One of Mark Donahue’s Penske Racing Sunoco Trans Am
Chevrolet Camaro’s on display at the IMS Hall of Fame museum. (The Tomaso
Collection)
As Roger says the team will take it’s punches. But
shouldn’t that really be chances?
Naturally, I was surprised to discover the news
about Team Penske’s latest “Unfair Advantage”. Upon
learning of Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin’s Disqualifications from St
Pete. As I cannot remember the last time an IndyCar race win was taken away
from an IndyCar driver, if ever? Which is exactly what happened to Newgarden
regarding His season opening St Pete victory this March.
Surely Y’all have heard Penske President Tim
cindric’s response about software “accidentally” not being removed from the
engine’s ECU followingprevious Hybrid testing…
For which if you’re a Hard Core
IndyCarAfficionado like Mwah, you’ll know that Penske is well renown for it’s
frequent Cheating under the phrase “Unfair Advantage”, which the team was
legendous’ for doing during the 1960’s Trans Am competition! And presumably
other racing series…
Thus upon reading this startling revelation, I
immediately thought of when Team Penske got caught for having “lightweight”
rear wing pylons, which were discovered after rear wing failures As I thought
it was Milwaukee? Which Helio Castroneves crashed out from a rear win failure
while leading the 2007 Milwaukee race. And Penske teammate Sam Hornish Jr. retired
from second place with a “flapping” rear wing.
But then the more I think about it, I think perhaps
it was at Texas? Although I can no longer remember where this happened. But I
do recall the team being found to be using unapproved lightweight rear wing
pylons…
While I did discover that Castroneves was fined
$35,000 and docked 15-points following Post-race Tech after the 2013 Texas
IndyCar race He’d won, but that was for having the rear underwing “Diffuser”
not “set” correctly. And Castroneves and Team Penske kept their victory…
Whilst Thars’ countless examples of Team Penske
being caught Cheating in NASCAR. With one of the most recent examples being
Joey “sliced Bread” Lagano wearing an “Amphibious” webbed glove to win this
year’s Pole at the Daytona 500. Using the glove as an aerodynamic device to aid
in extra “Downforce”, before Lagano was subsequently penalized at Atlanta.
Losing His runner-up finish and being fined $10,000. With el Capitano’, nee
Roger Penske being outraged over this “Egregious” behaviour…
The interesting part about Penske’s Push-to-Pass
“P2P” infraction is that it was only discovered during Long Beach’s Sunday
morning Warm-up session due to a technical glitch with the overall system during
the sessions first ten minutes. When only Team Penske drivers had use of the inactivated
P2P! When the entire grid should have not been able to utilize the system due
to the technical difficulty preventing it’s usage.
According to Racer’s Marshall Pruett, naturally
the story runs far deeper. With several anonymous sources saying that the
software “excuse” doesn’t wash! And the team found a way to get around the ECU,
(Engine Control Unit) the engine’s “Brain” preventing unwarranted P2P usage thru
the CLU. (Central Logger Unit) The main Data “collecting” system that Chevrolet
was quick to distance itself from! Claiming the CLU is each team’s
responsibility…
Pruett also notes that one rival team sent
IndyCar video clips of Penske drivers using P2P way too much during races last
year, implying this “Tom-Foolery” was potentially going on for several months,
before Penske self incriminated themselves at Long Beach when they shouldn’t
have been able to use P2P during the Sunday warm-up’s first ten minutes…
As Y’all may wish to read Racer’s Marshall
Pruett’s excellent article titled How Team Penske took Push-to-Pass beyond the
Limit.
As All three Team Penske cars were able to
manipulate the P2P, but only Newgarden and McLaughlin used it illegally at St
Pete, with Will Power not doing so, and thus only being docked 10 points. With
All three entries being fined $25,000 and forfeiting All prize money.
As Newgarden drops to 11th in the championship
from leading, and McLauglin drops to a lowly P27, ergo last place!
Yes, All teams Cheat, or try to get away with
as much as possible without getting caught, which is just part of racing. As
case-in-point is Meyer shank Racing’s tyre inflation debacle at the 2023 Rolex
24. Or when Justin Wilson won at Texas Motor speedway for Dale coyne Racing
with an unapproved part on it’s chassis…
But it’s the amount of cheating that Penske’s
been caught for over the years, not to mention other major racing teams that
makes it All the more intolerable! Especially when you’re the series owner…
As how many times over the years has Roger
Penske said it’s Humiliating and adoesn’t meet His exacting standards? Or is it
simply one reason that Team Penske’s one of the sport’s most successful teams
ever? You make the Call.
But Inquiring Minds want to Know will Josef Newgarden refuse to give the St Pete winners trophy to Pato O’Ward or not?
