Redman
Nitro Member
I have had a few people ask me if Gary Scelzi (Oakley car) was caught cheating this past weekend. As you can imagine, I was dumbfounded. But I did not see the broadcast on tv.
I am not exactly sure what was presented by the NHRA on ESPN, but if it in any way mislead people into thinking that the Oakley team, or any DSR team, was cheating because of the nitro barrel issue... I would consider this an egregious error.
It is Don's contention that the 4 barrels were approved by the NHRA as legal, and they were certainly never used at the race. They were upstairs in one of the trailers.
It is a very dangerous game that is played when accusations or inferences are made about the ethics of a team in this sport. I have never known Don to break, nudge up against, or even flirt with a potential rule infraction. He would never put his sponsor's reputation at risk.
I think the NHRA has a duty to clear up any misconception created by the sensational headlines presented this past weekend. Even the sound-bites send a different message than the story. Don Schumacher Racing fined $100,000 for fuel violation. Sounds like the DSR cars raced with illegal mixtures of nitro? A fine that big must mean that they were cheating?
The fact is that the NHRA acknowledges that it does not believe DSR used any fuel from these barrels during qualifying or racing at Las Vegas seems to be missing from the headline. Headlines are all many people read.
I do not like hearing someone question the race ethics of Oakley. We have competed fairly for all 9 years we have sponsored Funny Cars in the NHRA. And that includes up to, and through this weekend. For every person that says something to me about this, I can only wonder how many are thinking it. Damage like this is hard to repair.
Jim
I am not exactly sure what was presented by the NHRA on ESPN, but if it in any way mislead people into thinking that the Oakley team, or any DSR team, was cheating because of the nitro barrel issue... I would consider this an egregious error.
It is Don's contention that the 4 barrels were approved by the NHRA as legal, and they were certainly never used at the race. They were upstairs in one of the trailers.
It is a very dangerous game that is played when accusations or inferences are made about the ethics of a team in this sport. I have never known Don to break, nudge up against, or even flirt with a potential rule infraction. He would never put his sponsor's reputation at risk.
I think the NHRA has a duty to clear up any misconception created by the sensational headlines presented this past weekend. Even the sound-bites send a different message than the story. Don Schumacher Racing fined $100,000 for fuel violation. Sounds like the DSR cars raced with illegal mixtures of nitro? A fine that big must mean that they were cheating?
The fact is that the NHRA acknowledges that it does not believe DSR used any fuel from these barrels during qualifying or racing at Las Vegas seems to be missing from the headline. Headlines are all many people read.
I do not like hearing someone question the race ethics of Oakley. We have competed fairly for all 9 years we have sponsored Funny Cars in the NHRA. And that includes up to, and through this weekend. For every person that says something to me about this, I can only wonder how many are thinking it. Damage like this is hard to repair.
Jim
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