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Cheating: An Inside Look At The Bad Things Good Nascar Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit Of Speed
In the first edition of Cheating, author and investigative reporter Tom Jensen took readers inside the garage area, for the first no-holds-barred look at the most explosive subject in NASCAR stock racing. He named names, documented examples, and exposed long-hidden secrets. NASCAR top drivers, crew chiefs, team owners and officials all spoke frankly many for the first time on racing's most taboo subject.
In this newly expanded edition, updated to include the 2002-2004 Cup season, Jensen reveals the inside stories on traction control, aerodynamic tricks and rules controversies. And this time, you will go where no other outsiders have been before: an exclusive visit behind the locked doors of the confiscated-parts room at NASCAR's $10 million R&D Center in Concord, N.C., a place like no other journalist had ever entered before.
- GenresSportsNonfiction
290 pages, Paperback
First published September 27, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 31, 2021
No matter the sport, competitors are always looking for that extra edge that may make the difference between winning and losing. During the entire history of NASCAR, that has been taken at times to the extremes. Whether it is the driver, the crew chief, the team owner or the mechanics themselves, there have been some legendary bending or outright breaking of the rules. These have been put together in this very entertaining and informative book by Tom Jensen.
The aspect of cheating, or at least trying to determine how much one can get away with before being caught by NASCAR inspectors, has been around as long as the sport itself. In fact, Jensen writes about the very first race in NASCAR’s premier series. It took place in 1949 in the newly created “Strictly Stock” division (which is today’s Cup Series) and how the winner, Glenn Dunnaway, was disqualified for having illegal “bootlegger springs”. These were simply springs that distributed the weight of the car better on turns, something bootleggers used in the days of Prohibition. It fits nicely with the early history of NASCAR and its connection to bootlegging. Readers will get a fascinating look at how bending and/or breaking the rules were a rich part of the early history of the sport and will learn a lot about that era.
However, cheating and the stories of the attempts of doing so are not limited to just the genesis of NASCAR. Each decade up to the 2001 Daytona 500 is covered in the book, each with its own interesting history of what was done, how some drivers and crews were caught, and how NASCAR officials are trying to keep one step ahead of the mechanics and crews of the cars who are always looking for that edge. There are many aspects of the cars that can be tweaked to do this, but Jensen concentrates on three main areas that are always under scrutiny: weight, aerodynamics and tires.
Everything from the simple (simply switching left side tires to the right), the obvious (some spoilers are very clearly illegal), the “ignorant” (bumpers or car parts that oops, fell off on the track to make the car lighter) to the repeats (for example, there are many stories about making fuel tanks lighter by using lighter metals) is covered in the book. While it has been nearly 20 years since the book was first produced, it is still an excellent read for all race fans. If one wants to read about one of the more colorful sides of the sport, and there are plenty, this is a book to add to one’s collection.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
The aspect of cheating, or at least trying to determine how much one can get away with before being caught by NASCAR inspectors, has been around as long as the sport itself. In fact, Jensen writes about the very first race in NASCAR’s premier series. It took place in 1949 in the newly created “Strictly Stock” division (which is today’s Cup Series) and how the winner, Glenn Dunnaway, was disqualified for having illegal “bootlegger springs”. These were simply springs that distributed the weight of the car better on turns, something bootleggers used in the days of Prohibition. It fits nicely with the early history of NASCAR and its connection to bootlegging. Readers will get a fascinating look at how bending and/or breaking the rules were a rich part of the early history of the sport and will learn a lot about that era.
However, cheating and the stories of the attempts of doing so are not limited to just the genesis of NASCAR. Each decade up to the 2001 Daytona 500 is covered in the book, each with its own interesting history of what was done, how some drivers and crews were caught, and how NASCAR officials are trying to keep one step ahead of the mechanics and crews of the cars who are always looking for that edge. There are many aspects of the cars that can be tweaked to do this, but Jensen concentrates on three main areas that are always under scrutiny: weight, aerodynamics and tires.
Everything from the simple (simply switching left side tires to the right), the obvious (some spoilers are very clearly illegal), the “ignorant” (bumpers or car parts that oops, fell off on the track to make the car lighter) to the repeats (for example, there are many stories about making fuel tanks lighter by using lighter metals) is covered in the book. While it has been nearly 20 years since the book was first produced, it is still an excellent read for all race fans. If one wants to read about one of the more colorful sides of the sport, and there are plenty, this is a book to add to one’s collection.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
June 8, 2022
Interesting but messy
There is some interesting stuff in this book, but the formatting of the Kindle version is incredibly distracting. It appears the author sent it out for editing and published the copy with the editor's notes. I'm sure it was unintentional, but it should have been fixed.
There is some interesting stuff in this book, but the formatting of the Kindle version is incredibly distracting. It appears the author sent it out for editing and published the copy with the editor's notes. I'm sure it was unintentional, but it should have been fixed.
September 20, 2009
Some tricks I had already read about, some concepts were new
Read
March 15, 2016paperback 6x9
August 13, 2014
awesome book
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews