The Strange Case of 'Petty Larceny'
9/17/2007The hot issue of "team orders" has reared-up again in recent weeks. Sorry, but this has provided me with a good laugh, one as long as the list of sell outs at Bristol and as loud as the fans who gather there on a Saturday night each August.
"Team orders" means an owner pre-determines how teammates will race each other. This two-word term seems to get some people as fired-up as "The Chase," "No. 8" and "Robin Miller."
Friends, let me tell you, team orders have been around longer than bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. If it's new to you, well, welcome to Big Time Auto Racing.
So, McLaren deciding on Fernando Alonso vs. Lewis Hamilton, or what goes on within Andretti Green, or how certain drag teams manage head-to-head match-ups creates no ripple in my pond. Others, though, act as if a tidal wave has hit. Before the U.S. Nationals, for example, NHRA competition boss Graham Light e-mailed a warning that the sanction does not "condone or approve" and "such actions will be met with significant penalties that may include, but not limited to, point deductions, fines, disqualification and suspension." Brian Barnhart said pretty much the same to IndyCar competitors. You betcha. Barnhart lost so much respect in the garage area this season, I'd say drivers paid more attention to the lyrics of "I am Indy."
There's more than one way to play the game. The best I ever saw happened Sunday, Sept. 14, 1975, at Dover.
Back in the day, we called it the Winston Cup series, and Richard Petty won the Delaware 500. The circumstances surrounding his trip to victory lane were, shall we say, interesting.
Petty's Dodge was easily holding a one-lap edge on the field with about 150 miles to go when Elmo Langley's Ford blew in turn three. "The crank, rods, pistons, you name it, came flying out," the King explained. "I ran over it and it knocked a big hole, about like a good-sized cantaloupe, in the floorboard." While his crew repaired a broken steering arm, Lennie Pond, Cale Yarborough, Dick Brooks and Benny Parsons performed up front for the crowd of 28,000. Petty got back on-track six laps down.
Pond retired. Yarborough slowed with engine problems. Richard was a rocket, with still the best car by far, and cautions and pit sequencing helped him make-up laps. With 22 to go, though, he still was 20 seconds behind Brooks and Parsons.
Just then, Buddy Arrington gently spun into the turn-four infield, and appeared to wait for a yellow. When that flag didn't wave, he drove through the pits, back onto the speedway, and stopped next to the third-turn wall. THAT brought out the yellow and allowed Petty to erase the gap. When the green reappeared, he quickly zapped Brooks and Parsons, and took what was his 174th Cup win by two seconds.
"I don't think I would have ever caught up if it hadn't been for that last yellow," admitted Petty, who collected $14,725.
Upon further review, it was revealed Arrington had recently purchased one of Petty's old transporters. Was this a case of Petty larceny? No one dared point a finger directly at the King. But . . .
"Maybe he (Buddy) was scared and just pulled off the track," runner-up Brooks said facetiously. "Or maybe he needed his truck paid for."
Parsons, third that day but that year's Daytona 500 winner, offered this: "I can't say there was teamwork or collusion, but I think we were robbed. We didn't deserve to win but we should have been given a fair chance to win."
A steaming Brooks thought about it some more and then told reporters: "I'd be glad to take his (Arrington's) car out right now and run faster than he did all day. If I didn't, I'd give him my prize money ($9,900)."
Bill France Jr. and officials Bill Gazaway and Lin Kuchler took a look at Arrington's car and found no signs of the handling difficulties Buddy had used as his excuse.
Later, I related the facts of this story to an old-time driver. He laughed a knowing laugh and told me: "I used to get paid more for spinning than for racing."
[ Next column: October 1 ]
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(I.N. Sider is the pen name for an independent motorsports business-person who has a quarter-century of professional experience working in almost every major North American racing series. The writer is not an employee of Valvoline or Ashland Inc. The column is intended to inform, entertain, and stimulate thought on the contemporary motorsports scene. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of Valvoline or Ashland Inc.)
BackAbout I.N. Sider
I.N. Sider is the pen name for an independent motorsports business-person who has a quarter-century of professional experience working in almost every major North American racing series. The writer is not an employee of Valvoline or Ashland Inc. The column is intended to inform, entertain, and stimulate thought on the contemporary motorsports scene. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of Valvoline or Ashland Inc.