Throughout history, innovators have pushed the boundaries to the limit. Whether it was Martin Luther and his thesis that revolutionized the church, or the Wright Brothers who pushed the boundaries of gravity to attain flight, some of the great historical figures have attained their fame and brought about changes to our world. I suspect that the overturning of the Knaus penalty will bring about some more changes in our little world of racing.
From an outsider’s perspective, I was surprised some of the penalty was not overturned last week in the initial appeal. It sounded like Rick Hendrick and Chad Knaus had a solid case when they let it be known that the same car with the same C-posts had passed inspection 16 times previously. The fact that the templates were not used in handing out the penalties this go-around did not seem to help NASCAR’s case in my eyes, either. But that car passed inspection SIXTEEN times previously? Come on, man.
Nevertheless, I would think that NASCAR will be making some modifications to the rulebook to bring these areas of the car into their specifications through a template or some form of firm measurement. The fact that this area was not covered by a template before is what started this whole conundrum. Knaus could be the determining factor in some coming changes to the rules – and he should take pride in that.
There’s an old saying in NASCAR that if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying. I honestly do not think that Knaus is a cheat. I don’t think he is trying to cheat. There is no doubt that he is a brilliant crew chief – arguably one of, if not the best ever. I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt in that I believe he is trying to get every advantage he possibly can to win and pushing every envelope as far as he can get away with. I would think Jimmie Johnson fans would love to see that kind of determination. You can see it in every sit-down interview he’s ever done and his work ethic is legendary – the man wants to win. You cannot fault him for that.
There is a difference between blatant cheating and being innovative in a gray area. In another incident in 2005, NASCAR found Knaus’s carefully engineered shock absorbers so ingenious that they cited his brilliance before penalizing him and declaring the shock illegal. Once again, Knaus was in a gray area and got busted there.
Do I think we should let guys get away with stuff just because they are making brilliant strides to get any advantage they can in a world micro-managed to the 16th of an inch? Absolutely not. But in this case, the right decision was made and if it brings about changes in NASCAR rules and policies, so be it. Sounds like they were areas that needed to be addressed in the first place and weren’t. Maybe NASCAR should thank Knaus for pointing out their shortcomings.