't approved the mods. Neither does NHRA care if you were aware or not of how the out-of-spec mags came to be. Could have been worse - they could have suspended Stewart, fined him and deducted points instead of simply not allowing any new ones for this race only. Tony can be fiery but in this instance I suspect he was gracious about it all and just took a "see you next week" attitude.

 

[Chili]

I’ll play dumb here. Is it common for a top tier team to be buying parts from other teams? I always assumed the well funded top tier teams would be buying the best new parts available where the lower funded teams would be purchasing used parts from the well funded teams. I don’t have a clue what goes on within the class but the explanation seems questionable. But that may be fairly normal within the class. I don’t know.

 

[BOO BOO]

My question is who did they buy the mags from ?

 

[Ramjet]

My question is who did they buy the mags from ?

They possibly got them from a T/F or F/C team that can maybe have those modifications that A/F cannot. Not sure if A/F can have programmed timing or not or even if that is what it was. I do know that there is a long wait on parts from a lot of suppliers right now which could be a problem with new parts.

 

[HEMI6point1]

I know some are not going to like this take, but I got this from a comment on FB and maybe whomever wrote it is onto something:

Tony Stewart was one of the people that spearheaded that big money race in Bradenton. That is not an event put on by the NHRA and maybe they are pissed off about it, so they decided to "nitpick" on his team until they found something that could use an excuse to DQ or suspend him as a "get back." I'm sure you know someone - or maybe it happened to you - who was working at a job, everything was going swimmingly until a member of management decided they don't like him/her and started looking for any reason to let that person go. Same deal here.

 

[r2]

Tony Stewart Disqualified From NHRA Race at zMAX Dragway

Tony Stewart, NHRA Top Alcohol Class Points leader has been DQ’d in Charlotte after unapproved ignition parts were found Saturday.

www.autoweek.com

 

[stitcherbob]

Pretty convenient to find this out while Tony is first place. If their performance was far beyond the others then ok, the parts may have something to do with it, but I haven’t heard anything about that being the case. Racing has been pretty close, no?

 

[r2]

Pretty convenient to find this out while Tony is first place. If their performance was far beyond the others then ok, the parts may have something to do with it, but I haven’t heard anything about that being the case. Racing has been pretty close, no?

I smell a rat. Yes, it is McPhillips fault for not checking. Something fishy is going on though!

You think Nataas' 5.12 was looked at for a hot mag? ....

 

[ZWeinstein]

I know some are not going to like this take, but I got this from a comment on FB and maybe whomever wrote it is onto something:

Tony Stewart was one of the people that spearheaded that big money race in Bradenton. That is not an event put on by the NHRA and maybe they are pissed off about it, so they decided to "nitpick" on his team until they found something that could use an excuse to DQ or suspend him as a "get back." I'm sure you know someone - or maybe it happened to you - who was working at a job, everything was going swimmingly until a member of management decided they don't like him/her and started looking for any reason to let that person go. Same deal here.

Not saying you are wrong but from a business standpoint, why would the NHRA "get back" at someone who has brought a lot of interest and publicity into the sport over the last couple years?

 

[Luke Nieuwhof]

I don't think NHRA is seeking any kind of 'revenge' on Tony Stewart. They have marketed the crap out of him. The Gatornats will still be a sellout regardless of the PRO race in Bradenton.

 

[Chili]

I know some are not going to like this take, but I got this from a comment on FB and maybe whomever wrote it is onto something:

Tony Stewart was one of the people that spearheaded that big money race in Bradenton. That is not an event put on by the NHRA and maybe they are pissed off about it, so they decided to "nitpick" on his team until they found something that could use an excuse to DQ or suspend him as a "get back." I'm sure you know someone - or maybe it happened to you - who was working at a job, everything was going swimmingly until a member of management decided they don't like him/her and started looking for any reason to let that person go. Same deal here.

Anything is possible in this situation. I however do think NHRA would benefit with Tony Stewart winning the championship in TAD. At years end more people would know that Stewart won a championship than any pro racer.

Let’s look at the recent timeline with team McPhillips. In Pomona they exchanged pleasantries with the Ahten team on the starting line. One of the McPhillips teams gets in a fight in Norwalk with another TAD team. The Salinas family and the McPhillips family have a disagreement and break off their agreement following Brainerd. The team wins in Maple Grove and takes over the points lead. The team is disqualified in Charlotte. I think it’s fair to say that NHRA didn’t go looking for something on their own on Friday night. Somebody knew something and it leaked around the pits until someone let NHRA know about it. I know nothing and I’m not accusing anyone else involved. They know how to tune cars but also ruffle some feathers along the way. If something is fishy on the car and someone else knows about it, NHRA will find out.

 

[ironpony]

Not saying you are wrong but from a business standpoint, why would the NHRA "get back" at someone who has brought a lot of interest and publicity into the sport over the last couple years?

I don't think NHRA is seeking any kind of 'revenge' on Tony Stewart. They have marketed the crap out of him. The Gatornats will still be a sellout regardless of the PRO race in Bradenton.

Well they did go after Dixon pretty hard and he was a very popular driver.

 

[TSK]

About this unapproved part, is it something that gets checked by NHRA on a regular basis during a race weekend?
Or, is it something that NHRA doesn't look for unless they are tipped off?
If I read the story correctly, the mags were bought used.
Does that mean the previous owner modified the mags without telling anybody?
Also, the team's press release says the part is not required to be certified in Top Alcohol. If that's the case, why was Stewart thrown out?