THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 29, 1995 TAG: 9504290486
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
The largest fine in NASCAR history - $50,000 - now belongs to Ricky Rudd and his team, who have been having the proverbial bad week.
Rudd and crew chief Bill Ingle, who was fined $250 after Sunday's race at Martinsville for punching Ted Musgrave, were hit Friday with a total of $50,000 in fines after an inspector found an unauthorized hydraulic device on his car that was designed to lower the back end of the car.
Rudd and Ingle said they believe NASCAR was tipped off about the device. And they said it was inoperable. They said it was something they'd tried in testing here last November without success. The device was designed to lower the car to improve aerodynamics and make it faster.
``I think the fine is so ridiculous it isn't funny,'' Ingle said. ``And I think the whole thing stems from last week. Sure, it was a rules infraction and, sure, something should have been done about it. We should have been made to take it out of the car.''
But NASCAR didn't see it that way. They fined Rudd $25,000 as a car owner and $20,000 as a driver. And they fined Ingle $5,000 and put him on probation for the rest of the year.
Kevin Triplett, a spokesman for NASCAR, said the illegal device was controlled by the clutch pedal, which had a hydraulic line splitting off to the rear of the car, on top of the springs. He said there was a set screw to assure that the car remained at the proper ride height through inspection and could be freed as it went onto the track.
At speed, the rear of the car would drop down, making it more aerodynamic in the corners. The driver could then pump the car back up to the correct height using the clutch pedal as he came off the track.
Junior Johnson was given the previous largest fine - $40,000 - after inspectors found an altered engine manifold in his car at Daytona.
Mike Helton, NASCAR vice president of competition, said when Winston Cup Director Gary Nelson ``pushed the clutch in, it moved. And it was on the car. It had to be cut out of the car.''
Helton shook his head when asked if NASCAR had been tipped off.
``One of our officials doing inspection discovered it,'' he said. It was found Friday morning during a pre-qualifying inspection before Rudd arrived at the garage.
``Sure it moved, but it wouldn't stay,'' Ingle said. ``It went right back to where it was. What was Ricky going to do, drive all day with the clutch pushed in?''
Rudd didn't even know it was in the car, either last November or Friday, according to both Rudd and Ingle.
Rudd said when he tested the car with the device, it bottomed out and scraped the track.
Said Ingle, ``Ricky said, `I don't know what you've done with this, but it sure isn't good. What did you do?' ''
``I said, `You don't want to know,' '' Ingle said.
Rudd said the device on Friday was ``secured in a way that it couldn't be released, but Gary Nelson's argument was it could have been made operable with about an hour's worth of work.''
Last November, after the device didn't work, ``I told the guys, `I don't like it. Put it back the way it was,' '' Rudd said. ``Boom. That was the end of it. Well . . . their idea was to fix it where it couldn't be used.''
Rudd said he doubted he would appeal. ``(NASCAR President) Bill France was in the meeting, so it's probably a waste of time to appeal it,'' he said. ``It was there in the car. There ain't a whole lot to argue about.''
As for the fine, Rudd said: ``It's 50,000 real dollars. It's got to come from somewhere.''
Ingle, meanwhile, was upset about the aftermath of last week's incident at Martinsville with Musgrave, whom he punched after the race was over because Musgrave spun Rudd out.
``If he wants a rematch, we'll get (Charlotte Motor Speedway President H.A.) Humpy (Wheeler) to put that into his little pre-qualifying show, and I'll give the man a rematch,'' Ingle said. ``No problem.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Ricky Rudd
by CNB