For those who haven't heard, NASCAR's season-opening Daytona 500 race this weekend has been marred by controversy from the rookie Toyota camp. On Sunday, Michael Waltrip had his No. 55 Toyota confiscated by NASCAR officials after inspectors found an odorless, Vaseline-like substance in the car's engine. Later in the week, NASCAR handed down punishment to Michael Waltrip Racing, which included the ejection of team vice president of competition Bobby Kennedy and Crew Chief David Hyder from the garage at Daytona. Hyder was also fined $100,000, the largest fine ever handed down by NASCAR. Waltrip himself was penalized with a loss of 100 drivers points and his qualifying time from pole day on Feb. 11th was thrown out. Elizabeth Waltrip, Michael's wife and the official owner of his car, was also docked 100 owners points.
Thanks for the tip, John!
[Source: ESPN.com]
Michael Waltrip considered dropping out of the Daytona 500 amid the controversy, but urgings of support from his family, his manufacturer Toyota, his primary sponsor NADA, and even NASCAR president Mike Helton, changed his mind. Yesterday brought a brief highpoint for Waltrip, as he and the other two Toyota teams he owns all qualified successfully for the big race on Sunday.
Having won twice at Daytona in the past, it's almost silly to think that Waltrip would've needed any illegal assistance to do well, which was proven when he finished eighth in qualifying yesterday. And for those decrying Toyota's involvement in the most popular American motorsport, the controversy surrounding Michael Waltrip and his team provides no additional ammo, as the illegal activity appears to be the work of individuals within MWR, which is now performing an internal investigation to find out the Who and Why of it all. For his part, Waltrip has consistently presented himself to the press as genuinely devestated over the illegal activity carried out by members of his team. Say what you will about Toyota and its participation in NASCAR, but Waltrip is an icon in the sport and has many, many fans. Hopefully this week's event won't dominate his legacy completely, but we all know how difficult it is to shake off the effects of a scandal in motorsports.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Jim @ Feb 16th 2007 8:41AM
"odorless, Vaseline-like substance"
But does anyone have any idea what it was, or how it could have possibly benefited the engine?
pat @ Feb 16th 2007 8:42AM
if you were living under a rock you would have heard about this by now, congrats autoblog for being on top of things.
Anthem @ Feb 16th 2007 8:44AM
If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin' to win.
ToyotaNationMyAss @ Feb 16th 2007 8:46AM
To hell with Toyota, and to hell with MW.
Here they are trying to break into Nascar and they do it illegally. Their success (Toyota's)is more mysterious than Stallone's career.
Get the hell out of our country Toyota.
There are much better and certainly more attractive automotive options than what you bring here.
FU Toyota.
Paul @ Feb 16th 2007 8:46AM
He should have been ENCOURAGED to drop out of the Daytona 500, not talked into staying by the head of NASCAR.
We condone such blatent cheating in NASCAR, MLB, etc. then wonder why kids today grow up with no moral compass. Have a spine for chrissakes.
John P. @ Feb 16th 2007 8:50AM
If you aint first, your last.
- Ricky Bobby's Dad, Talledega Nights.
dinges @ Feb 16th 2007 8:54AM
michael waltrip is hardly an icon in nascar. his is a driver/owner who has gotten noticed by everyone because he can drop in a sponsor's name in every sentence. how many race's has he won? 3. when i hear "icon" in the sport of nascar, i think of "ned jarrett, dale earnhardt, benny parson, cale yarborough." yeah m. waltrip has won two daytona 500's. he has yet to win on a track that is not a superspeedway. i can understand trying to fudge the rules to gain an advantage. this substance supposedly was jet fuel! look at what happened in 2000 when jeremy mayfield's got caught altering fuel!
XJ @ Feb 16th 2007 8:54AM
Exactly this has been reported on every news station and paper.
John Neff, you need to keep digging to find more dirt on Toyota. You know you love to! Go Ford!
sp @ Feb 16th 2007 8:56AM
lol... what does it have to do with Toyota? Team owners run the cars, certainly Toyota does not... If you know anything about Nascar, you would know that...
felipe @ Feb 16th 2007 8:56AM
well i missed something 'cause this is the first time i ve seen this.
Knowing how much most of NASCAR Assoc. loths toyota and the idea of them racing, along with the feirce punishments thrown in every possible direction, it seems like the officials had it out for them?
would the penalties be as bad if it were on a dodge car? what are the chances someone was punchin the munchkin and wiped it on there to get them screwed? cant be an easier or happier way!
Hamud @ Feb 16th 2007 8:57AM
I don't believe Toyota has something to do with that. Repeating the question made by Jim, did they find out how the "vaseline-like substance" can benefit the engine?
pavel @ Feb 16th 2007 8:59AM
Well thanks to 4. for demonstrating the typical hick metality that characterizes nascar. Diz is our cuntreh, git out to-yo-dah!
Mark @ Feb 16th 2007 9:00AM
Word in Daytona this morning is that sabotage is suspected. It looks like this was an act performed specifically to harm MW and more importantly Toyota. Stay tuned.
akintz @ Feb 16th 2007 9:10AM
#4 needs to go back to his PBR and beating his wife I think. Christ. Grow up or something, please!
Toyota seems to have nothing to do with this... but ignorant people never care to know the real story.
Stephan Wilkinson @ Feb 16th 2007 9:12AM
"Jet fuel"??? I understand that jets are fast, but they burn, basically, kereosene. What's that going to do for a racecar?
rob @ Feb 16th 2007 9:12AM
wow, your headline is just a tad misleading there. just a tad though. you made it seem like it's all toyota's doing and that they were also fined.
this, coupled with the glowing review of the 2008 ford c-max (see post a bit back), has really started to make me think you guys love to kiss some domestic arse...example:
"The new C-MAX will be ditching its drab Focus flavored styling in favor of Ford's "kinetic design" philosophy, taking cues from the aforementioned Mondeo and S-MAX. The new front face draws heavily from the family tree, with sharper lines, creases and a more aerodynamic profile that seems to be missing with most MPVs, both here and abroad."
i mean, come on, even the old Mazda MPV looked better than this!
Brian Richardson @ Feb 16th 2007 9:17AM
I highly agree with #13. Nascar's garages are wide open, not individual boxes like Indy or F1. Anyone could have walked up with what appeared to be a "soda" bottle and got close enouse to tamper with the fuel. Any person of intelligence and not of ignorance can see this. And BTW Autoblog, this infraction happened last sunday, and the fine was announced about 6pm, Wednesday night. If you need a Nascar coorespondent to provide you with timely news updates, let me know.
Howard Kerr @ Feb 16th 2007 9:18AM
Just a couple of thoughts:
1.) AutoBlog, how disappointing. This story was on the network news BEFORE it broke here?
2.) Could this "vasoline-like substance" be another case of a Toyota engine developing a sludging problem?
3.) A NASCAR TEAM CHEATING....what is the world coming to?
4.) according to the ABC-TV news story I saw, Mr. Waltrip was urged to stay in the race by his young daughter. (Apparently no one else heard this very sappy story.)
J.Crew @ Feb 16th 2007 9:19AM
Welcome to the show Toyota! Not a good way to start out a new race series...kind of a black eye on the first big event of the year. Oh and that vaseline like substance must be the leaking engine sludge they keep trying to deny ever existed in their other cars! Who says the cars in NASCAR have no connection to the production vehicles on the road today?
j @ Feb 16th 2007 9:19AM
Look how successful he was in bringing Toyota and his sponsor to every media outlet there is and everyone talking about it so I have to think alot of it is intentional because he knows Nascar won't punish him that bad and all eyes are on him, even though he is far from a star (4 wins in 22 years, pretty pathetic) he accomplished something for Toyota also pretty pathetic.