Who was/is the biggest cheater NASCAR has ever seen?

Who do you think was/is the biggest cheater in NASCAR's top series?

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buckaroo

buckaroo

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With the latest, Chad Knaus has put his name in the bag of one of the top "cheaters" in the Cup series. Of course there are and have been others like Gary Nelson, Smokey Yunick, and others, but who "seemed" to have cheated more? Maybe in a few years, NASCAR will hire Knaus to be head of technical inspection like they did to Gary Nelson.
 
Probably the best ones is the ones we don't hear about I'd say Chad is up there but how about Ray Everham? I'd toss his name in there.
 
I'll stick with Chad. I pretty sure he gets away with a lot more than he gets caught for and he gets caught a lot!
 
Smokey wasn't really a cheater, he did think outside of the box. About half of the rule book was written because of Smokey. ;)
 
Nelson was a cheating scum, no doubt about it. Smart move to include him---even though I admit I voted for Knaus.:cheers:
 
You people need to read the Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond autobiographies because you are absolutely clueless when it comes to cheating.
 
Matthew2470 said:
You people need to read the Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond autobiographies because you are absolutely clueless when it comes to cheating.
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Does Tiger Woods have an autobiography?

The problem nascar has is that the cheating is something fans loved to hate. Now they want to be viewed as legit, but still have the controversy.
 
I had to go with Gary Nelson. He was so good at it Nascar hired him. I prefer to call it stretching the gray area.
 
Matthew2470 said:
You people need to read the Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond autobiographies because you are absolutely clueless when it comes to cheating.
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We probably need to wait for the Chad Knaus autobiography to come out to do a fair comparison or at least wait to see if NASCAR hires him after his stint with HMS. ;)
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
We probably need to wait for the Chad Knaus autobiography to come out to do a fair comparison or at least wait to see if NASCAR hires him after his stint with HMS. ;)
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What Chad has been caught doing is nothing compared to the stuff they used to pull. Chad's not even a blip on the cheating radar.
 
Matthew2470 said:
What Chad has been caught doing is nothing compared to the stuff they used to pull. Chad's not even a blip on the cheating radar.
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Completly different times in NASCAR, today is nothing like the 50s-90s NASCARs rules and enforcement over the years has completely changed the sport, there's No Way to fairly compare the past with today.

Beside's Smokey and some of the others where innovator's not cheater's. Chad can't really say that.
 
FlFlash said:
Completly different times in NASCAR, today is nothing like the 50s-90s NASCARs rules and enforcement over the years has completely changed the sport, there's No Way to fairly compare the past with today.

Beside's Smokey and some of the others where innovator's not cheater's. Chad can't really say that.
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Not talking about the 50's. I am referring to the stunts they used to pull in the modern era. Cheating is cheating regardless of when it occurred and what Chad has done is nothing by comparison.
 
If you actually read my post that you qouted it it says " 50s-90s" In the early 90s is when things changed in NASCAR rules where written covering many aspects that where not covered before and enforcement of the rules became intense.
 
I think that you are both right . Chad 's violation was a tiny infraction but the rules are so strict today that a tiny infraction is the biggest advantage that you could hope to get away with.
 
As an example in the 70s early 80s everyone used to "narrow" the front of their Superspeedway cars NASCAR knew and it saw it but everyone was doing it so NASCAR looked the other way. It became a problem when a new team showed up with a Incorrectly Narrowed front end ( instead of removing the headlamp housing narrowing the area and then reinstalling the full headlamp they narrowed the headlamp along with the grille producing a visualy altered front end ) Thats when NASCAR stopped the modification and wrote a rule regarding it.
 
Hammond and DW has some funny cheats. They would fill the frame rail with lead ball bearings then DW would open something up in the car that would cause the ball bearings to release causing the car to become much lighter.

One time they got caught with a 100 piece of lead disguised as a battery.
 
I cannot believe that nobody has yet to mention Junior Johnson! And I am even more surprised that his name is not on the list. I had to vote for "other"...

Junior Johnson quoted from here: http://www.autoracingdaily.com/news...ating-and-creating-they-were-creating-junior/

But many of his creations weren’t caught, through 50 wins as a driver and 140 as an owner.
Take his trick whereby, “You could run a 500 cubic-inch motor and it would check at 358 or whatever they wanted,” he said.
All he did was file a slot, a tiny channel, out from the edge of the spark plug hole. So when inspectors attached “that little pump” that measured cubic inches by air pressure, that slot “was letting off air,” he said, just enough to make the engine look legal.
Come race time, “You put a washer around the spark plug,” he said, and tightened it down, and off your driver went with your big engine.
“A lot of the stuff is not cheatin’,” Junior said, “just ‘cause you’ve got a great idea and you want to exercise that idea on beatin’ your competitors. NASCAR determines whether it’s cheatin’ or not.

But 97 forever and racer8 both have the same opinion as I have. NA$$CAR hired Gary Nelson to catch cheaters - cause it takes one to know one!

This is a quick and interesting read:
http://www.jcs-group.com/racin/rules/cheatin.html
 
It's hard to believe that people raise Chad's innovation that skirts the rules with these guys. The biggest examples of modern day cheating I can think of would be Redbull acid dipping their sheet metal to lighten the car and Roush raising the oil cooler housing cover to gain 75lbs of down force. Those trick valves a team got caught using when it rained were pretty extreme too.
 
It's just easier for some to hate Chad because he's so successful. And no one is mentioning that it's been nearly 5 years since his last suspension. What car has been scrutinized more than the 48 over the past few years? If he was the reckless cheater that some people believe him to be, he'd be out of the sport.
 
Matthew2470 said:
It's just easier for some to hate Chad because he's so successful. And no one is mentioning that it's been nearly 5 years since his last suspension. What car has been scrutinized more than the 48 over the past few years? If he was the reckless cheater that some people believe him to be, he'd be out of the sport.
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I have to agree Chads damn good at Cheating not reckless at all!

RB, I can't beleive you would think good ol Junior would cheat? Whats a matter with you? :rolleyes:
 
Frankly I feel the whole thing is a bunch of B/S, let the drivers run what they bring, if you can't keep up with the big dogs stay on the porch, nowadays so many races are won by the pit crew and not the driver, NASCAR has set the limits so strong that all the cars are the same anymore, miss a lug nut and loose the race they have removed the fun out of watching some crew design a car that could actually win a race due to ENGINEERING not a bunch of candy arse rules.
 
fearless fred said:
...they have removed the fun out of watching some crew design a car that could actually win a race due to ENGINEERING not a bunch of candy arse rules.
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I agree, to a point. But obviously, the better-funded teams would have an even greater advantage if there was not a system of checks and balances in place.

Even F1 has very strict regulations regarding what teams can and cannot do...
 
fearless fred said:
Frankly I feel the whole thing is a bunch of B/S, let the drivers run what they bring, if you can't keep up with the big dogs stay on the porch, nowadays so many races are won by the pit crew and not the driver, NASCAR has set the limits so strong that all the cars are the same anymore, miss a lug nut and loose the race they have removed the fun out of watching some crew design a car that could actually win a race due to ENGINEERING not a bunch of candy arse rules.
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The owners wanted the changes because the costs were out of control and the cars were getting all twisted looking.
 
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