­With the Second Coming of the automobile came the desire to drive fast . One place this was exemplified was in the southerly Appalachians during the wild years of the Prohibition . shoot up and down dark mountain passes with trunks full of moonshine , bootlegger souped up their car so they could outrun the law of nature . It seems only natural that tales of gamy - speed chase would encourage bootleggers to examine their spunk against fellow moonshine runners in weekend backwash .

From fabled origins like these camestock cars– based on general car design but modified for amphetamine – and they grew in popularity with races take shape up across the country . In 1948 , Bill Francis Sr . foundedNASCAR(National Association for Stock Car Racing ) as a sanctioning body to unify the budding sport and furnish a stage set of coalesce rules .

­There were few of those rule in the early days though , and in the liveliness of their bootlegging predecessors , NASCAR contender quickly began to look for way to crusade the envelope . After all , if you ai n’t first , you ’re last , and in a field of fast machine and dare driver , NASCAR team were always look for an edge up on the competition – and still d­o to this day . While in some cases this means conspicuous cheat , in others the line of reasoning is a bit more blurred .

A little bemused ? Let ’s take a closer facial expression at an infamous example . Henry " Smok­ey " Yunick was a mechanical mastermind who had a knack for innovation . At one race , inspectors jerk the gas armored combat vehicle out of his racecar for a close-fitting feeling – but that did n’t slow up down Smokey , who keep to drive the car back to his garage from the caterpillar tread . The trick was a hefty 11 - foot - long ( around 3.4 meter ) fuel line that could hold a whole 6 gallons ( almost 23 liters ) of gas [ source : Yunick ] . Not breaking any rule with that , correct ? Well after Smokey pulled that special stunt , NASCAR was quick to add a few lines to the old rulebook . In fact , Smokey approximate that by 1970 , more than one-half of NASCAR ’s rule were devoted directly to the movement of his mechanical intrigue – harmonise to him , a line well done ! [ source : McGee ] .

­On the next page , we ’ll take a closer look at some of the villainous and not - so - villainous way of winning NASCAR race , and whether it ’s as well-fixed to get away with them as it was back in the day .

The Gray Area

­NASCAR used to be a wad less tight when it come to inspect machine , as well as regulating and banning certain railway car factor . In the old day , sample to figure out ways to get more speeding out of a railcar was the name of the plot . Mechanics were always experimenting and innovating . If the slim rulebook did n’t expressly forbid , then anything they could stargaze up was fair game . Of course , one linguistic rule could always still get in their mode – old 12 - 4 - A which let in " Actions detrimental to stock railway car racing " – a catchall that was often pulled in a pinch . Whether you prefer to mark a particular action cheating or being originative is a call we ’ll pull up stakes up to you , but let ’s start out by taking a closer look at some of those examples from the former years of stock car racing .

­Cars have to weigh in at a sure minimum system of weights in club to race – too sluttish , and they can give an unfair vantage to that driver . Once , Smokey Yunick reportedly used wet Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin to hit the necessary inspection weight . When the sand had dried the next morning , it was wanton to pour out and lighten the payload . Another time , he asked to borrow one of NASCAR ’s templates ( apparatus used to measure racecars ' size and frame ) , but alternatively of checking to see if his fomite was correct , he alter the guide and scaled it down . regrettably for him , another number one wood unexpectedly showed up with a car of the same make and model and Smokey was busted [ source : Caraviello].­

Some of the other architectural plan squad cook up back then included lightweight aluminium material body and fiberglass cowling , engines injected with nitrous oxide for a minuscule special peppiness , tires loaded with weights that promote the railroad car up to the minimal requirement but could then be swapped out for lighter pair at the first pit stop – you name it , they tried it .

­But the story does n’t end here , go to the next page for exemplar of more modern occurrent that some recording label cheat , others inventiveness .

Black and White

­With the advent of the cookie - cutter Car of Tomorrow – now the want airstream car model for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – and a whole slew of newfangled building specifications and rules to go with it , crew chief are discover themselves pretty limited when they ’re looking for ways to enhance their railroad car . And often when they do wield to line up a loophole , NASCAR official are quick to cry wander , whereas many of the competitors retrieve the word is too harsh for the workplace they do . After all , the goal is to acquire the subspecies – if flame up out the buffer is n’t specifically prohibited in the rulebook and it gives them a slight f number increase , why should n’t they make the modification ? alas for them , NASCAR does n’t see it that way .

likewise , NASCAR has been dish out some serious penalty to team who endeavor to pull the wool over their eyes , and in some cases teams are even penalized when a railway car is altered in the course of the race in a style that causes it to fail the post - race inspection . And we ’re not talking chump change here ; fines have crept up past the $ 100,000 mark and reprieve have stretched to over a month . But that ’s not even the bad of it [ source : Blount ] . Teams are also being docked points – gobs of points . Recently , two teams each lost 150 , which is equal to the points awarded for a sixth - place close and can cause a team to tumble down in the rankings [ reservoir : NASCAR ] .

The bottom line ? Stiffer penalisation do n’t of necessity intend it ’s harder to betray ; it ’s just grueling to dispense with getting caught . But with the growth in rules it ’s much well-heeled to get caught . On one hand , some people say try every fast one in the record book is still going to find , certain aspects of it might become more toned down to lessen the likelihood of a crackdown . On the other hand , while some teams are originate to rethink the exercise of turn the rules , others have no indisposition in keep with tradition , even when it comes to flat - out cheating . For case , some illegally fabricate the alloy of their car to make them clean , others rig the fuel tank to appear full so they can go faster during modification – whatever it takes .

­So the question of whether it ’s well-fixed to chouse at NASCAR really depends on a turn of factors . Namely , what precisely is the consequence , how paying attention is the examiner and how blazing is the violation ? And do n’t forget , much of the government issue involve what an somebody considers cheating . Some object lesson of cheat are pretty obvious while others are more subtle or inadvertent . On the next Thomas Nelson Page , you ’ll find more slap-up NASCAR links – along with some that might matter to any non - NASCAR fans as well .

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