What do you understand when we talk about ‘cheating’? I believe that it is an ambiguous term that needs to be explored some more. When it comes to NASCAR, what do you call an act of cheating? Every team wants to win at the end of the day. So, if a team works on themselves, will you call it cheating, or will you call it ‘innovating’?
Cheating Or Innovation?
Back in 1976, Darrel Waltrip said, “If you don’t cheat, you look like an idiot. If you do it and you don’t get caught, you look like a hero. If you do it and get caught, you look like a dope. Put me in the category where I belong.” This happens to show the definition of cheating in a very gray light.
In fact, if you look at the history of NASCAR in an objective light, You will be able to see that the action other people call cheating is not really in a binary spectrum. In fact, the definition has been pushed and explored multiple times in history.
Back in 1966, Junior Johnson faced a lot of criticism when he openly admitted to making ‘illegal’ changes to his car. These changes include a chopped roofline, slanted windshield, etc. All of these changes were aimed at enhancing the overall aerodynamics.
When questioned about the overall legality of these changes, Johnson blatantly said, “I loved the game. Maybe I’d have four of five new things on a car that might raise a question. But I’d always leave something that was outside of the regulations in a place where the inspectors could easily find it. They’d tell me it was illegal, I’d plead guilty, and they’d carry it away thinking they caught me. But they didn’t check some other things that I thought were even more special.”
This shows that the act of cheating is not really cheating if you get results and do not get caught. Keep following our page for more sports-related content and stories.
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