Troxel & Scelzi DQ from Norwalk

[Bullet]

How 'bout ..........adding weight after the run

That was my first thought.

 

[Jim]

Well - regardless of the reasons or excuses - I'm disappointed in Gary, Melanie and their teams.

(I'm a big fan of Melanie and, What's not to like about Gary?)

It's not about being a little light or a little heavy but the method employed (apparently) to game the system.

 

[PJ]

I do think nhra needs to invest in their own trailer with a scale. Ideally one that can be shielded from the wind.


Regardless of that however it had no bearing on what happened here. Loose ballast only leads to one conclussion regardless of their reasoning for it, it is against the rules.

I'm shocked that in all my years I've never heard of a pro team being busted for this before and now two get hit in one weekend. I have to wonder if there has been a crackdown on this or what.

 

[Pat]

Pro Stock has always been subject to searches at the scales to see if weight has been added after the run....and for good reason. The NHRA tech guys routinely would look through the car, helmet, firesuit and anything else looking for added weight. I've seen them make you take out a bottle of PowerAid out of the car. Did they ever find anything? Oh yeah! Loose weight pucks, bags of lead shot, a few pounds of tools wrapped in a rag and maybe a few full bottles of PowerAid.

At some national events (ie: Las Vegas) the scales are downhill from the end of the track, in those places you can't even go pickup your race car. The driver has to roll it downhill and unto the scale, then, once it's been cleared by the NHRA tech guy, you can hook up to it and pull it to fuel check.

I know one time a car broke a weight tab on the burnout and the tab and the weight puck came out onto the race track. When the driver saw what happened, he figured he might be light at the scale, so he took it upon himself to drink four bottles of PowerAid before going across the scale. Was the driver sick? Yes! Did the car make weight? Yes!. The car probably would have made weight without the drivers extra effort, but that's how close on weight these cars are run.

When a team knowingly adds weight after the run, that is just flat wrong! And in my opinion, the punishment fits the crime (CHEATING)!!

Pat

 

[house]

Thanks, Shoe, for your outstanding sense of ethics and sportsmanship. Maybe you should run for President. It would be so refreshing to have a politician say that a mess up was his/her responsibility rather than placing blame elsewhere.
Also, the one race DQ was harsh, but compared to NASCAR, where crew chiefs are suspended for weeks at a time, fines levied, and championship points taken away, it may not be too harsh.

 

[Old Sg]

Makes one want to think about lead lined "Fruit of the Loom's". How would they check that.

 

[jeff]

I am dissapointed that this happaned and I take full responsibility because the Scelzi team is my team. I was not aware that the team was putting 5 pounds of loose weight in the car after the run. There is no reason to do this since the car is 15 pounds over the minimum (sp). I accept that this is wrong.

You are the man Don, Kinda embarrassing for the whole team, But at least you guys are honest, And we all know it wasn't a performance advantage based on the way that car is running

 

[Dave]

I know it wasn't right to do what they did, I'm not defending them. But it does seem odd to me that Scelzi's and Mel's cars were the only ones found with the "loose ballast". This is not an attack against DSR, I like everybody on Don's Funny Car Teams. I hope this doesn't get anybody else in trouble, but why was Scelzi's the only DSR car with "loose ballast"? Why wasn't anything found on Capps', Toliver's, or Beckman's cars? Again, I'm not against DSR, it just seems odd to me. I believe I heard Mel say something about everybody's doing it because of the goofy scales. Why were these the only ones caught if everybody is doing it? Not trying to start anything, no black helecopters here, just seems strange to me.

Dave

 

[Rexfiles]

I know it wasn't right to do what they did, I'm not defending them. But it does seem odd to me that Scelzi's and Mel's cars were the only ones found with the "loose ballast". This is not an attack against DSR, I like everybody on Don's Funny Car Teams. I hope this doesn't get anybody else in trouble, but why was Scelzi's the only DSR car with "loose ballast"? Why wasn't anything found on Capps', Toliver's, or Beckman's cars? Again, I'm not against DSR, it just seems odd to me. I believe I heard Mel say something about everybody's doing it because of the goofy scales. Why were these the only ones caught if everybody is doing it? Not trying to start anything, no black helecopters here, just seems strange to me.

Dave

Mel is not on Shoe's Team.

I think this was just a individual decision from that particular team to do so, no conspiricy.



REX

 

[Bullard Anderson]

I do think nhra needs to invest in their own trailer with a scale. Ideally one that can be shielded from the wind.


Regardless of that however it had no bearing on what happened here. Loose ballast only leads to one conclussion regardless of their reasoning for it, it is against the rules.

I'm shocked that in all my years I've never heard of a pro team being busted for this before and now two get hit in one weekend. I have to wonder if there has been a crackdown on this or what.

PJ, I wouldn't deem it out of the realm of possibility that another team (maybe outside the Top 10 like Scelzi and Troxel) spotted this and felt the need to draw attention to it. There is a big difference between 10th and 11th 2 months down the road, eh! It will be interesting when the dust settles after INDY just how far Troxel and Scelzi miss/make the Top 10.