Jay Staton - SCR

In Defense of Joe Gibbs “Guilty” Crewmen

August 28, 2008

Jay Staton - SCR

A week has passed since NASCAR handed down some of the most severe penalties in history for “Magnetgate” involving cheating in the Nationwide Series and finally most of the cries of “It wasn’t enough!” have died down, replaced by yet another controversy involving Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.

The irony of the two spectacles cannot be avoided.

Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has made it a practice of employing some of the most volatile drivers in the sport and while Kyle Busch has been working hard to become the driver everyone loves to hate, he still has some distance to go before catching Tony Stewart in the controversy department.

Thus far, Kyle has only upset virtually every driver in NASCAR’s three biggest series; he has left the media and spectators alone.

Do not misunderstand, the talent of Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin cannot be denied—and I not only respect that talent, but “like” each of them as personalities as well (and certainly Bobby Labonte and Joey Logano also, but for the most part they have not been involved in controversy, and therefore are not part of this discussion).

But what has been striking is that the Gibbs operation, while remaining somewhat above the various pushing and shoving on and off the track, has consistently taken the position of trying to calm their upset drivers and explaining the problems away (paraphrasing) as “Oh, you know those high strung athletes, that is just how they are.”

This attitude has seemingly been fostered by Joe Gibbs himself, and is somewhat understandable due to his years of dealing with the players in that other “stick and ball” sport that he dabbled in from time-to-time.

Meanwhile, we have Nationwide crew chiefs and crew members that have been caught, more or less red handed, cheating by placing a magnet under the gas pedal to limit the horsepower displayed to NASCAR.

Perhaps it would be beneficial to walk a mile in their moccasins before making final and condemning judgment.

Along the way I have had the good fortune to drive a little bit and to work on racecars, and I can tell you I will pick driving every time. The NASCAR garage area is made up of drivers, good drivers, that moved to Charlotte but just never had the breaks and had to settle (and that would be the correct word) to work as a crew member at the shop and/or at the track.

A little insight into their lives: They do not have one. The drivers and crews of the local hobby stock that you see on a Saturday night spend every minute and every dime on the race car. No vacations, no nice home, no new car, and everyone in the family sacrifices to make it happen.

The people at the Nationwide level have given that and much, much, more. Long hours are the norm, not the exception, and even when not directly working on the car, it never leaves their thoughts.

Fair enough, their choice.

Now factor in that Toyota (and I am certainly no public relations type for Toyota) submitted an engine to NASCAR, it was approved, and after struggling throughout 2007, the Toyota power plant finally started to show promise, and then superiority. Jack Roush has discussed the technical reasons why it is ahead of the Ford.

My response would be: If you cannot run with the (legal) big dogs, leave it on the trailer. Come back when you can. There was a time when the Ford cylinder head was tops in the series, and the other teams simply had to improve their motor package to run with them.

But now, in the name of total and unequivocal name of parity, the Toyota’s have been forced to run a (gasp, shudder) restrictor plate, effectively throwing out all of the endless hours of hard work and sacrifice.

If YOU were on that crew and they were about to dyno the car, do you think that you might have wondered if the plate was going to get smaller the next week? Do you think that the magnet might have sounded like a good idea at the time?

That admittedly bad decision has cost these crew members an “indefinite” suspension, and they have been publicly lambasted by J.D. Gibbs. Effectively, their careers are over.

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Is it “fair” that the drivers are coddled and the crewmen ruined? Clearly, it is not.

So where does that leave us? Is Gibbs to blame? NASCAR? Toyota?

Really, a better course of action is rather than look for a scapegoat (yes, this week it is Kyle), to remember our own shortcomings. Who hasn’t cheated in high school, or stolen the occasional magic marker or hamburger on the job?

When I see Kyle’s antics, or the mistake of the crewmen, I try to remember that although those were not MY mistakes, they are remarkably similar to those I have made along the way.

Joe Gibbs racing is known to be grounded in it’s spiritual beliefs, and Forgiveness is at the heart of that belief. Let us hope it is in their hearts, and in ours, to forgive not only those admittedly guilty crewmembers, but ourselves, as we are, thankfully, Forgiven by the ultimate sanctioning body.

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