Chevy Fans

My point should be obvious too. While Chad is everyone's favorite whipping boy for cheating, I would contend he is no worse than anyone else. even Preacher Joe's bunch. I just get a little tired of seeing Chad singled out.
I think a lot of Chad's reputation came from Johnson winning so much and some fans believed they were cheating to win so much. I remember more than once that Johnson's and Gordon's car would get caught at the same time. Those were the days of working between the "claw" template.
 
I think a lot of Chad's reputation came from Johnson winning so much and some fans believed they were cheating to win so much. I remember more than once that Johnson's and Gordon's car would get caught at the same time. Those were the days of working between the "claw" template.

I think what bothers me is that nobody seems to cast doubt on other driver's wins, just Jimmie's. We marvel at what a world class cheat Gary Nelson was, but Bobby Allison, (a world class cheat as a mechanic himself) the biggest beneficiary of that talent, gets a free pass.
 
Must be a boring life if your forever living in the past.

Nope, I'm a amateur historian and student of the past. It gives me perspective on the present and a road map for the future. You won't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been, and how and why you got here. On a side note, I am just entertained by pointing out hypocrisy and double standards.
 
I think what bothers me is that nobody seems to cast doubt on other driver's wins, just Jimmie's. We marvel at what a world class cheat Gary Nelson was, but Bobby Allison, (a world class cheat as a mechanic himself) the biggest beneficiary of that talent, gets a free pass.
A world class cheat? Lets hear it bud?
 
A world class cheat? Lets hear it bud?

Oh come on. Bobby has NEVER been shy about his rule bending. As one of the sharpest knives in drawer, the he knew how play the game. You couldn't run up front back in the days Bobby worked on his own cars WITHOUT doing it. He was surrounded by cheaters that had more money and people than he did. Trick carburetors, running left side tires on the right, you name it. During that old Racer's Reunion show they did in 98' he even joked about it and claimed he learned it all from Junior Johnson. The fact that he did it doesn't bother me, because I understand how the game was played. What bothers me is that we make folk heroes out of certain people and make low down dirty dogs out of other people for playing the SAME game.
 
Oh come on. Bobby has NEVER been shy about his rule bending. As one of the sharpest knives in drawer, the he knew how play the game. You couldn't run up front back in the days Bobby worked on his own cars WITHOUT doing it. He was surrounded by cheaters that had more money and people than he did. Trick carburetors, running left side tires on the right, you name it. During that old Racer's Reunion show they did in 98' he even joked about it and claimed he learned it all from Junior Johnson. The fact that he did it doesn't bother me, because I understand how the game was played. What bothers me is that we make folk heroes out of certain people and make low down dirty dogs out of other people for playing the SAME game.
Bobby Allison is a "folk hero" because of what he did behind the wheel and what he gave to this sport and no one that knows him would call him a world class cheat.
 
Bobby Allison is a "folk hero" because of what he did behind the wheel and what he gave to this sport and no one that knows him would call him a world class cheat.

I'll admit that "world class" was probably a little over the top, but it doesn't change the facts one bit. Bobby cheated and drove cars cheated by others just like EVERYONE ELSE. It's not a derogatory statement, just a descriptive one. Hell, he drove for Junior Johnson, Mario Rossi and Gary Nelson. Those guys were without a doubt "world class" cheaters. To paraphrase Dick Brooks: "Mario Rossi never brought a car to a race in his life that didn't have some kind of cheater parts on it"
 
So Gary Nelson is a folk hero and Chad Knaus is dirt. OK, if YOU say so. :rolleyes:
Having already stated that I admired Chad Knaus’ ingenuity in the C pillar area and being intelligent enough to understand his impact on his team’s astounding performance over an extended period of time ... no, he is most certainly not dirt. You take this stuff VERY personally ... YOU made the “low down dirty dog” reference, not me. That got you the sarcastic “if the shoe fits” remark.

For me, Knaus is a better fit in the folk hero category in spite of the fact that he was one cheatin’ sumbitch.
 
Gary Nelson was also very good in the gray area. Having Allison’s bumper fall off during the 1982 Daytona 500 on purpose? Comedy gold.

We bought a coil-over, rack and pinion car from Nelson and Ivan Baldwin when they partnered in a car building venture in California. At the time, their stuff was at the front and winning regularly in the West. Ivan the Terrible was a demon racer.

I spent 2 weeks at their shop wiring, plumbing, skinning the chassis and getting the thing in the trailer. I picked Nelson’s brain the whole time I was there and didn’t realize until later how much that was going to help.
 
Having already stated that I admired Chad Knaus’ ingenuity in the C pillar area and being intelligent enough to understand his impact on his team’s astounding performance over an extended period of time ... no, he is most certainly not dirt. You take this stuff VERY personally ... YOU made the “low down dirty dog” reference, not me. That got you the sarcastic “if the shoe fits” remark.

For me, Knaus is a better fit in the folk hero category in spite of the fact that he was one cheatin’ sumbitch.

OK, fine. I'm just trying to figure out why the general perception of Chad Knaus is so different than all of the other guys that were great at bending the rules. Is it mostly because his driver was whipping everybody else's favorite driver? It's not so much that I take it personally, it's that I am interested in the ACCURATE history of motorsports, and so much of this stuff grows legs and become FACT, when it is not. If nobody is willing to defend Chad Knaus NOW, twenty years from now it will just be accepted by people who didn't witness it or have short memories that Chad was the the most blatant cheater in the sport, just like it has become "fact" that the Wood Brothers revolutionized pit stops at the Indy 500 and other such nonsense.
 
CRANDALL: Can Hendrick find a road back to the top?

“I think we’re better than we’ve ever been,” Hendrick observes. “We’re closer than we’ve ever been. I’m not saying we’re as competitive as we’ve ever been, but we’re closer as a unit. Chevrolet has made a big commitment: the Tech Center’s going to be a great thing. Wish it was four years ago, but, hey, better late than never. Their commitment is strong, and I’m excited.”

 
The beatings have stopped.

Morale must have improved.
 
Here is a pretty interesting interview with Greg Ives back at the Hendrick shop after Fontana.
 
I got thinking about this little gem yesterday. This is the earliest in the season a HMS car has won since 2016.
 
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