In the wake of an issue involving recent penalties regarding the suspicion and allegation of tire soaking at the track in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions, Thompson Speedway management is set to announce an additional layer to their tire rules for all divisions.
Thompson Speedway general manager Terry Eames confirmed to RaceDayCT Friday that all competitors will be made aware of the new rule Friday, which will be added as a new subsection to the “Tires Section” of the Thompson Speedway rulebook for each division.
The new rule will read:
“Participants are responsible for competing on tires that satisfy all of the above rules. Tire samples may be taken at any time to be analyzed by an independent testing laboratory that has been approved by the respective tire manufacturer. The participant’s samples will be compared with control samples provided by the tire manufacturer. Any tire samples that are found to not match the factory control sample will be deemed illegal and the participant will be subject to the penalties outlined above.”
“This amendment tightens up the rule so that going forward it’s very clear as to the standards of tire testing,” Eames told RaceDayCT.
Before the addition of the new rule, the current rulebook stated in a subsection on the matter of treated tires:
“A participant competing in any race at Thompson Speedway specifically agrees that he/she acknowledges it is illegal to soak or treat racing tires and that said soaking or treatment of racing tires is against EPA regulations and further contains carcinogens and hazardous material which are unfit for his/her health and the health of all competitors and spectators. Any participant found violating the rule is subject to suspension.”
Following an event on Aug. 4 at Thompson Speedway tire samples from SK Modified division driver Todd Owen and SK Light Modified division driver Bryan Narducci were taken and laboratory tests done by Thompson Speedway found the samples to have been treated chemically.
Tires samples from the first place (Keith Rocco) and second place (Woody Pitkat) finishers in the SK Modified division feature from Aug. 4 were also taken and found to be untreated. Narducci’s tires were the only sample taken from the SK Light Modified feature on Aug. 4. Owen is the listed car owner for his SK Modified entry and Narducci’s SK Light Modified at Thompson.
After the findings Owen was disqualified from his third place finish in the Aug. 4 SK Modified feature and suspended for the next two events. Narducci was disqualified from a victory in the Aug. 4 SK Light Modified feature and suspended for the next two events. Soon after the announcement of the penalties it was announced that Owen and Narducci would appeal the findings. On Wednesday it was announced by Thompson Speedway that the penalties for both Owen and Narducci would be rescinded.
In announcing the overturning of the penalties Thompson Speedway management released a statement that read in part: “After the appeal, through Thompson Speedway’s determination, no evidence was found that the drivers intentionally treated the tires as prohibited in Thompson rules.”
Despite the decision to overturn the penalties, Eames stood behind the work of his tech staff and tech director Mark St. Hilaire.
“Mark St. Hilaire didn’t do anything wrong here,” Eames said. “Our tech staff did a great job with this. Unfortunately the rule didn’t support them.”
Good I’m glad it was overturned. Markie boy over in tech thinks he can make up new rules as the night goes on
Considering the grenade that went off in the last thread on the topic it sure would be nice if Stafford as the premier regional track would sign on to more rigorous testing involving sampling and lab testing.
Hmmmm. Seems that Stafford went through that several years ago with the 48 Late Model. Mr Eems makes it sound so simple. Guess what it’s not. First off there is only one lab that can handle it and there in Akeron Ohio. The suspect tire can not be handled by anyone not wearing cotton gloves. Must be cut up and a sample (new) tire must be handled in the same manner. Be cut up and sent along. The process took about 8 weeks which held up the purse, NASCAR weekly points and track points. Then there is the appeal process with NASCAR that can take another month or two. Yes the infraction held up but it was costly and time consuming. Several other teams were caught soaking from the inside. But it was handled in house and dealt with firmly and quickly. Whoever is going to handle this at Thompson better bone up and do their homework. Once you start digging around and talk to other organizations in the sport one will be amazed at what is out there, being used and being invented. Stafford impounded tires from an entire division because of one team. Every Friday night tires we’re taken at random from each division and tested during the week. A foolproof process for testing the tires was used and it worked. There’s a whole lot more to this story. Good luck Thompson.
Stafford the premier regional track? Says who, you? And what exactly qualifies you to make that determination?
Although I never believed that Todd was soaking tires, now the rule is Rock solid. Maybe they should have grabbed some other tires from Todd’s inventory, once a soker always a soaker.
So the way I interpret this is they were caught doctoring the tires and because of a technicality in the way the rule was written it got overturned.
The rule did not support the tech staff? More like management did not support the tech staff. Read the last paragraph in the story, it says it all.
So finally the truth comes out – Thompson speedway management and Tech did have the tires checked.
I think we all can agree on that….
The Owen owned cars did have tires that will not pass the new rule.
I think we all can agree on that…
The Owen owned cars have been using tires that will not pass the new tire rule at Stafford also. You wont see much change in the Owen cars finishes IMO. I’m sure most competitors have used the same treatment on their tires also.
Before all you people ruin these guys FIND out what Thompson means by they did not intentionally use chemicals on the tires!!!
Maybe Shawn can help.
So if they did not intentionally use chemicals on their tires, that means they found chemicals on their tires. Where did the chemicals come from? Who put them there? Why did the other tires that were confiscated and tested have no chemicals? What the heck does that mean? Sounds like pure unadulterated BS to me. The more they talk the deeper the hole they are digging themselves.
Lets just call it the THOMPSON SPEEDBOWL with Eames in charge.What a friggin cover up.Either you soaked them or not,very simple.They did ,they got caught,someone cries,and the games begin.Mark did his job,and management overturned it ,because someone knows someone.PLZ we are all not that stupid .
Even stuff like armor all will change the chemical reading on the tire. Back when I was still active, our car owner made it clear that absolutely nothing wet or dry was used on the tires, even to clean the wheels. We used a dry clean rag that’s all. Point being, this whole mess may have been caused by a crew member cleaning the brake dust off the wheels.
Enough excuses for what happened. The next time you get pulled over by a cop for violating the law just tell him you did not intentionally do it and let me know how that works out for ya!
Again look at what Todd did the night he got caught he EMPHATICALLY DENIED EVER SOAKING TIRES BUT THEN TURNED AROUND AND BLAMED THE TRACK FOR THE DRIFT CARS OR WHATEVER DIVISION WHO WAS THERE THAT DAY WELL IF IT WAS BECAUSE OF THE DRIFT OR WHATEVER CARS WHY DIDN’T EVERY CARS TIRES COME UP SOAKED??? YOU 2 WERE THE ONLY ONES AFFECTED REALLY TODD COME ON AND AGAIN PEOPLE DON’T LIKE THIS STATEMENT BUT WOULD NOT LOOK GOOD FOR MISS PEARL SALESPERSON FOR HOOSIER AND HER SON AND BOYFRIEND GET CAUGHT SOAKING TIRES AND SAYING WE BOUGHT THEM RIGHT OFF THE TRUCK FROM HOOSIER HER JOB ON THE LINE NO ONE WANTS THAT ON THEIR SHOULDERS SO LET’S RETRACT THE PENALTIES ONLY REASON OUT THERE….Again tracks making rules changes when and where they want depending on who’s involved..different situation happened at Stafford years ago top 4 SK lites caught with rev limiters not hooked up so track tells top 4 guys no penalties but their cars WILL BE CHECKED EVERY WEEK DURING PRACTICE, HEAT RACES AND BEFORE GOING OUT FOR FEATURE REALLY GOT CAUGHT CHEATING PLAIN AND SIMPLE BUT LET IT GO SAME THING HERE.