“I know he’s cheating, because he’s
beating me and I’m cheating.”
–Every racer ever
Unless you live under a rock–and probably even
if you do–you’ve doubtlessly heard about the Spec
Miata Plunge-Gate mass disqualification at the
2014 SCCA Runoffs. Post-race, the top six cars were
bounced from their finishing spots due to illegal–but
apparently highly common–modifications to the cylinder
heads. The modification was so popular that
doubtlessly more cars would have been bounced had
the entire field been torn down.
Internet justice was swift and brutal, with demands
that heads (both human and Miata) roll and witches be
burned and banishments be enacted for anyone who
even watched the race on TV. An equally loud crowd
piped up with the “Well, if everyone is doing it, let’s
just make it legal” argument.
Mostly it was proof that while America may be
lagging behind in most manufacturing sectors, we
can still manufacture self-righteous outrage with the
best of them.
Eventually everyone calmed down and a panel
convened to explore the situation. Recommendations
have been made, and more are coming. Despite the
early chaos, the official response seems reasonable
and rational. But I think we all need to examine
cheating in general, how we think about it, and how
it affects our sport.
First, I think any sort of zero-tolerance policy should be
taken off the table. Policies like this fail to recognize that
there are as many different types of cheating as there
are cheaters, and not all of them are necessarily bad.
Sure, you have your straight-up flagrant a-holes with
little or no conscience–or world-class rationalization
skills. There are the guys who run illegal parts because
they know their local tech inspectors don’t check that
particular part, or they disguise illegal parts as legal
parts to squeak by. These types are usually compensating
for some other gross personal shortcoming–comically
small or misshapen genitals, perhaps–and will
take the big-fish-in-a-small-pond role any way they
can get it.
But then you have your folks who are ignorant or
misinformed. Now, I’ve always heard that ignorance
of the law is no excuse for breaking it, and I agree,
but officials have a responsibility to be fair, too. Ignorance
is also not an excuse to forever ostracize the
lawbreaker, potentially turning him into a supervillain
bent on revenge. Ignorance cheaters beget wonderful
teachable moments, which we can use to benefit our
sport and the folks who play it. But yeah, they still don’t
deserve that wood-and-plastic trophy.
The close cousin of the ignorance cheater is the
exploiter of the gray area. These folks work in the
margins of the rulebooks and read the unprinted words
between the printed ones. They are the motorsports
equivalent of improvisational jazz musicians, producing
something that the rest of us intellectually understand
takes talent and skill, but couldn’t ever fathom how to
do ourselves.
The gray-area crowd, if properly policed, actually
performs a service to the community. They find weak
links in the rules chains and loopholes that need to be
closed or codified. To live in that world, though, they
have to realize something: Every so often, one of them
will have to lean into the strike zone and take one for
the team. It’s just part of the territory. The Runoffs Spec
Miata situation largely fits into this category. The rule
was written in a way that allowed it to be exploited,
everyone exploited it like a Chinese iPhone factory
worker, and it all came to a head at Runoffs. The end
result of this will be a much clearer picture of Spec
Miata head-prep rules by next season.
The final category of cheaters stands apart from the
rest. They turn cheating into an art form, pushing rules
interpretation so far that they end up progressing the
state of the art of the sport. Whether it’s Red Bull’s flexible
nose cones and front wings on F1 cars, Toyota’s
invisible variable air restrictors on their rally cars, or
pretty much everything Smokey Yunick ever did, these
developments–while illegal–also helped the sport grow
in their own twisted ways.
I come not to glorify the cheaters. It’s worth noting
that every example I give in this column was caught
and appropriately punished. Rather, I come to say
not all who “cheat” are instantly scumbags. Some are
merely trying to gain a competitive advantage, and it’s
up to the rest of us to determine whether that advantage
fits within the established boundaries. In pretty
much every sport there are consequences for stepping
out of bounds, and motorsport should be no different.
But just like football, racing is rather enjoyable
to watch when someone tightropes
those sidelines.
Comments
In reply to JG Pasterjak: The link to Read the rest of the story didn't work. So I don't know what else you said. But the fact is in many a stock racing scenario, regardless of number of wheels, claiming rules work. When I raced AMA occasional, as you put it "flagrant" cheaters had their bike claimed. Some times, it worked out that the new owner wasn't any faster anyway. But most times, it was obvious when flagrant cheating was involved.
Bottom line. Once a few riders got burned by a claim almost no one was willing to spend the money to build a super ride. Because if they did, it'd be claimed. So there were very few issues with flagrance or problems at tear-down. In fact, tear-down became a very random event.
NOHOME
UltraDork
2/23/15 3:14 p.m.
What has always been interesting to me is how much cheating, creativity and hard work go hand-in-hand.
As one person I know of an occidental nationality that shall go unmentioned said when I commented on a national disregard for fair-play when it came to IP.."That is not cheating, that's competing and winning".
so if everyone is cheating... why should I stick to the rules and constantly come in last (or back of the pack)? We know the "right" and moral answer to that question, but it still stands.
When I raced we knew who was not really paying attention to the rules. There was a group of them and it was a big game of lets see whose is bigger. The yucking it up and the BS highfalutin crap that was being slung around between those teams was ridiculous never mind the cubic $$$$$ that was spent was just stupid.
We that actually were reading the rules were relegated to mid pack and although it was "fun" to be racing it sucked because we could not win. There is just no way to win if you are down 10-15% in power with all other things being equal. This is one reason why I got out of racing. The cheeting was just getting out of hand. The fun was not there any more because of it. I was so glad to see the top 6 in SM get the hammer dropped on them. I think they should have torn down the whole field.
I completely disagree with your attempt to justify cheating. It is black and white! Cheating is like being pregnant. You either are or you are not. As crew chief ignorance of a rule did not relieve me of being responsible. If you start playing the "I did not know" card as a viable excuse for cheating then the wheels will come off the bus really fast.
Cheating is VERY bad for any sport. You will have a small group that accepts it and plays along with it. There is a much larger group that will just toss in the towel and move on as the cheaters usually are just not fun to play with unless you are cheating also. The biggest harm is that there will be people that may be considering jointing the party but don't bother due to rumors of cheating. You loose new blood and eventually it is only the cheaters that are left to play with each other.
mad_machine wrote:
so if everyone is cheating... why should I stick to the rules and constantly come in last (or back of the pack)? We know the "right" and moral answer to that question, but it still stands.
You end up tossing in the towel and moving on is what happens. Why cheating is inherently bad.
NOHOME
UltraDork
2/23/15 3:51 p.m.
Life is not fair and never has been. It is both naive and foolish to think that we will be treated fairly just because we behave that way to others.
What is important is to be aware that ALL games are rigged; we may still choose to participate, but only insofar as we are getting what we want from the game. If you want to win, you have to cheat and not get caught.
mad_machine wrote:
so if everyone is cheating... why should I stick to the rules and constantly come in last (or back of the pack)? We know the "right" and moral answer to that question, but it still stands.
This is why I hate it when people go "I don't like zero tolerance policies".
At what point do you sacrifice your values/beliefs/morals? This is not just limited to racing, but is a LIFE question.
I don't cheat. Period. The point of rules is to create standards for people to follow. Break the rules, even if accidental? Tough E36 M3, play again next time, its called the school of "hard knocks" if you want to play in other people's sandboxes like that.
I mean, it's like "Oh, we can't have Voter ID laws. That would discourage cheating, I mean, dat be raysis." If your suggesting that cheating is OK as long as you're not caught, then why bother having rules at all?
In reply to HiTempguy: Claiming rules make serious cheating too expensive.
Rupert wrote:
In reply to HiTempguy: Claiming rules make serious cheating too expensive.
Oh, I am all about claiming. Usually most people aren't though, because they like cheating rather than racing being based on their skill as a driver.
A big reason I like rallying/offroad racing is the variety, and the sheer variance caused by the course itself and reliance on instinct/experience to get you through said variability.
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