NASCAR: Roush Racing Claims Team Stole Their Parts

[Raider1one]

from espn.com

Jack Roush said on Friday that a Toyota team stole a sway bar made specifically for Roush Fenway Racing from one of his Sprint Cup teams last season at Dover.

"A theft did occur," the co-owner of Roush Fenway said during practice at Martinsville Speedway. "The part was recovered … We are still considering what if any legal action to seek."

One of Roush's options is asking for a restraining order to guarantee the team in question does not duplicate the bar, which has been determined legal by NASCAR, for a competitive advantage.

"It's lawyer time," Roush said.

Roush made his first comments since he was quoted in ESPN The Magazine as saying a proprietary part was found missing from his inventory and discovered with a Toyota team.

He discounted comments made by Jim Aust, the president of Toyota Racing Development, that a valve spring was found during a teardown inspection, identified as belonging to Roush and returned.

Roush said the theft occurred in the garage area at Dover in September, where the only Toyota teams in the field belonged to Michael Waltrip Racing and Team Red Bull.

Lee White, the general manager of TRD, said his organization launched a full investigation into the allegation when Roush's allegations were published in ESPN The Magazine.

He said a valve spring that did not belong to Toyota ended up at TRD's California location after the California race, that it was reported to NASCAR and returned.

"Relative to the sway bar issue that Jack Roush referenced, from our perspective this is an issue that appears to be between two race teams and does not involve a manufacturer," White said.

Roush said about 12 sway bars were built for each of his five teams. They were designed specifically for NASCAR's new car. They were bigger than the old bars and unable to fit in the toolbox storage bin.



He said the bar in question was placed under a Roush Fenway toolbox that was backed up against the toolbox of another team.
"The other team, a nondescript Toyota team, went behind the toolbox and took my bar and put it with their bars and took it home," Roush said. "That is a fact."

Roush said he became aware of the theft in early January when the vendor that produced the product for Roush Fenway was contacted by the Toyota team in question about duplicating the bar.

He said his manager then checked inventory and verified that a bar thought to have been misplaced was missing.

Subsequently, Roush said a mechanic hired from the Toyota team verified that he'd seen the bar in a locker at his former shop. Through several inquiries he said it was determined the bar still was there.

"When I found out I wanted to go supersonic," Roush said.

While considering whether to get a search warrant and find the bar Roush said one of his managers called the Toyota team and received confirmation that "somebody had stolen the bar."

He said the manager of the Toyota team then found the bar and returned it at an arranged 6 a.m. meeting. Serial numbers confirmed it was the missing piece.

Roush was considering whether to go public with the information when Carl Edwards' team was fined 100 points and his crew chief was suspended for six races after NASCAR discovered the oil can lid in Edwards' car was off during his win at Las Vegas.

He became infuriated when White suggested in a USA Today article that the violation was intentional.

Admittedly angry over what Roush considered a personal attack, he launched a few bombs at White and Toyota. Among them was the stolen part.

Roush said he's had several discussions with NASCAR officials about the situation. He was alarmed when Robin Pemberton, the vice president of competition for the series, said disappearing parts are a common occurrence and the teams needed to work it out amongst themselves.

"There's a lot of people ready to sweep dirt under the rug," Roush said. "I don't want to embarrass the sponsor. I really don't want to embarrass the team. But I also don't want to be made to look stupid."

Pemberton was insulted that this issue has become newsworthy. He said NASCAR operates in an open work environment and it is up to the teams to police against such incidents.

"We are the governing body," Pemberton said. "We are not the law."

Roush said there is something fundamentally wrong if NASCAR doesn't intercede, reminding the governing body has no problem reacting when somebody uses an illegal part -- on purpose or not.

"But they don't have rules when it's related to theft," he said. "Maybe they should."

Roush, noting he has been in the business 22 years, and said this is the first time he's heard of such a situation. He declined to respond to a question in which Michael Waltrip Racing was insinuated as the Toyota team.

"I don't substantiate," he said.

Waltrip declined to comment until he heard how the question was posed and the way Roush responded.

Others commented freely. Dale Earnhardt Jr. said whoever stole the part should have his hard card -- the identification tag that allows crew members in the garage -- revoked.

Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon hopes Roush isn't taking this issue seriously, because "he shouldn't."

"I talked to some of my guys on my team," Gordon said. "They said you'd be surprised. You're cleaning up or in postrace inspection and stuff gets laid around. You can take it. You cannot take it. You can tell a NASCAR official it's just lying around.

"It happens all the time. If they don't claim it I think it's kind of yours. The difference is Roush wanted it back."

The situation was so "silly" to Gordon that he declined to speak on whether NASCAR needs a rule against theft.

"I think they should investigate," he said sarcastically. "I think the FBI should get involved."

Pemberton said it is impossible to police such actions and that teams should be responsible for not leaving pieces where they can be taken, on purpose or accidentally.

"We're not going to do anything," he said. "If there is somebody out there that stole a piece or part then shame on that team for having a guy like that."


David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com.

[Raider1one]

from espn.com

Roush Fenway Racing doesn't plan to take legal action against Michael Waltrip Racing for what it characterized as the theft of a sway bar unless there is evidence that the piece has been duplicated.

Team president Geoff Smith said the issue would not have surfaced at all had Toyota general manager Lee White not insinuated that Roush's team of Carl Edwards intentionally cheated at Las Vegas.

Edwards was docked 100 points and his crew chief suspended for six weeks after the oil can lid in his car was discovered off during postrace inspection.

"But for Lee White, in spite of his education and position, engaging in this vituperative slander of our organization we wouldn't have said anything," Smith said on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

Waltrip acknowledged on Saturday that his team had the sway bar that team owner Jack Roush accused a Toyota team of stealing last season.

But Waltrip insisted that it wasn't a theft, that the bar accidentally wound up at his shop after the September race at Dover and that nobody realized it belonged to Roush Fenway Racing until that organization called to inquire about it in January.

"Accidents happen, mistakes happen," Waltrip said Saturday. "If you look inside this garage area today there's over 70 racing vehicles in here and stuff gets slung everywhere ... I could see why he would be upset. He feels like he was wronged and he's mad about it."

Smith said Michael Waltrip Racing officials gave RWR written assurance that the bar was not duplicated and that technology from it would not be used.

But Smith discounted Waltrip's comment that the bar wasn't taken on purpose and that there was no attempt to duplicate it.

"We had people from their organization tell us [what happened]," Smith said. "You also have to remember the bar was blue. There are no other blue sway bars. If you're a mechanic you know that is not yours.

"It wasn't an accident that the color was sandblasted off so the source of origin as a Roush part was not generally known."

Waltrip said he had no knowledge that the piece was sandblasted to hide its identity and that somebody from his team called a vendor to have it duplicated as Roush alleged.

"I don't have knowledge of any of that," he said Saturday. "I heard it was painted blue and when we figured out that it wasn't ours then it was set off to the side and eventually returned."

Smith said MWR gave Roush Fenway the name of two employees that were involved in the incident. He said neither was with the organization when the incident came to light in January.

"They weren't fired over this," he said. "They were gone in ordinary year-end turnover stuff."

Smith added that he was very surprised NASCAR said the issue needed to be decided between the two teams, that "there isn't some disciplinary mechanism for crimes that are committed within their territory for that behavior when you can get hauled into the trailer and whipped for making an offhand remark that is over the line."

"That stealing is business as usual is just an offensive concept to me as it was to Dale Earnhardt Jr., but wasn't to Jeff Gordon. I thought he was raised better than to believe a statement like that."

Earnhardt said whoever stole the part should have his hard card revoked and banned from the garage. Gordon said Roush shouldn't take the issue seriously and made a joke about it, saying the FBI needed to be brought in to investigate.

Roush responded by facetiously saying, "Jeff Gordon probably said it best when he said it's hilarious."

Asked if the incident was over, he added, "It's not over, but it is funny."

David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.