Pacecar Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Found this article discussing racers and officials placing legal bets in Vegas on the outcome of the Nascar races. www.thatsracin.com/mld/thatsracin/8077703.htm Could this lead to another Pete Rose type of scandal some day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 We are such dipsticks about things like this. Gambling is huge, and you aren't going to stop it. Betting on some things is really stupid, and auto racing is one of them. There are just too many darn variables involved. Who would have bet on Derrike Cope winning a Daytona 500? As long as you don't bet the rent money, gambling is no big deal. (But the same thing can be said for racing, can't it? As long as you're not racing on the rent money, it's just a hobby. If you are, it's an obsession.) Sure, betting against your own team, particularly if you can control the outcome, is a bad deal. But in racing, you could only make sure one car would lose, not that another one would win. There was a famous scandal back in the 1940s or so in Italy that involved someone drawing a particular driver in a huge lottery, then offering the driver a cut if he could insure a win. The driver made deals with at least some of his competitors (there was a lot of cash involved), and was leading comfortably late in the race when he started having mechanical problems. The quickest thinker among the rest just pulled into the pits and told his mechanic to start poking around under the hood, giving the leader the chance to struggle along in first. Behind him, the other drivers began doing such dumb things to keep from catching the leader that the cat was out of the bag. Must have been hilarious. In Europe, by the way, they bet on everything, including car and motorcycle races. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 TQ, I have to disagree with you. Gambling on a sporting event in which you are in any way a participant is flat our wrong -- unless, of course, the outcome of that event is already rigged by the sanctioning body. Then, who cares because the whole thing would be a sham similar to a boxing match where the one of the fighters takes a dive. But if NASCAR continues to hold its racing program out to the world as genuine, legitimate competition, then they have no choice but to strictly forbid anyone connected with the event - and that would include the drivers, the crews, the team owners, NASCAR Officials, track management and vendors dealing with that series in any way - from betting on the outcome of that event. Period. It will be interesting to see how (and if) NASCAR actually responds to this issue. Nick Holt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckman Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 I BET Nascar takes care of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 I don't think Rose should have been banned unless he bet against his team while managing; as baseball games are strictly between two teams, he could affect the outcome. He also shouldn't be kept out of the hall of fame for something that has no bearing on his playing ability. (As many have pointed out, Ty Cobb is in the hall of fame, and he was a major league racist, among other things. But that had nothing to do with how well he played the game.) By the way, I think Rose is an idiot, too, but fair's fair. As for B. Gone betting on himself, so what? He bets on himself every time he gets in the car or truck, and he thought he had a pretty good shot at the win. So did a lot of other folks, I'd bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightmoves99 Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 my 2 cents is anytime any driver or crew shows up at a racetrack they are gambling on wether they are going to' win, place, or show' the only differance is a top 5 finish or breaking or finishing last . he is gambling that the car is right, that the crew did their jobs right, and that he is good or lucky enough to win. i think this issue should be up to the person involved and his own idea of 'right and wrong'. just my 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direct-flo Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 I agree, who cares if Derrick Cope calls vegas and places a 2000.00 bet--(betting he wins). All that will come of that is Derrick just wasted another 2000.00.. In racing there are so many things that have to happen for you to win. 1-driver, 2-team, 3-engine, 4-setup, 5-luck, 6-other drivers etc... Baseball----you either catch the ball or not, you either hit the ball or not. The only sure fire bet as I see it is. If a driver bets he will finish last, what driver do you know goes out on the track wanting to finish last. TomH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelracewriter Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 I BET Nascar takes care of it. Unless NA$CAR figures out a way to get their greedy little hands on part of it! LMAO In all the dragstrips I've been to, I've probably seen hundreds to thousands of dollars change hands in the stands. Never have seen any at circle tracks though. But with some the strange shtuff people bet on, anything's possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supertx Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 They have been gambling on NASCAR for 14 yrs. that i know of. In 1990 i was in vegas and they had a place in the sports area where you bet on stick and ball sports with the odds listed on NASCAR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1-Crew Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 So you're Jeff Gordon's windshield washer and you felt real good until you realized you bet the rent and Jr is running first to Jeff's second. Jr's next set of tires is sitting right there, do you sneak a pound of air out while no one is looking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 Let's take 1-Crew's idea a little further. Let's say John supplies widgets to several Nextel Cup teams. John's having trouble keeping his girlfriend in diamonds so he decides to bet several K on Jeff Gordon at the Las Vegas race. As we all know, widgets are an important component in the ignition system. So, in order to increase the odds that Jeffy will win Vegas, John makes sure that several of the widgets he supplies to every team except Jeffy's have a flaw that will knock the timing off just a little. Or let's say John's a Nextel driver who has bet on Jr. to win Daytona. John sees that Jeffy is his only real challenger. Next time Jeffy comes by John makes sure he messes up Jeffy's aero package by pulling a brake check as he tries to draft off John's car. Or let's say John's a NASCAR official who has bet on a particular driver. Might John be tempted to let something slip through tech on that driver's car? Even though none of these scenarios would insure the outcome of a race (there are too many other variables involved) I'm sure you get my point. I just don't like the idea of people involved in the sport betting on the sport. Nick Holt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoom Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 So, Nick Why are you picking on John? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 zoom, Why are you picking on John? Because I couldn't remember how to spell zoom.. Nick Holt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direct-flo Posted March 6, 2004 Report Share Posted March 6, 2004 Okay, so NASCAR say's boys no betting...The ones that never did-never will. The ones that did-will continue....Some fool once told me " It ain't cheatin-unless you get caught" A side note: do you know some NASCAR teams take out policys on the drivers... A while back Kyle Pettys team owner paid 20,000.00 for a policy- that if Kyle one the Daytona 500 he would get a cool million!! This was back in the Mello Yellow days....The actual amount he paid for the policy may be off a bit, but he would have recieved a million... My sister wrote the policy. TomH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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