—
Driver X is a veteran short track driver who has victories in multiple divisions and has been around racing since childhood. On a semi-regular basis, Driver X will bring an anonymous viewpoint from inside the paddock to RaceDayCT. The views and opinions expressed by Racer X are not necessarily the views and opinions of RaceDayCT staff.
—
So, I guess we’ll just dive straight into this one.
You know what I’m talking about when I say cheating. You’ve seen it. I’ve seen it. And I’ve actually been caught for it.
I won’t drop names this time since a lot of topics discussed are hearsay and while it’s probably true, I don’t want to report something that isn’t confirmed to be 100% factual.
Let me just also clear something up first before we continue. Yes, I have been caught cheating, but it was a very petty infraction (no, that’s not just my opinion). In this division, the infraction gives no performance gain at all and was completely unintentional on my part.
But I will admit that I screwed up and I will take the penalty. I know that’s what everyone says, but can you really make that claim honestly if you’ve got a drivetrain that’s entirely illegal? It’s happened and some people have been bold enough to make this claim.
Anyway, my point is that when you’re caught cheating, just take your punishment for what it is and come back the next week (if you’re allowed to). There is nothing to be gained by fighting with the tech official and arguing why you should be excused “just this one time”. That’s exactly what I did. I just wasn’t careful enough and really just forgot. I know what I did and I can’t deny it.
Just take the punishment and come back next week, plain and simple. Some people, however, really aren’t capable. There’s two problems I have with this.
First, why would you give the guy a hard time who is imposing a punishment against you? It is up to him to determine the punishment and at the end of the day if someone was giving me a hard time I’d surely change my mind and make you regret it. Also, it goes back to my point that I made a few weeks ago about driver conduct. You’ve already been caught cheating and I guarantee that you don’t want to be that guy who had a meltdown that was videotaped and ended up being posted online.
Secondly, why should you be pardoned just this once? If tech decides to look the other way, then the rule book isn’t being enforced and it’s not like no one doesn’t notice. I know that nothing makes me more mad than when someone just gets away with it and I’m the guy finishing second to the offender every week.
Some people view tech officials as pushovers and that is not what it should be. If you’ve been caught with a major violation (unsealed crate motor is a good example that has occurred and will occur again in the future for sure), then there is absolutely no reason that you should just be off the hook. I can understand a violation like mine where it was fairly petty and not a HUGE deal, but blatant cheating is something even I can’t tolerate.
There’s also some politics surrounding the subject. At some tracks, if enough people complain about that one guy that “pulls down the backstretch when we’re side by side”, then it’s more than likely that tech might consider putting that guy’s car under a microscope for an extra look just because people complained.
No track, no division, no program is immune to this. However, I believe that everyone will get caught eventually. Yeah, it might take years (it did for one guy I race against). But don’t try to be the hero and call up the tech guy every week to tell him about how your detective work is finally going to get this guy caught red handed because chances are tech already knows about it and has their eye on it so they don’t need another person in their ear about it.
All in all, just don’t do it. If you have to cheat to win races, you’re just plain stupid. Stupid not only because you got caught, but because it’s obvious you couldn’t figure out any other way to be fast or competitive in the first place.
How many times did the 13 sk team at Waterford get caught cheating and after numerous hissy fits quit?
I would like to hear Driver X’s thoughts on the parents at waterford who were caught cheating with their kids bando cars multiple times this past year. Not once or twice, but upwards of five or six this season. When does the race track step in and say to these parents enough is enough and start suspending them.
The fuel passed with my fuel tester.LMAO.
Nobody cheats, they’re just trying harder.
It’s like sitting down for a meal that includes a spicy chili. So many ways to make it and so many combinations that can result in an taste sensation. Then realizing the chef didn’t use any spices.
Cheating is bad and for under achievers that are stupid. Cheaters always get caught. If you get caught take it like an adult and accept your punishment and on it goes. All pretty sound advice to give a kid that is starting to race in the karts for the first time. But as far as insights to the inner sanctum of local racing pretty pedestrian stuff in my view.
Cheaters aren’t a one size fits all kind of thing and they aren’t necessarily evil, weak minded or morally corrupt. There is of course the blatant cheater that isn’t that bright and gets caught for something pretty obvious.That would be me putting in solid motor mounts when they were illegal and getting caught within 1 hour or unloading my car. But there are also really smart cheaters. Some that do it intentionally, with precision, guile and such deception they can never be caught. There are chassis cheaters and the Picasso’s of cheating the drive train cheaters. There’s the cheaters that have one specialty and the ones that turn their cheating on and off on a weekly basis depending on the circumstances. Other’s whose goal is not to cheat but they lean so hard on the bounds of the rules to get the biggest advantage and simply cross the line in the process.
My view, cheating is simply a part of racing and is neither good or bad. It’s a continuing game of chess between tech inspectors and competitors that can be black and white but most times is grey. With enforcement that involves simple adherence to basis guidelines and innocent misjudgments that can occur in the hustle and bustle of car preparation as much finding cheaters.
As far as this Driver X series goes it had such promise. Providing behind the scenes insights and anecdotes direct from a competitors own perspective. But it’s turning out to be a chili with no spice. The author can’t add any spice about actual events behind the scenes or stray from vague homilies about rivalries and cheaters because that would unmask his or her identity and tick off a lot of people in the small society of local racing as well.
The real barrier to revealing good inside stuff is the racing community. Whether your Shawn Courchesne, Ryan Fearn, Mike Serluca or Driver X is that the racing community is so small you can’t reveal any real details that reflect negatively on anyone for fear of being cast out as a leper. Both in the pits and in social media. That’s why comments are so important. If you can weed through all the crap it’s the one place a person who is in the right place at the right time can reveal what really happened.
I like to call it operating in the grey area. Anyone worth a plug nickle does it.