100 points? Try $100 million
NASCAR (and NASCAR fans) are constantly wringing their hands about punishments. Is 25 points too much? Not enough? What about 50? 100? Or suspension?
The folks across the pond in F1 ("We have the prettiest cars in all of auto racing") have raised the punishment bar by several dozen feet:
McLaren have been excluded from the 2007 constructors’ championship and fined US$100 million following Thursday’s FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) hearing in Paris. Drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton have not been penalized and are free to continue their fight for the drivers' title."The WMSC have stripped Vodafone McLaren Mercedes of all constructor points in the 2007 FIA Formula One world championship and the team can score no points for the remainder of the season,” said an FIA statement.
That's just stunning. $100 million is, like, five years of Dale Junior's income. It's Jeff Gordon's career winnings and then some. It's a huge fine.
For NASCAR to top that, they'd have to lock Chad Knaus out of every track on the circuit and take away Jimmie Johnson's 2006 trophy. Over in the NFL, Roger Goodell might have to draw and quarter Bill Belichick at the halftime of the Super Bowl. You think?
Comments (2)
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Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex, Jr. have been pleasant surprises in a sport that is usually dominated by the big boys with the big wallets. With the rising skills of David Ragan and Johnny Sauter, the status quo in NASCAR could be in for a big shake-up.
Posted on September 18, 2007 3:54 PM
Wow, that is a serious fine. Perhaps if other sports fined teams that much there wouldn't be cheating, doping, and other inappropriate behavior. But then, what would we talk about? Oh, I know, we would actually talk about the sport!
Rae
www.nascar-things.com
Posted on September 25, 2007 10:20 AM